Grand Ayatollah Bashir al-Najafi

Grand Ayatollah Bashir Hussain al-Najafi (born 1942 in Jhelum, Punjab, Pakistan) is a Pakistani-born Grand Ayatollah and one of the most senior Twelver Shia maraji (religious authorities) in Najaf, Iraq. He is considered one of the "Big Four" senior maraji of the Hawza Ilmiyya of Najaf, alongside Grand Ayatollahs Ali al-Sistani, Ishaq al-Fayadh, and the late Sayyid Muhammad Saeed al-Hakim.

Born in Jhelum to a religious family, he traveled to Najaf as a young man to pursue advanced Islamic studies at the Hawza. He studied under the most senior scholars of his era, including Grand Ayatollah Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei, who became his primary teacher and whose methodology he continues. He achieved the rank of Marja — an authority qualified to issue independent religious rulings (ijtihad) whom Shia Muslims may follow — and has maintained his residence and teaching in Najaf throughout his career, even during the most difficult periods under Saddam Hussein's regime.

He has a particularly strong following in Pakistan and among the South Asian Shia diaspora worldwide, given his Pakistani origin and his accessibility to Urdu-speaking audiences. His office issues religious rulings in multiple languages and he has visited Pakistan, India, and other countries with significant South Asian Shia populations. He has maintained a generally quietist approach to politics, focusing on religious education and scholarship. He oversees a network of religious schools and charitable activities. His official website najafi.org publishes his religious rulings and statements.