Hujjat al-Islam (also Hojatoleslam) is an honorific

Honorific

An honorific is a word or expression with connotations conveying esteem or respect when used in addressing or referring to a person. Sometimes, the term is used not quite correctly to refer to an honorary title...

 title meaning "authority on Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

" or "proof of Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

", given to Twelver Shī‘ah clerics. It was originally applied only to leading mujtahids, but from about the start of the 19th century came to be used by all clerics following the creation of the title Ayatollah

Ayatollah

Ayatollah is a high ranking title given to Usuli Twelver Shī‘ah clerics. Those who carry the title are experts in Islamic studies such as jurisprudence, ethics, and philosophy and usually teach in Islamic seminaries. The next lower clerical rank is Hojatoleslam wal-muslemin...

 for top Twelver mujtahids.

The title Hujjatu l-Islām wa l-Muslimīn ("Authority on Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

 and Muslims) is given to middle-ranking clerics.

Education

Hawza

Hawza

Hawza or ḥawza ʻilmiyya is a seminary of traditional Islamic school of higher learning. It is a term used mostly by the Shi'a Muslims communities to refer to a traditional Shi'a centre where clerics are trained...

 students start their studies learning fiqh

Fiqh

Fiqh is Islamic jurisprudence. Fiqh is an expansion of the code of conduct expounded in the Quran, often supplemented by tradition and implemented by the rulings and interpretations of Islamic jurists....

, kalam

Kalam

ʿIlm al-Kalām is the Islamic philosophical discipline of seeking theological principles through dialectic. Kalām in Islamic practice relates to the discipline of seeking theological knowledge through debate and argument. A scholar of kalām is referred to as a mutakallim...

, hadith

Hadith

The term Hadīth is used to denote a saying or an act or tacit approval or criticism ascribed either validly or invalidly to the Islamic prophet Muhammad....

, tafsir

Tafsir

Tafseer is the Arabic word for exegesis or commentary, usually of the Qur'an. Ta'wīl is a subset of tafsir and refers to esoteric or mystical interpretation. An author of tafsir is a mufassir .- Etymology :...

, philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

 and Arabic literature

Arabic literature

Arabic literature is the writing produced, both prose and poetry, by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is adab which is derived from a meaning of etiquette, and implies politeness, culture and enrichment....

. After mastering these levels they are given the Hojatoleslam title, and can start becoming mujtahid by studying advanced textbooks known as satḥ, and research courses known as kharij.

List of notable Hojatoleslams

• Mohammad Khatami
  Mohammad Khatami
  Sayyid Mohammad Khātamī is an Iranian scholar, philosopher, Shiite theologian and Reformist politician. He served as the fifth President of Iran from August 2, 1997 to August 3, 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture in both the 1980s and 1990s...
  
  
• Mohammad Javad Bahonar
  Mohammad Javad Bahonar
  Hojatoleslam Mohammad Javad Bahonar was an Iranian scholar, Shiite theologian and politician who served as the Prime minister of Iran from 15 to 30 August 1981 when he was assassinated by Mujahideen-e Khalq MEK, also known as PMOI and KMO...
  
  
• Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
• Hassan Rowhani
  Hassan Rowhani
  Hassan Rowhani is an Iranian politician and cleric, and as of March 2007, a member of the Supreme National Security Council. Rowhani's membership in the council is as one of the two representatives of the Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran...
  
  
• Ali Younesi
  Ali Younesi
  Hojatoleslam Ali Younesi was the director of the Ministry of Intelligence and a member of the Supreme National Security Council during the presidency Mohammad Khatami in Iran....
  
  
• Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi
  Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi
  Hojatoll-Islam Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi is a politician in the Islamic Republic of Iran. In 2005, he was appointed as the new interior minister of the country by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad with the approval of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei...
  
  
• Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejehei
  Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejehei
  Hojjatol-Islam Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Eje'i was the head of the Ministry of Intelligence in Iran from 2005 to July 2009, when he was abruptly dismissed. On August 24, 2009 he was appointed prosecutor general of the country by new judiciary chief Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani. He has also held a number...
  
  
• Abdollah Noori
  Abdollah Noori
  Abdollah Noori is an Iranian reformist politician and cleric. Despite his "long history of service to the Islamic Republic," he became the most senior Islamic politician to be sentenced to prison since the Iranian Revolution when he was sentenced to five years in prison for political and religious...
  
  
• Sheikh-ul-Lalazar Ali Tahir Arshed Pasha
• Mohammad Reyshahri
  Mohammad Reyshahri
  Mohammad Reyshahri , best known as Reyshahri, is an Iranian politician and cleric who was first Iranian Minister of Intelligence of Islamic Republic of Iran from 1984 to 1989 in cabinet of Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi.-Biography:Reyshahri was born in Rey.He married the daughter of Ayatollah...
  
  
• Ali Fallahian
  Ali Fallahian
  Hojatoleslam Ali Fallahian, is an Iranian politician and cleric. He has served as a member of the 3rd Assembly of Experts of the IRI and as the Minister of Intelligence of Islamic Republic of Iran in cabinet of President Hashemi Rafsanjani...
  
  
• Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari
• Seyyed Mohammad Ali Abtahi
• Mehdi Karroubi
  Mehdi Karroubi
  Mehdi Karroubi is an influential Iranian reformist politician, democracy activist, mojtahed, and chairman of the National Trust Party. He was Chairman of the parliament from 1989 to 1992 and 2000 to 2004, and a presidential candidate in the 2005 and 2009 presidential elections.He is a founding...
  
  
• Ali Akbar Nategh Nouri
• Ali Akbar Mohtashami-Pur
  Ali Akbar Mohtashami-Pur
  Hojatoleslam Ali-Akbar Mohtashamipur or Mohtashemi is a Twelver Shia Hojatoleslam cleric who was active in the 1979 Iranian Revolution and later became interior minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran He is "seen as a founder of the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon" and one of the "radical .....
  
  
• Esmail Shooshtari
  Esmail Shooshtari
  Hojjat al-Islam Mohammad Ismaeil Shooshtari was the Minister of Justice of the Islamic Republic of Iran for 1997-2005.He used to be in the Majles of Iran....
  
  
• Majead Ansari
  Majead Ansari
  Majead Ansari , also spelled Majid Ansari is an Iranian politician and cleric....
  
  
• Muqtada al-Sadr
  Muqtada al-Sadr
  Sayyid Muqtadā al-Ṣadr is an Iraqi Islamic political leader.Along with Ali al-Sistani and Ammar al-Hakim of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, Sadr is one of the most influential religious and political figures in the country not holding any official title in the Iraqi government.-Titles:He is...
  
  
• Nusrat Amin Khanum
• Hassan Nasrallah
  Hassan Nasrallah
  Hasan Nasrallah, became the third Secretary General of the Lebanese political and paramilitary organization Hezbollah after Israel assassinated the previous leader, Abbas al-Musawi, in 1992. Hezbollah in its entirety is considered a terrorist organization by The United States, the Netherlands,...
  
  
• Hojat Yaldaparast
• Seyyed Muhammad Rizvi
  Muhammad Rizvi
  Sayyid Muhammad Rizvi is a Twelver Shī‘ah scholar, a speaker, as well as an author. He is the second-born son of Sa‘eed Akhtar Rizvi.-Biography:...
  
  
• Syed Sartaj Zaidi
• Syed Abbas Aliya
• Muhammad Baig
• Shamshad Haider
• Hurr Siberi
• Syed Hassan Askari