Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Islam-related articles/Clergy

Ayatollah naming
I would like to post a proposal for the format of naming Muslim clergy. I would like to either create a separate page Naming conventions (Islamic clergy), or post it here. My proposal is that Muslim clergy such as Ayatollahs go with their titles, just like Western clergy. For ayatollahs use the format (Grand) Ayatollah {name} {surname}. For example use Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani and not Ali al-Sistani, and Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi and not Mohammad Yazdi. Gryffindor 21:57, 23 May 2006 (UTC)


 * 1) Christian clergy do not go with their titles except some before about 1650s. The pope does because he is the only person alive in that highest position.  Most others like Rowan Williams don't include titles in the article name.
 * 2) Moreover, there are several hundreds of "ayatollahs". For example, each of the 86-members of the Assembly of Experts must be a mullah and many of them are "ayatollahs".  We don't have articles on many members thereof except a few like Ali Meshkini and Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi.  Plus, most Iranians call ayatollahs simply by their last names like Jannati or Montazeri.
 * 3) Aside from the aforesaid, collectively speaking Muslim clergy are more sanguinary than other types of clergy; so not everyone likes them in Iran except Basijis and other minions of mullahs. But I digress in this paragraph.--Patchouli 02:09, 1 September 2006 (UTC)

Use Naming conventions (Western clergy) as a start, its prior example to allow Ayatollah to be used if he has earned the title, to quote "General guideline is then to use the ecclesiastical title the person was best known, or was highest"--Tigeroo 11:16, 21 September 2006 (UTC)


 * The above proposal went nowhere. Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani is still a redirect to Ali al-Sistani and Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi is still a redirect to Mohammad Yazdi. See [] for a similar discussion. LeadSongDog come howl!  18:32, 29 August 2011 (UTC)