Wikipedia's first sentence called it “iranian scholar”. Today it says “iranian twelver shi'a marja' and politician”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “20th and 21st-century Iranian grand ayatollah”. It now reads “Iranian Grand Ayatollah (1937-2020)”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2025 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2025
Yousef Saanei ( Persian : يوسف صانعى ; 16 October 1937 – 12 September 2020) was an Iranian Twelver Shi'a Marja' and politician , a member of the Islamic Republic of Iran 's powerful Guardian Council from 1980 to 1983 and also Attorney-General of Iran from 1983 to 1985. Whether he was a Marja' (Grand Ayatollah) was disputed. His calls for radical political reform in Iran were very controversial and in 2010 the government-sponsored " Qom Theological Lecturers Association " ( Jame-e-Modarressin ) declared him no longer qualified for emulation as a Grand Ayatollah. However, many of his followers continued to consider him their Marja, and this was acknowledged by several influential Maraji such as Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani , Naser Makarem Shirazi , Abdul-Karim Mousavi Ardebili , and Hossein Noori Hamedani . Radical Islam: the Iranian Mojahedin . "آیت الله یوسف صانعی کیست؟ مسئولیت ها و آثار + عکس" . 12 September 2020. روزشمارى انقلاب اسلامى . حوزه هنرى،. 1997. "یوسف صانعی از روحانیون منتقد حکومت ایران درگذشت | Euronews" . 12 September 2020.
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 1286033740.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Grand Ayatollah Yousef Sanei is an Iranian scholar, renowned theologian and Islamic philosopher . He is admired by many and condemnded by others for his radical calls for reforms and also serves as a Grand Marja of Shia Islam.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 369089334.
The opening as it stood in 2015 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Yousef Saanei ( Farsi :يوسف صانعى) (born 1937) is an Iranian politician and Twelver Shi'a Marja .He is surrounded by controversy related to his radical calls for reforms and though he has been demoted from being a religious authority and considered to no longer be qualified for emulation as a Grand Ayatollah by The Qom Theological Lecturers Association (Jame-e-Modarressin) .However, many influential Maraji such as Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani , Naser Makarem Shirazi , Abdul-Karim Mousavi Ardebili and Hossein Noori Hamedani have mentioned that Ayatollah Sanei's followers can continue to regard him as their Marja'.Despite the controversy, he has still many followers who continue to consider him as their Marja.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 631492007.
The opening as it stood in 2020 3 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
20th and 21st-century Iranian grand ayatollah Yousef Saanei ( ; born October 1937) is an Iranian Twelver Shi'a cleric and politician , a chairman of the Islamic Republic of Iran 's powerful Guardian Council from 1980 to 1983.Whether he is a Marja' (Grand Ayatollah) is disputed.His calls for radical political reform in Iran have been very controversial and in 2010 the government-sponsored " Qom Theological Lecturers Association " ( Jame-e-Modarressin ) declared him no longer qualified for emulation as a Grand Ayatollah.However, many of his followers continue to consider him their Marja, and this has been acknowledged by several influential Maraji such as Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani , Naser Makarem Shirazi , Abdul-Karim Mousavi Ardebili and Hossein Noori Hamedani .Radical Islam: the Iranian Mojahedin .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 963700262.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Iranian Grand Ayatollah (1937-2020) Grand Ayatollah Yousef Saanei ( ; 16 October 1937 – 12 September 2020) was an Iranian Twelver Shi'a Marja' and politician , a member of the Islamic Republic of Iran 's powerful Guardian Council from 1980 to 1983 and also Attorney-General of Iran from 1983 to 1985.Whether he was a Marja' (Grand Ayatollah) was disputed. His calls for radical political reform in Iran were very controversial and in 2010 the government-sponsored " Qom Theological Lecturers Association " ( Jame-e-Modarressin ) declared him no longer qualified for emulation as a Grand Ayatollah. However, many of his followers continued to consider him their Marja, and this was acknowledged by several influential Maraji such as Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani , Naser Makarem Shirazi , Abdul-Karim Mousavi Ardebili , and Hossein Noori Hamedani . Radical Islam: the Iranian Mojahedin . "آیت الله یوسف صانعی کیست؟ مسئولیت ها و آثار + عکس" . 12 September 2020."یوسف صانعی از روحانیون منتقد حکومت ایران درگذشت | Euronews" . 12 September 2020.
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1172099720.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “iranian scholar”. Today it says “iranian twelver shi'a marja' and politician”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “20th and 21st-century Iranian grand ayatollah”. It now reads “Iranian Grand Ayatollah (1937-2020)”. Read the current article and compare.
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Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
iranian scholar
Now
iranian twelver shi'a marja' and politician
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
