The invention of the Internet has infiltrated the networks of mujtahids. The rise in computer and Internet usage in the Arab world has allowed Lebanese mujtahids to expand their authority and challenge Iranian Shi’i hegemony. When ayatollahs use the Internet a paradox results. Lebanon-based authority is strengthened relative to Iranian authority, however, Internet websites allow self-styled ayatollahs to proliferate and diverse centers of authority to form that are based exclusively on the Internet. At the same time these websites adhere to common conventions in content and presentation, such as images of the shrine of Imam ‘Ali, and downloadable treatises on Shi‘i legal topics. Every ayatollah today has a website run by his followers. This paper shows how the structures of authority in Shi‘i communities reflect the paradoxical outcomes of conformity and decentralization as a result of the Internet. Drawing from the theories of Arjun Appadurai, my research positions Shi‘i authority structures in a “disjunctive global economy of culture” and elucidates the creative ways in which these uniquely situated religious authorities articulate the relationship between the local and the global. The Internet has eased traditional boundaries of communication between disparate Shi‘i communities worldwide and encouraged the rise and development of an Arab Shi‘i transnational community. Mujtahids continue to represent continuity and innovation as an authoritative symbolic religious institutional reference point for the Shi‘a, providing a source of communal cohesiveness and at the same time the potential for intra-sectarian fragmentation. Arab ayatollahs have engaged with modernity by manipulating the disjunctive cultural, political and economic forces of globalization. Their involvement in these processes, and the outcomes that derive from their actions challenge previous understandings of the boundaries of Shi‘i authority. Since a mujtahid bases his authority in part on his role as the keeper and producer of knowledge, the use of websites and Internet technology provides greater opportunities for constituency-building and at the same time the potential loss of control over the production and dissemination of knowledge. Taking the online presence of the late Muhammed Husayn Fadlallah as a starting point, this paper will clarify the shifting boundaries of authority and interconnectedness that characterizes the complex relationship between Fadlallah, his closest confidants, children, students and passive observers. I argue that each of these constituencies play a crucial role in the formation of a Lebanese Shi‘i actor-network that continues to reshape Fadlallah’s legacy while transforming the virtual landscape of religious authority in Lebanon.