On gender issues, he takes positions that raise eyebrows among his conservative counterparts, such as questioning the conventional Islamic prohibition on female judges and challenging the traditional view that a woman’s place is in the house and the man’s in the workplace.

“The belief that it is disgraceful for the man to manage household tasks is derived from the social culture and not from Islam,” according to a statement on his Web site. “Personally, I think that no woman would be obliged to bring her social life to a standstill just because she is being occupied with her children.” Also from his Web site: “Knowledge is a merit for man and woman equally and the importance of acquiring it is identical to both of them.”

He also has addressed issues such as cloning and plastic surgery. “Mostly his fatwas are on the side of modernity and progress,” said Fawwaz Traboulsi, a Lebanese historian and journalist. “He’s very influential and he’s got a lot of money.”

Fadlallah’s most liberal rulings and attempts to distance Lebanese Shiites from Iran’s policies have angered some Shiite clerics close to the Islamic militant group Hezbollah and its leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah. Fadlallah was once Hezbollah’s spiritual leader, but now the two camps compete for donations from wealthy Shiites, who traditionally have given more money to him.

Fadlallah appears to have eased his anti-American stances. He is strongly critical of the Bush administration, but takes pains to underscore that he’s not anti-American. He recently answered a question about astronomy and Ramadan posed to him by a US Marine, a decision criticised by other clerics.