Portal:Shia Islam/Selected biography/2

Ali Husayni Sistani (Arabic: علي الحسيني السيستاني), born August 4, 1930, is an Iraqi Usuli marja in Iraq and the head of many of the seminaries (Hawzahs) in Najaf. 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, then moved to Mashhad as a child due to Iran not issuing birth certificates in its eastern provinces until decades later. After doing studies in Mashhad and Qom, In 1951, he 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. 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.