In 2005, Sayyid ‘Alī al-Husseinī al-Sīstānī urged Iraqi citizens to participate in the democratic elections and vote on the proposed referendum, which saw an additional 2,933,532 Iraqi voters register to participate compared to the previous vote of 2002. Al-Sīstānī’s actions as marja’ al-taqlīd or grand jurist - encouraging the Shiʿi majority to political action – a striking difference from his predecessors’ decision eight decades earlier under similar circumstances to discourage voting by their followers. If nothing else, the actions of al-Sīstānī indicate that the marjaʿīyya, or religious institution, is an important factor to consider in the socio-political life of Shiʿi Muslims in Iraq. While historically the political involvement of the marājiʿ was minimal, as most chose to practice quietism, some were political activists. The present research seeks to explore how, and under what circumstances, does the Iraqi Shiʿi marjaʿīyya leverage its religious authority to exert political influence. I conjecture that the marjaʿīyya of Al-Sīstānī influences the politics of Iraq in two ways: either through direct political action – that is through the issuing of public fatwās and working with political parties – or soft indirect suggestion by referencing politics in their khutbas (sermons) or answering political questions when asked. Moreover, I propose that there are four main inciting motivators that provoke the marājiʿ to act directly: oppression, foreign meddling, the centralizing/institutionalization of the marjaʿīyya and the Iraqi government, and the fiqh, or jurisprudence that Al-Sīstānī developed.