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18. HUSSEIN AL-MOAYYAD, THE SUNNI CONVERT Introduction: Shaykh Hussein al-Moayyad (حسسين المؤيد, Ḥusayn alMu’ayyad) was an Iraqi Shia-cleric, who has reached the highest level of education, an Ayatollah and a Shia marja‘ , but left Shiism, openly denounced it, and declared his conversion to the Sunnah. He belonged to Kāẓimiyyah family, and his former wife was the daughter of ‘Abd al-‘Azīz and the sister of ‘Ammār al-Ḥakīm, the Head of the Highest Court. He feared that they might have interfered with his conversion to the Sunnah and would cause problem with him, and therefore, he took refuge to Saudi Arabia alone, leaving them behind in Iraq. His Early Life and Education: Ayatollah Shaykh al-Moayyad was born in Baghdad on 16 Ramaḍān 1384/10 January 1965). He was raised in a fanatic Shii family in the holy city of al-Kāẓimiyyah in Baghdad where the seventh Shii imām Mūsā al-Kāẓim (d. 183/745) was buried, and the area was named after him. His late father Dr. ‘Abd al-Qādir al-Mu’ayyad was a specialist physician and a poet, had a collection of poetry and a book entitled أأل ُ ًّم اث َنا َء ْال َحمْ ِل َو ال ِّن َفاس (“The Mother during Pregnancy and Delivery”). His mother was the daughter of the late scholar and the religious judge alSayyid Muḥammad Hādī ’l-Ṣadr. From his mother’s side the family appeared to be symbolic figures and leaders of Shii marāji‘ (religious authorities). Consequently, he was raised and educated on Shia, so that his intellectual personality, the setting up of his belief, ideology, concept, and behaviour based on the Shii precept. Then he became enthusiastic in explaining, disseminating, and defending Shiism. Shaykh al-Moayyad studied religion at al-Kāẓimiyyah in Baghdad, then he wished to continue his study in Najaf, but the condition in Iraq after 1979 was not favourable for him. He insisted on migrating from Iraq after consulting the Qur’ān where it appeared the following verse: