One of Iraq’s most influential Shiite clerics dies at 85

Baghdad: Grand Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammed Saeed al-Hakim, one of Iraq’s most senior and influential Muslim Shiite clerics, has died of a heart attack, members of his family said. He was 85.
A relative, Mohsen al-Hakim, told The Associated Press that al-Hakim died at the Al Hayat hospital in the southern holy city of Najaf on Friday where he was taken after suffering a sudden heart attack. His office announced that he died of a sudden medical condition it did not specify.
Al-Hakim holds the highest theological title in Shiite Islam – Ayatollah al-Uzma, which means Grand or Supreme Ayatollah. He was seen as the top contender to succeed Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, who is in his early nineties.
The Najaf-born cleric is a member of the well-known and highly respected Hakim family of Shiite scholars. His maternal grandfather is Mohsen Al-Tabataba’i Al-Hakim, a scholar and one of the most prominent thinkers of Shiite Islam. His father is Muhammad Ali al-Hakim, one of the most respected clerics in Najaf.
His second cousin, Sayyed Ammar al-Hakim leads the al-Hikma, or National Wisdom Movement, one of the largest Shia political parties in Iraq.
Along with the Afghan-born Mohammed Ishaq al-Fayadh, Al-Hakim’s was seen as the most likely contenders to succeed al-Sistani, Iraq’s top Shiite spiritual leader.