Ayatollah Kazem Shariatmadari was among the most senior leading Shia clerics in Iran and Iraq. After the death of Grand Ayatollah Borujerdi in 1962 he became one of the leading maraja, He recognized Ayatollah Khomeini as a Grand Ayatollah in 1963 and was a key participant of the Iranian Revolution. He later led one of the political factions against Khomeini and founded the Islamic People's Republican Party in 1979. He also headed the Center for Islamic Study and Publications and was the administer of the Madrasa Fatima in Qum, Iran 1978.