After Sistani: Is There a Successor to Continue His Legacy?
Since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani has played a key role in Iraq’s religious and political spheres, particularly as a staunch opponent of vilayet e-faqih.
A poster of Iraqi Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, is seen as Iraqi demonstrators stand on a high-rise building during ongoing anti-government protests in Baghdad, Iraq, January 26, 2020. (REUTERS/Thaier al-Sudani)
Executive Summary
For Shia Muslims, the question of who should have spiritual and political authority to lead the community of believers is vital to practicing the faith. Since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani has become a focal point of influence, not only for Iraqi Shias, but for Shias around the world. His fatwas, or religious rulings, have changed the course of history in Iraq and the region. Now that he is 92 years old, Shia Muslims in Iraq and elsewhere are concerned about who could succeed him, particularly because he has crafted a nuanced practice of clerical authority that could be applicable only to him. And he has served as a staunch opponent to the concept of the guardianship of the jurist – vilayet e-faqih – the Islamic governance enforced in Iran. His eventual passing is likely also to become a geopolitical issue: World leaders, particularly those in the West, worry his successor may not be as skilled in walking a fine line between weighing in on state affairs and prioritizing the interests of Iraqi citizens – working to achieve Iraqi sovereignty from its most intrusive neighbor, Iran.
For the first time since 2005, Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has no clear political role and no formal road map to get back into politics until elections are held again in 2025. So where does this leave him and the Sadrist movement?
Results from Iraq’s elections show that a determined young generation can organize and win seats, no matter the obstacles placed in the way by a political system most Iraqis lost faith in long ago.
On June 29, AGSIW hosted a discussion of Geneive Abdo's recent paper examining cooperation between influential Iraqi clerics and civil society activists.
