Seyyed Ali Sistani
Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Sistani, the currnet highest –ranking Shi'a religious scholars in Iraq, born in 1930 in Mashhad –Iran to a family of religious scholars. Now he lives in Najaf –Iraq. He began his religious education as a child, beginning in Mashhad and moving on to study in Qom –Iran in 1949. After spending a few years there, in 1951 he went to Najaf to study under the late Grand Ayatollah "Abul Qasem Khoei". At the age of 31 Ayatollah Sistani reached the senior level of accomplishment called "Ijtehad", which entitled him to pass his own judgements on religious questions. When Khoei died in 1992, Sistani ascended to the rank of Grand Ayatollah.
Books:
1) Current lagal issues
2) A code of practise for Muslims in the West
3) Hajj rituals
4) Islamic laws
5) Jurisprudence made easy
6) Contemporary legal rulings in Shi'a law