Raisi grew up in the city of Mashhad, an important religious centre for the Twelver Shiʿah as the burial place of the eighth imam ʿAlī al-Riḍā. Raisi was born at the advent of land reform (1960–63) and the White Revolution development program (1963–79), when Iran was undergoing profound changes in its distribution of power and wealth. Although the country saw rapid modernization and urbanization, the clerical establishment was among those most visibly disenfranchised by the shah’s reforms. This was especially true in Mashhad, where the clerical establishment had extensive property holdings and enormous influence on the local economy. Raised in a clerical family, Raisi received a religious education. In 1975 he attended seminary in Qom, the foremost intellectual centre of Shiʿi Islam, and studied under some of Iran’s most prominent clerics. At a time when Iranians were broadly dissatisfied with the regime of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, many of the seminarians at Qom were engaged with the revolutionary ideals of Ruhollah Khomeini, whose interpretation of velāyat-e faqīh (guardianship of the jurist) sought to ensure clerical oversight of the government’s policy and administration. Raisi was purportedly an active participant in the events of 1978–79 that drove the shah into exile and established a system of government based on Khomeini’s vision. Prosecutor for the Islamic republic After the Iranian Revolution, the fledgling Islamic republic faced a number of immediate challenges, ranging from the Western-educated loyalists of the shah to secularist left-wing dissidents to all-out war with neighbouring Iraq. Raisi dedicated his career from the start to upholding the nascent regime against internal opposition. He underwent training in administration and soon joined the prosecutor’s office in Masjed Soleymān in southwestern Iran. Over the next six years, he gained further experience as a prosecutor for various jurisdictions, including Karaj city, Hamadan city, and Hamadan province. In 1985 he became deputy prosecutor in the country’s capital, Tehrān. @voiceofthekarbala #imamreza #imamraza #imamrazashrine #ebrahimraisi https://www.instagram.com/p/CQcvRRNDiG8/?utm_medium=tumblr