A Look at a Shi’ite Grand Ayatollah
Step 1: Hit the Books
First, become a student of Islamic law at a hawza, or center of learning, around age 18. If you want to go to a top Shi’ite school, you’ll probably study in Qom, Iran, or Najaf, Iraq. There, you’ll choose your instructor and pursue a course of studies in fiqh, or Islamic jurisprudence. For seven to nine years, you’ll study grammar, rhetoric, and logic, as well as texts on Islamic law and legal interpretation.
Finish this and you’re a faqih, or jurist, and a member of the community of scholars. You could look for a low-level job at a mosque, but if you’re intent on climbing the clerical ladder, you’ll need to continue your studies for another five or six years. By the end of that time, you’ll have written your own commentary on a legal topic, and you’ll be qualified to engage in independent legal research.
Congratulations! You are now a mujtahid, or a scholar on Islamic law, and have earned the honorific hujjat al-Islam: “authority on Islam.”
Step 2: Work Your Way Up
Next stop, ayatollah! But first you’ll need to line up some followers. Start by becoming a distinguished professor of law at a prominent school, and over the years gather as many devoted students around you as you can. Those students will help spread your name within the Shi’ite community.
If you’re smart, respected by other Islamic scholars, and learned in the higher aspects of Islamic thought, you just might become an ayatollah (“sign of God”). An ayatollah ranks very high in the Shi’ite hierarchy – roughly equivalent to a Catholic cardinal – and he’s esteemed as a source of unique, original insight into Islamic law.
There is, however, no ceremony during which the title is bestowed, nor are there any formal requirements. People just start to call you “ayatollah,” acknowledging the respect that students, scholars, Shi’ite elders, and men on the street give to you. If enough people call you “ayatollah,” you are.
Step 3: Top of the Heap
Ready to make your next move? The top rung on the ladder is grand ayatollah. To attain that rank, you’ll need to be a marja’ at-taqlid: a “source of emulation.” Twelver Shi’ite Islam – the dominant Shi’ite branch – requires every believer to choose one marja’ at-taqlid, whose teachings will provide instructions for fulfilling Islam’s obligations and law. It’s as if the Catholic church had more than one pope, and every member of the church had to choose which one to follow.
Before you become a marja’ at-taqlid, you have to write a book outlining your edicts, so your followers have a guide. With your book at the printer, your scholarly reputation secure, and your followers without number, you’re a good candidate for grand ayatollah. This time the process is more formal. You’ll receive your new title via government edict or from the council of elders at a leading Islamic school.
There are only a handful of grand ayatollahs. As one of the few, you will be a very powerful man. Not only will countless Shi’ite Muslims look to you for guidance, but they’ll also give you their khums, a religious income tax paid by Twelver Shi’ites. With popular support and plenty of cash, you’ll be a man to be reckoned with.
