In this book, anthropologist Linda S. Walbridge examines the process through which a Shiʿi religious cleric becomes recognized as a marjaʿ taqlid (grand ayatollah), the highest authority on religious law under the Qurʾan, the Prophets, and the imams. Based on multiple interviews with Shiʿa clerics, the book offers readers a look into the complex political world inhabited by only a handful of scholars in the predominantly Shiʿi cities of Iraq and Iran. Each chapter is devoted to a different marjaʿ taqlid, with an exploration of his rise to the position, his various responsibilities (e.g., managing funds generated by religious taxes), and his various contributions to the community. Walbridge concludes with a discussion of the possible future of the position of grand ayatollah in both the Middle East and the Western world.