Iraq’s ayatollah

Why is al-Sistani so powerful?

The 73-year-old cleric is the head of the Hawza, the supreme religious authority in the holy city of Najaf. By custom, this makes him the leading ayatollah in Iraq, and his word is respected as law by most Shiite Muslims. The Shiites account for 60 percent of Iraq’s 25 million people. In December, after the U.S. announced it would set up a new government through a series of regional caucuses, al-Sistani spoke out. He demanded that the transitional government be chosen by direct vote. The U.S. administrator, Paul Bremer, said Iraq was not ready for direct democracy, but tens of thousands of Shiites took to the streets, shouting “Yes, yes to elections,” to echo al-Sistani’s demand. “If Sistani says die, we die,” a tribal leader, Aufi Abid Rahi, told The Washington Post. “If he says live, we live.”

What will happen?

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That’s very much up in the air. The U.S. is still pushing for caucuses, where delegates from each city and region would choose the new government. But, frustrated by al-Sistani’s opposition to this plan, the Bush administration is allowing the U.N. to explore alternatives with al-Sistani’s surrogates and other Iraqi leaders. It is possible that the U.S.’s June 30 deadline for the turnover of power will be delayed.

Is al-Sistani an enemy of the U.S.?

No. He was more than happy to see Saddam Hussein removed from power, and al-Sistani’s cooperation with the occupation has been credited with limiting violence in Shiite southern Iraq. In April of last year, al-Sistani issued a fatwa, or religious edict, forbidding looting in the wake of Saddam’s fall, and he urged Shiites to cooperate with Bremer and U.S. troops. “He could have made it difficult,” a Western diplomat said. “But he’s kept the lid on the Shia.”

How did he gain prominence?

Al-Sistani rose gradually through the ranks of the clergy. He was born in Iran and began studying the Koran at age 5. He entered religious school when he was 10. At 21, he moved to Najaf, in Iraq, where he became a favorite protégé of Grand Ayatollah Abul-Qassim al-Khoei. By the time al-Khoei died, in 1992, al-Sistani had been clearly anointed as his successor. He soon emerged as the new leader of the traditional clergy of Najaf, where he was recognized as a marja al-taqlid, or object of emulation. A marja has the authority to interpret Islamic law for his followers and to provide guidance on everything from mundane matters to issues of national importance.

What sort of man is al-Sistani?

He is a recluse and lives a quiet life of prayer and study. His edicts on day-to-day matters are traditional—men and women, he teaches, shouldn’t mix socially—but he does not share the angry fanaticism of Islamic radicals. Al-Sistani is a lifelong adherent to a Shiite tradition known as “quietism,” which encourages clerics to stay out of politics while exerting maximum spiritual influence. Most of al-Sistani’s followers have never even seen him, as he seldom appears in public, choosing instead to communicate through representatives. He never appears on television and discourages the public display of his image. He is an ascetic who dresses modestly, adorns his living quarters with cheap carpets, and reportedly only bought his first refrigerator a decade ago. “If the Prophet Mohammed was living today,” said Essam Kamil, who once worked for al-Sistani, “he would live the same way.”

What was his role under Saddam?

The main concern for Shiite clerics, al-Sistani included, was to stay alive. Saddam, a member of the rival Sunni sect, brutally repressed the Shiite majority. The dictator’s henchmen arrested, executed, or expelled hundreds of clerics. Al-Sistani, along with other senior Shiite leaders, was briefly imprisoned in Baghdad after the Shiite uprising that followed the first Gulf war, in 1991. Three years later, the government shut down al-Sistani’s Khadra Mosque, and the religious leader disappeared from public view in protest. He spent the last six years of Hussein’s rule under virtual house arrest.

How has this influenced him?

Al-Sistani wants to make sure that Shiites never again suffer at the hands of an Iraqi minority. He stated in a fatwa last year that any new government must “respect the religion of the majority.” Some U.S. officials fear that means al-Sistani wants to establish an Islamic state in Iraq that would resemble the revolutionary government in neighboring Iran. But he insists he seeks no political role for himself and has publicly called on other clerics to avoid direct involvement in politics.

So what does he want?

To stop what he sees as an aggressive U.S. push to leave behind a handpicked secular government in Iraq. Al-Sistani apparently fears that such a government could be controlled by Kurds or Sunnis, relegating the Shiite majority to a minority share of power. Al-Sistani can count, and he believes that direct elections will ensure that the new Iraqi state respects the Islamic traditions and beliefs of the Shiite majority. “He told me, ‘I did not go to the religious books to get this idea of elections,’” said Mowaffak al-Rubaie, a Shiite member of the Iraqi Governing Council who often visits al-Sistani. “‘I read their own books, and elections are in any textbook on democracy.’”

How the Shiites lost power