The message described the cleric as a philosopher, thinker and Faqih who spent his life on the path of Ijtihad, al-Sumaria News reported.

His aim was promoting and implementing Islamic teachings and looked at Islamic thought as a project to create a civilization in the modern times, it added.

The Muslim world lost a great scholar and thinker but his books and legacy continue to benefit the world, it went on to say.

Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi, who was a member of the Assembly of Experts, died at a hospital in Tehran on Friday evening at the age of 86 due to gastrointestinal disease.

He had been hospitalized since Saturday after his condition deteriorated.

Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi played a major part in the uprising — led by late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini — that overthrew the US-backed Pahlavi regime in 1979.

Following the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi first founded Baqir-ul-Uloom Institute and then Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute in the city of Qom, which he headed for the rest of his life.

The cleric, a philosopher and political theorist, was a member of the Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom.

He also served as a member of the Assembly of Experts —  the body responsible for electing and monitoring the performance of the Leader — and the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution.

The cleric was first hospitalized at home on December 4 in the city of Qom, but following the progression of his clinical symptoms, he was transferred to Tehran for further treatment. He died in hospital six days later.

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