The office of Grand Ayatollah Mousa Shobeiri Zanjani announced early on Monday that the cleric had died at 98, one of the leading sources of emulation (marja’) in Twelver Shia Islam and a figure of the Qom seminary, according to Mehr News and Press TV.

He had been hospitalised in Qom for two days. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq’s most senior Shia authority, sent a message of condolence, according to the Shafaqna news agency.