An extremely discreet and reclusive man, rarely seen in public, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, born in Iran’s holy city of Mashhad, is the primus inter pares of four great marjas who lead the roughly 150 million Shi’ites spread around the world – including Iraq, Iran, India, Pakistan, the Saudi peninsula and Europe – through the Hawza, the so-called “Shi’ite Vatican” […]