Shahab ad-Din Muhammad Hussain Mar'ashi Najafi (July 21, 1897 – August 29, 1990)[1] (Arabic: اية الله العظمى السيد شهابالدين الحسينى المرعشى نجفى) was an Iraqi Shia Grand Ayatollah and Marja'.

He first mastered tajweed and learned the doctrines of tafsir which had been taught to him by his father, as well as Mirza Aboll Hassan Meshkini, Mohammad Hossein Shirazi, Hab Al-Din Shahrestani and Ibrahim Shafei Rafaei Baghdadi.

[2] Najafi was formally educated in the hawza of Najaf, and also spent three years studying in the Iraqi cities of Samarra and Kadhimiya; two important centres of Shia learning.

When his stipend was exhausted, he took a job at a rice cleaning factory in Najaf,[5] performed Qada prayers and fasts on behalf of others, and ate only one meal a day in order to raise enough money to purchase these books.

[citation needed] He gave instructions regarding his own burial and grave, and enjoined his son if possible to use some of his wealth as Radd al-Madhaalim (money given to the poor as payment of possible unknown debts) on his father's behalf, in case he had any dues outstanding.