Emulation of a dead cleric in Shi`ite Islam

I wrote over the summer that the sons of Ayatullah Fadlallah are leading the effort to call for his emulation after his death.  I wrote that in Shi`ite religio-political thought, there is emulation of the living, which gave dynamism to Shi`ite thought and practice. One more detail that my adviser on Shi`ite religious thought (comrade Husayn at Yale) added: that if you are to start in Emulation of a Cleric, you have to pick a living Marji`.  But if your marji` dies, you may continue in his emulation.  That is considered acceptable.  But the sons of Fadlallah are also trying to push for a controversial view: that people can pick Ayatullah Fadlallah as the object of emulation even as their first choice for emulation.  They have managed to obtain the agreement of a cleric in Bahrain to promote the view, so as it becomes a living cleric calling for the emulation of Fadlallah.