Ayatollah Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari taught at Qom, the religious centre of learning for Shi'ism. He was an Azarbaijani who had the reputation of "being the most liberal and forwardlooking of the [seven] clerics" (including Ayatollah Khomeini) competing for ascendancy following the death of Ayatollah Borujerdi. [ Ervand Abrahamian, Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin, (London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 1989), p. 20.]

The differences between Shariatmadari and Khomeini appear to arise principally from Shariatmadari's views concerning the role of the Shi'ite clergy: he believed that the country should be run by an elected government which adhered to the constitution, whereas Khomeini firmly believed that Islam contained prescriptions for political conduct and could be used to run the affairs of an Islamic nation. In the words of one author (Dilip Hiro), Shariatmadari believed in "non-intervention by the ulema in the day-to-day administration of society; and Khomeini represented the interventionist school". [ Dilip Hiro, Iran Under the Ayatollahs, (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1987), p. 358.] Another author, Ervand Abrahamian, asserts that Shariatmadari's followers (clerical liberals), "like previous generations of Shii clerics, argued that the rightful role of the ulama was to teach, preach, guide the community, protect the shari'a, all the time keeping a safe distance from the inherently corrupting state, and only in dire necessity intervening directly in politics." [ Ervand Abrahamian, Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin, (London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 1989), p. 45.]

For the principal differences between Khomeini and Shariatmadari's followers, please refer to the section entitled "Clerical populists" and "Clerical liberals" respectively (Abrahamian, pp. 42-45). Shariatmadari allegedly backed Premier Bakhtiar following the demise of the Shah. [ Hiro, p. 87.] By the end of 1979, the clerical populists of Khomeini held much more power than Shariatmadari's liberals, and when documents seized from the U.S. Embassy were used to discredit Shariatmadari (for contact with the Embassy), he was placed under house detention, his Islamic People's Republican Party was dissolved, and 12 of his supporters were executed. [ Abrahamian, pp. 57-8.] In April 1982, Shariatmadari was further discredited by the Militant Students (who had occupied the U.S. Embassy), and he was stripped of his religious credentials by the elders of the Faizaya seminary in Qom. [ Hiro, p. 219.] Iranian television reported contacts between Shariatmadari and the CIA. [ Ibid.] Shariatmadari died in 1985.
For further information on the differences between Shariatmadari and Khomeini, please refer to Hiro, pp. 139-143.
Attachments:
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Ervand Abrahamian, Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin, London: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd., 1989
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Dilip Hiro, Iran Under the Ayatollahs, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1987