Sistani, who was born in Iran, is an Iranian citizen and holds an Iranian passport. Although he has lived in Iraq since his teens, the 78-year-old theologian had always made a point of visiting Iran at least once a year - until 1979, when Ruhollah Khomeini seized power in Tehran.
Sistani couldn't visit Iran without meeting Ali Khamenei, a mid-ranking mullah presented by the government as the "supreme guide" of the world Islamic community, and thereby virtually endorsing that extravagant claim. Nor could Khamenei call on Sistani - for he'd then be acknowledging Sistani's status as the primus inter pares of the Shiite clergy.
A visit to Iran by Sistani - recognized as the world's most senior Shiite cleric, with millions of followers throughout Iran - would be a major political event. His refusal to visit Iran is a rejection of the system created by Khomeini.
Sistani had little organized contact with Iran until 2003, when the US-led Coalition overthrew Saddam Hussein's regime. Sistani was then able to reopen his seminary, revive contacts with outside Shiite communities and dispatch emissaries to set up offices throughout Iran.
He has now appointed representatives to more than 800 Iranian localities, creating the largest network of any grand ayatollah. By unofficial estimates, his network now collects the biggest share of private religious donations in Iran. Its offices finance thousands of theological students and run social-support services for the poor and the needy in both Iran and Iraq.
What explains Sistani's spectacular success? To start with, most Shiites regard him as the spiritual heir of the late Grand Ayatollah Abol-Qassem Mussavi Kho'i, the last major 20th century Shiite theologian.
Then, too, Sistani represents the classical quietist version of Shiism - based on a separation of the mosque and the state. That is, classical Shiism rejects rule by the clergy - a theory developed by Khomeini under the slogan "guardianship of the cleric."
Those Shiites, perhaps a majority, who want a clergy that is independent of government now look to Najaf as the true center of their faith. Many regard the Khomeinist version of Shiism that Tehran espouses as a political doctrine rather than a religious faith.
In that context, the grand ayatollahs of Najaf, with Sistani as their head, are seen as protectors of the faith against those who wish to transform it into an anti-Western, anti-modern and anti-democratic ideology.
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