Photos: What comes for Iraq after Al Sistani?

In this Sunday, February 2 photo, a poster of Shiite spiritual leader Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, right, and Arabic that reads, “the love of the country bonds us together,” is hung in a site of protests, in Najaf, Iraq. Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, Iraq’s top Shiite cleric, turns 90 this year, and when he recently had surgery it sent chills around the country and beyond. What happens when Al Sistani is gone? Iran is likely to try to exploit the void to gain followers among Iraq’s Shiites.

A Shiite militiaman in Iraq. Standing in Iran's way is the Hawza, the centuries-old institution of religious learning which Al Sistani heads and which follows its own tradition-bound rules.

Analysts believe the Iranians don’t want another Al Sistani. They don’t want somebody who is strong, who overshadows their own supreme leader. While none of Al Sistani’s potential successors are in Iran’s pockets, Tehran can benefit from a weak figure.

In this Sunday, February 2 photo, a Shiite seminary student, left, walks to a class at “Hawza” seminary school, at the shrine of Imam Ali, the son-in-law, and cousin of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

Al Sistani has been a counterweight to Iran, not only in politics. He represents a school of thought in Shiism opposed to direct rule by clerics, the system in place in Iran, where Ali Khamenei has the final word in all matters.

Al Sistani doesn’t make public appearances and doesn’t deliver sermons. His messages are put out by intermediaries. He has been recovering from his surgery and this month has resumed receiving visitors at his modest home near Najaf’s gold-domed Imam Ali Shrine.

Fending off Iran is a concern for many in the Najaf Hawza, the esteemed institution of Shiite religious learning from which Al Sistani’s successor will emerge.