Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani

Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani was a senior Shia scholar and one of the longest-lived marjas of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. He was elected to the Assembly of Experts for the Constitution in 1979, representing Markazi Province. Following the constitution's ratification, he was appointed the first Secretary of the Guardian Council, serving from 1980 to 1988. In this role, he oversaw the council's vetting of legislation for compliance with Islamic law and the constitution during the critical early years of the Islamic Republic. Based in Qom, he was a student of Grand Ayatollah Borujerdi and became a marja' in his own right. He died on 15 January 2022 at the age of 102.