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Qom Hawza

قم, Italy

Qom Hawza

The Qom Seminary (Persian: حوزه علمیه قم, romanized: Ḥowze-ye ʿelmiyye-ye Qom) is the largest and one of the foremost Shia hawzas (Islamic seminaries), located in the city of Qom, Iran. It is the largest seminary in Iran, established in 1922 by Grand Ayatollah Abdul-Karim Haeri Yazdi in Qom to train

Usuli scholars. The Hawza is composed of several structured institutions and systems developed to govern itself. Its curriculum includes Arabic grammar, rhetoric, Quranic studies, theology, and traditional sciences. Along with Kufa and Baghdad, the Qom hadith school is among the three earliest centers of hadith transmission in Shia intellectual history. The seminary's history dates back to the founding of Shia Qom, when the Ash'ari family—a Shia clan—migrated from Kufa to Qom and contributed to the development of the city. Once they gained control over Qom, the propagation of Shiism and teaching of hadith and the Qur'an began. This continued with the arrival of agents and descendants of the Imams of Shia Islam, who played a substantial role in establishing and expanding the seminary. Its influence waned under Sunni reign during the rise of the Seljuk Empire, and was further diminished during...

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