December 16, 2004

Hojatoleslam Karim Ashoori was born in 1971 in the village of Daf Chah near Rasht in northern Iran. He became interested in the Qoran when he was very young; he was only in second grade in elementary school.

At age 16 he ran away from home to become a clergyman. He went to Qom and joined a seminary. Between 1987 and 1990 he studied Islamic theology. But because of his love for competition, Ashoori did sports on the side. And this year he became a kick boxing champion.

Ashoori currently runs a number of fitness clubs and has about 600 martial art students. He has also trained some 100 instructors.

He lives in Rasht with his wife and two children, Komeil and Zahra. To see photos of Ashoori by Mehraneh Atashi, Go here, scroll to the right until you get to "Champion Hojatoleslam"

Mehraneh Aatashi's photo features in iranian.com

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