Shafaq News- Baghdad

Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi on Thursday declared three days of national mourning following the death of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Ishaq al-Fayyadh, one of the most senior Shiite religious authorities in the holy city of Najaf.

Al-Fayyadh passed away earlier today at a Baghdad hospital at the age of 96 after suffering health complications. He had been receiving intensive medical care in recent days.

نتقدم بالعزاء إلى مقام المرجعية الدينية العليا، وأبناء شعبنا العراقي الكريم، ومقام وعموم المسلمين في أنحاء العالم، برحيل المرجع سماحة آية الله العظمى الشيخ محمد إسحاق الفياض (قدس سرّه الشريف).وبهذا الفقد الأليم، فقدت ساحة البحث والاجتهاد والعلوم الإسلامية عَلماً من أعلام الفقه،…

— علي فالح الزيدي (@AliFalihAlzaidy) June 4, 2026

Widely regarded as one of the four senior maraji' (sources of emulation) of the Najaf Hawza, al-Fayyadh was among the most influential Shiite clerics in Iraq and the wider Muslim world. He was also one of the foremost students of the late Grand Ayatollah Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei.

Born in Afghanistan in 1930, al-Fayyadh moved to Najaf at a young age to pursue religious studies and later emerged as one of the seminary's leading scholars, attracting millions of followers across the Shiite world.

His death further narrows the circle of Najaf's senior religious authorities, leaving Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and Grand Ayatollah Bashir al-Najafi among the remaining top-ranking clerics following the death of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Saeed al-Hakim in 2021.