In an op- ed he wrote to Annahar commemorating late Ayatollah Mohammad Hussein Fadllalah, Lebanon's Speaker of The House Nabih Berri refrained from using the word "Marja", Arabic to religious and spiritual reference, while referring to Fadllalah.
However, Berri, known for his polished pragmatic tactics, used the word "marja" in his op-ed, yet in a general manner and not in the main title of the late cleric, hence not alarming Hezbollah. Berri himself had a difficult relation with Fadlallah.
Shiites believers choose a marja, whose teachings they follow and to whom they give alms.
While Ayatollah Fadlallah was a marja to Shiites across the Islamic world, in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, as well as in Arab nations, Hezbollah never acknowledged his status. His relation with Hezbollah has suffered ever since 1989, when Hezbollah chose to subscribe to the successors of the founder of The Islamic Republic of Iran Ayatollah Khomeini.
Like Berri, Almanar TV, Hezbollah's propaganda arm, referred to him only as Ayatollah.
In fact the question of the " marjaiyah", has received more urgency in the event of Fadlallah's death. The late sayed is one of two influential Shiite clerics who oppose the theory of "wilayat Al Faqeeh", Rule of the Jurisprudent, the second being Ayatollah Ali Sistani in Iraq.
For beginners, this theory bestows on one individual the divine role of the Shiite 12 Imam Almahdi, and entitles him to be his deputy. Almahdi is messianic Shiite figure who went into occultation in the 9th century and whom Shiite believe he will re-appear before the Day Of Judgment, to rid the world of wrongdoing, injustice and tyranny.
The position of the Waley Alfaqeeh is now occupied by Ayatollah Ali Khamenie of Iran.
Fadlallah argued for the institutionalization of the "marjaiya" as opposed to individual based rule.
Other Shiite clerics, who would at a certain point qualify as "marja" are politically subordinates to the autocratic regime in Iran.
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