Grand Ayatollah al-Fayyad, Senior Najaf Cleric, Dies

NAJAF, Iraq — Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Ishaq al-Fayyad, a senior member of Najaf's religious scholarly community, has died, the Al-Irada Alliance said in a Thursday statement. Al-Fayyad spent decades in religious scholarship before his death. The alliance described the loss as a source of deep sorrow and thanked him for his service to Islam and the Najaf scholarly establishment. The statement extended condolences to religious scholars, students of religious study and al-Fayyad's family. It included prayers for God's mercy and paradise for the deceased. Najaf, located roughly 160 kilometers south of Baghdad, serves as a center of learning for Iraq's Shiite Muslim community and is home to one of the oldest Islamic seminaries.