Ali al-Sistani
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Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani علي السيستاني |
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| Religion | Shia Islam (Usuli Twelver) |
| Other names |
Arabic: علي الحسيني السيستاني Persian: علی حسینی سیستانی |
| Personal | |
| Born |
August 4, 1930 Mashhad, Iran |
| Senior posting | |
| Based in | Najaf, Iraq |
| Period in office | 1992–present |
| Predecessor | Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei |
| Religious career | |
| Post | Grand Ayatollah |
| Website | www.sistani.org |
Al-Sayyid Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani Arabic: السيد علي الحسيني السيستاني), or Sayyed Ali Hosseini Sistani (Persian: سید علی حسینی سیستانی), commonly known as Ayatollah Sistani in the Western world (born August 4, 1930), is an Usuli marja in Iraq and the head of many of the seminaries (Hawzahs) in Najaf.
He is described as the spiritual leader of Iraqi Shia Muslims and senior-most cleric in Shia Islam.
Sistani was born in 1930 to a family of religious clerics; his father was Muhammad Baqir al-Sistani. Sistani himself claims to have been born in Mashhad, Iran, however there are disputes as to whether or not he was born in Mashhad or in Sistan and then moved to Mashhad as a child due to Iran not issuing birth certificates in its eastern provinces (now known as Region 5) until decades later.
Sistani began his religious education as a child, first in Mashhad in his father's hawzah, and continuing later in Qom. In 1951, Sistani traveled to Iraq to study in Najaf under Grand Ayatollah Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei. Sistani rose to the Usooli clerical rank of 'mujtahid' in 1960. At the unusually young age of thirty-one, Sistani reached the senior level of clerical accomplishment, or ijtihad, which entitled him to pass his own judgments on religious questions.
When Grand Ayatollah Khoei died in 1992, Sistani ascended to the rank of Grand Ayatollah through traditional peer recognition of his scholarship. His role as successor to Khoei was symbolically cemented when he led funeral prayers for Khoei; he also inherited Khoei's network and following.
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Wikipedia