Grand Ayatollah Hakim is one of the four marajas of the Hawza Seminary in Najaf, Iraq, and, accordingly, is one of Iraq’s most important Shia clerics. His family is very prominent in Iraq, holding key positions in Shia social and religious organisations and also in government. Hakim leads around five percent of the Iraqi Shia population. His influence stems partly from his relationship to Grand Ayatollah Mohsen Al-Hakim, a former religious leader of the Twelver Shia in Iraq.