Ali al-Sistani

al-Sistani was born in Mashhad, to a family of religious clerics who claim descent from Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Muhammad. His father was Mohammad-Baqir al-Sistani and his mother was the daughter of Ridha al-Mehrebani al-Sarabi.[1]

al-Sistani began his religious education as a child, first in Mashhad in his father's hawzah, and continuing later in Qom. In Qom he studied under Grand Ayatollah Hossein Broujerdi. Later in 1951, al-Sistani traveled to Iraq to study in Najaf under Grand Ayatollah Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei. al-Sistani rose to the rank of mujtahid in 1960, at the age of thirty-one.[13][14]

The top maraji of Najaf Hawzah: (from left to right) Mohammad Ishaq al-Fayyad, Ali al-Sistani, Mohammad Saeed Al-Hakim and Bashir al-Najafi.

Ali al-Sistani and Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei

When al-Khoei died in 1992, Abd al-A'la al-Sabziwari briefly became the leading marja'. However, when he died in 1993, al-Sistani ascended to the rank of Grand Ayatollah through traditional peer recognition of his scholarship. His role as successor to al-Khoei was symbolically cemented when he led funeral prayers for al-Khoei, He also inherited most of al-Khoei's network and following, although there are many Shias who continue to follow al-Khoei.

During the years of Saddam Hussein's rule of Iraq through the Baath Party, al-Sistani was untouched during the violent Baathist repression and persecution that killed many clerics including Mohammad al-Sadr in 1999, for which Saddam denied any involvement. However, al-Sistani's mosque was forcefully shut down in 1994 and did not reopen until the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Since the overthrow of the Baath Party, al-Sistani has played an increasingly prominent role in regional religious and political affairs and he has been called the "most influential" figure in post-invasion Iraq.[15][16]

Shortly after the US invasion began, al-Sistani issued a fatwa advising Shia clergy to become engaged in politics in order to better guide the Iraqi people toward "clearer decisions," and to fight "media propaganda." As the summer of 2003 approached, al-Sistani and his followers began to petition the occupying forces for a constitutional convention. Later, Sistani called for a democratic vote of the people for the purpose of forming a transitional government. Observers described the move as being a path leading directly to Shia political dominance over Iraq's government, as Shia Muslims make up approximately 65% of the total Iraqi population. Subsequently, al-Sistani criticized plans for an Iraqi government for not being democratic enough.

In early August, 2004, al-Sistani experienced serious health complications related to a previously diagnosed heart condition. He traveled to London to receive medical treatment. It was, reportedly, the first time that al-Sistani had left Iraq in decades, and may have been due, in part, to growing concerns for his safety from sectarian violence. Though still recovering, al-Sistani returned later in the month to broker a military truce at the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf where Muqtada al-Sadr and the Mahdi Army had been cornered by American and Iraqi forces. Sadr, who rose rapidly to prominence through a series of independent military actions beginning in 2004, has since actively challenged Sistani's more progressive influence over Shia in the region.[17]

Sistani's edicts reportedly provided many Iraqi Shia cause for participating in the January 2005 elections—he urged, in a statement on October 1, 2004, that Iraqis recognize the election as an "important matter," additionally, al-Sistani asked that the elections be "free and fair. . . with the participation of all Iraqis." Soon after, al-Sistani issued a fatwa alerting Shia women that they were religiously obligated to participate in the election, even if their husbands had forbidden them from voting.[18] In an issued statement al-Sistani remarked that, "truly, women who go forth to the polling centers on election day are like Zaynab, who went forth to Karbala."[19]

He has consistently urged the Iraqi Shia not to respond in kind to attacks from Sunni Salafists, which have become common in Sunni-dominated regions of Iraq like the area known as the "Triangle of Death," south of Baghdad. Even after the destruction of the Shia Al-Askari Mosque in Samarra in February 2006, his network of clerics and preachers continued to urge calm and told their followers that "it was not their Sunni neighbors who were killing them but foreign Wahhabis."[20] Sistani's call for unity after the bombing of the mosque helped to control a potentially dangerous situation, preventing the country to enter in a bloody sectarian war. al-Sistani did the same when the same mosque was bombed again in 2007.[21]

An alleged plot to assassinate al-Sistani was foiled on January 29, 2007, when three Jund al-Samaa gunmen were captured at a hotel near his office. It is believed to have been part of a larger attack against a number of targets in Najaf.[22]

In an online open poll, 2005, Ali al-Sistani was selected as the 30th topmost intellectual person in the world on the list of Top 100 Public Intellectuals by Prospect (UK) and Foreign Policy (US).[23]

On June 13, 2014 al-Sistani appealed that Iraqis should support the government against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militant group which had taken over Mosul and Tikrit and was threatening Baghdad.[24] Later in June 2014, al-Sistani revised his statement and issued a fatwa calling for "Citizens to defend the country, its people, the honor of its citizens, and its sacred places," against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorist group.[25]

As the leading cleric in Najaf, al-Sistani oversees sums amounting to millions of US dollars. His followers offer him a fixed part of their earnings (khums), which is used for educational and charitable purposes. al-Sistani's office has reported that it supports 35,000 students in Qom, 10,000 in Mashhad, and 4,000 in Isfahan.[26] It also oversees a network of representatives (wakil) "who promote his views in large and small ways in neighborhoods, mosques, bazaars, and seminaries from Kirkuk to Basra."[27]

In Iran, as a result of the post-invasion opening of the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala to Iranians, many Iranians are said to return from pilgrimage in Iraq as supporters of al-Sistani.[28]

In May 2007, hundreds of Shias demonstrated publicly in Basra and Najaf to protest comments made by television presenter and journalist Ahmed Mansour during a Qatari broadcast of Al Jazeera television programming. While presenting Bela Hodod (a.k.a. Without Borders), Mansour voiced skepticism of al-Sistani's leadership credentials while directing questions about the Iraqi-born cleric to his guest, Shia cleric Jawad al-Khalsi. Mansour also suggested that al-Sistani was not aware of contemporary problems in Iraq or of prevailing post-war conditions, and he alleged that Sistani's edicts were, largely, written and disseminated by aides. At another point, Mansour asked Khalsi whether the United States was using Iraqi politicians, and also al-Sistani, to promote Western interests in Iraq.[29]

In January 2010, during a Jumu'ah khutba (Friday sermon), Saudi cleric Mohamad al-Arefe vehemently criticized al-Sistani by referring to him as an atheist and by describing his behavior as "debauched".[30] The remarks prompted protest by his followers in Iraq, Qom and Lebanon. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki rebuked the Saudi religious authorities.[31] Lebanon-based Islamist militant organization Hezbollah also condemned the attack on al-Sistani, calling the speech "inauspicious," while praising al-Sistani as one of Shia Islam's "most prominent religious references."[32]

• Current Legal Issues
• A Code of Practice For Muslims in the West
• Hajj Rituals
• Islamic Laws
• Jurisprudence Made Easy
• Contemporary Legal Rulings in Shia Law

His office states that thirty-two other works exist, but have not been translated into English.[41]

On September 18, 2008, hackers attacked hundreds of Shia websites. The attacks reportedly were the work of group-xp, a Muslim faction based in the Arabian peninsula which is linked to Salafi and Wahhabi, strict forms of Islam. They attacked an estimated three hundred Shia internet websites including The Ahlulbayt (a.s.) Global Information Center. It was later dubbed the "largest Wahhabi hacker attack" in recent years.[43]

After the attack, visitors to the site were greeted by a red attack banner bearing the slogan "group-xp" paired with a message in Arabic denouncing Shia beliefs and officials. Hackers also replaced a video of al-Sistani with one of comedian Bill Maher mocking al-Sistani.[44]

However, the attack led to the retaliatory hacking of more than nine hundred Wahhabi and Salafi websites.[45] One such successful attack was documented on video and uploaded to YouTube on October 3, 2008. The hacker, a Shia from the United Arab Emirates using the handle "ShiaZone," was shown logging into email accounts of suspected members of group-xp. The hacked email accounts reportedly yielded group-xp's contact information, information that was subsequently posted on Shia websites.[46]