INDEPTH: IRAQ
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani: A profile
CBC News Online | Aug. 26, 2004
When Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani was born near the Iranian holy city of Masshad on Aug. 4, 1930, it was pretty clear religion was going to play a central role in his life. What no one could have predicted was the influence he would hold over the future of neighbouring Iraq.
Iraq's top Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani (AP Photo/ APTN)
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Masshad is considered holy because it is home to the tomb of the eighth Shia imam. To Shia Muslims, the imam is considered to be the rightful descendent of Muhammad.
Al-Sistani was born into a family of religious scholars. His grandfather held the position of Shaik al-Islam (a scholar of Islam) in Iran's Sistan province. At the age of five, al-Sistani began studying the Qur'an, the Muslim holy book.
In 1951, he moved to Qom, Iran, to continue his studies.
A year later, he moved to Najaf, Iraq – and a pivotal point in his career. In Najaf, al-Sistani studied with some of the leading clerics of his time, including two men with very different views of Islam. One was Imam Abul Qassim al-Khoei – a man al-Sistani would later succeed as a grand ayatollah in Iraq.
Al-Khoei was a major figure in the "quietest tradition" – a Shia position that holds that a cleric should avoid involvement in day-to-day affairs and instead serve as an authority independent of politics. At one point, al-Khoei was considered the main leader of Shias around the world.
The second man was Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who went on to lead the Islamic revolution in Iran, which overthrew the American-backed Shah and replaced him with a government run by Islamic-fundamentalist clerics.
Al-Sistani gravitated towards the quietest tradition, a decision that may have helped him survive under Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's suppression of opposition. It was a decision that would gain him many critics, who saw his lack of vocal opposition to Saddam as a sign of quiet compliance.
Al-Sistani was named grand ayatollah after the death of al-Khoei in 1992. Al-Khoei had come under intense pressure during the mass Shia uprising that followed the defeat of Iraqi forces in the first Persian Gulf War. Saddam ordered al-Khoei's arrest and had him moved to Baghdad, where he was forced to appear in public with the Iraqi leader. He was eventually allowed to return to Najaf but remained under house arrest until his death.
Al-Sistani remained on the political sidelines through the 1990s – and his role as Iraq's top Shia cleric did not go uncontested. Chief among his critics was another high-ranking cleric, Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr, father of Muqtada al-Sadr, leader the Mahdi Army, the militia that barricaded itself inside the Imam Ali shrine in Najaf, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam.
Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr and other critics portrayed al-Sistani as a coward and referred to him as the "silent authority." Al-Sadr advocated a more activist, underground resistance to Saddam's rule. But it likely cost him his life.
Al-Sistani's role as top Shia cleric was cemented in 1998, when al-Sadr – and one of his sons – was assassinated. No one was arrested, but it's widely believed al-Sadr was killed by Saddam's forces.
Since the American invasion of Iraq in March 2003, al-Sistani has become far more involved in Iraqi politics. At first, he issued orders preventing Shia clerics from getting involved politically – but as the American occupation took hold, he called for a constitutional convention.
He also became increasingly critical of American plans to hand over power to Iraqis by June 30, 2004. He wanted elections to be held long before that, so Iraqis would have a say in who would serve in a transitional government.
To back those demands, followers of al-Sistani organized one of the largest demonstrations seen in Iraq since the American occupation began.
Al-Sistani has rarely been seen in public in recent years, preferring the safety of his home. It's helped him escape assassination attempts, unlike several Shia clerics. He left Iraq on Aug. 4, 2004, to receive treatment for a heart condition in London. But he returned to Najaf on Aug. 25, when he was asked to intervene to help end the standoff at the Imam Ali shrine.
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