Why Mojtaba Khamenei was chosen to succeed his father

Mojtaba Khamenei would not have become the supreme leader of Iran had his father, Ali Khamenei, died naturally. The prevailing custom in Shiite “scientific hawza” (seminaries) — whether in Najaf, Karbala, Qom or Mashhad — holds that religious authority is not passed from father to son, as such conduct is regarded as a pursuit of leadership that contradicts the principle of piety. Throughout Shiite history, when a religious leader died, his sons did not immediately assume authority after him, even when they possessed the necessary qualifications.

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