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Iraq's cleric who would be
heard
By
Nir Rosen
 BAGHDAD - The young cleric in black
robes and white imama, or turban, dragged the
older shop keeper to the door of Muqtada al-Sadr's
barani, or office in Najaf. The barani is
in an alley just before the Tomb of Ali, the holiest
place for the world's 100 million Shi'ites after Mecca
and Medina. Across from a store selling religious books,
CDs and watches with pictures of Muqtada, his father and
brothers on their faces, is an unmarked door
identifiable only by the crowds that stand before it,
earnestly making their case for entry and a meeting with
Muqtada to an indifferent young cleric who peers down at
them from behind the barely-opened door. The shop keeper
was ordered to wait as the cleric entered to inquire
whether it was permitted to sell shirts bearing the
image of Muqtada's father, Muhamad Sadiq al-Sadr.
Although he is probably the single most powerful
individual in Iraq, Muqtada al-Sadr does not convey
confidence. He is chubby, with the unkempt beard of the
not entirely mature. He tries to maintain a permanent
scowl to give himself more gravity. He sits hunched
over, with arms folded, and his gentle feminine fingers
intertwined. He has a lisp that might be caused by his
broken or rotten front teeth.
Unlike other
Shi'ite leaders, whose education and age bestows on them
a rich vocabulary and an eloquent fus-hah, or
classical Arabic, Muqtada speaks in a strong amia
or colloquial Arabic, replete with slang and street
expressions. His associates are all young like him, and
have the same arrogance when dealing with others, as if
acknowledging that they do not deserve all the attention
they are receiving.
Muqtada has recently taken
to claiming that he is 30, but his real age is probably
more like 23, according to most people who have
associated with him, including a former bodyguard. He
punctuates his points with a dismissive puff, "eh" and
sneers. He is very aggressive, which is highly unusual
in the labyrinth of rumors, hints and innuendoes that
typically make up a conversation with a Shi'ite leader.
He is the young upstart of the Shi'ite world,
taking on the establishment, showing no respect for his
elders, or his betters. In the eyes of the Shi'ite
establishment embodied in the Hawza, or religious
academy based in Najaf, Muqtada is just an arrogant
street punk benefiting from his father's reputation and
universal admiration. But he cannot be so easily
ignored.
In July, Muqtada visited Baghdad for
the first time since his father's death in 1999, on
Monday June 23. He visited the Kadhimiya and Shaala
neighborhoods before arriving in Thawra, where tens of
thousands greeted him with tribal flags as well as Iraqi
flags. Before Muqtada took the stage, a speaker read the
"victory verse" from the Koran: "If you receive god's
victory and you witness people joining Islam in great
numbers thank your god and ask him to forgive you for
god is very merciful." People chanted: "Muqtada don't
worry we will sacrifice our blood for the you!" A melody
for a song that had once praised Saddam Hussein now
carried a song praising Muqtada.
Witnesses said
that Muqtada cried and then he said, "I visited this
city when my father was alive and I will visit this city
on this day every year ... do not believe in rumors,
verify them with us first." Muqtada spoke of the memory
of the martyrs and promised the Iraqi people that the
unemployment problem would soon be solved because
companies will return to Iraq. He spoke for seven
minutes and then the crowds of adulators would not let
him leave.
Hazem Saghiyeh, an Arab intellectual
and writer, was disturbed by this phenomenon and in
al-Hayat last week described the sight of Muqtada
surrounded by excited young men as a "neurotic mass,
furious in its refusal of modernity". Clashes erupted
between communists and followers of Muqtada after the
communists called Muqtada "the turbaned statue" and said
his photos everywhere resemble those of Saddam.
Muqtada's followers have also recently begun once more
to threaten and attack ideological opponents. Most
observers and residents of Najaf believe that Muqtada
was involved in the murder of Abo Majid al-Khoei, a
moderate Shi'ite cleric who returned from exile in April
and was murdered his first day in Najaf outside the tomb
of Ali. Muqtada followers then surrounded the house of
conservative Shi'ite clerics, including that of the
highest ranking cleric, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, and gave
him 24 hours to leave Najaf. This provoked 1,500
tribesmen loyal to Sistani to descend on Najaf in his
defense. Muqtada controls thousands of fiercely loyal
armed followers in key Shi'ite cities and neighborhoods,
many of whom view him as the Mahdi, or the revered
Shi'ite leader who supernaturally disappeared in the 9th
century and will return like the Messiah.
Immediately after Saddam's regime fell, Muqtada
dispatched young associates to take over key mosques
throughout Iraq and to provide security and social
services, thereby establishing a rival authority to the
US-imposed government, and one with more legitimacy in
much of Iraq.
He has also recently called for
the establishment of a Mahdi army of loyal followers and
he described it recently as an "organizational army" and
not an "armed one", its objective is to "protect Iraq
and the Marja'iya [Shi'ite clerics] when
necessary". He also accused the Americans of besieging
his house, but added that they could not prevent him
from going out to see his people because of the Mahdi
army. "Americans dispersed," he said, after knowing that
they would face a "grave test called the Shi'ites". He
also reiterated that the American-appointed Iraqi
government council is the best "agent for Americans" and
that services were much better under the old regime. He
said that the new governing council was not
representative and that "a people's council should be
formed instead".
"When America attacked Iraq it
neglected world opinion," he said. "The whole world
stood against America and the US ignored it. Likewise,
the US will ignore the opinion of the Iraqi people and
it will compose the new government according to its own
desires." He does not thank the US for freeing Iraq, he
thanks god. Muqtada denied any ambitions to lead Iraq.
"I don't want the chair of the government because it
will be controlled by the US and I don't want to be
controlled by the US."
Muqtada dismissed the
traditional Shi'ite leadership and singled out Ayatollah
Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council
for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, for particular
ridicule. "The Badr corps have 10,000 or 12,000
supporters, while three quarters of Iraq are soldiers of
Sadr. The Iraqi people don't follow any Marja but
my father. The followers of Sadr don't like Hakim
because he betrayed the people of Basra and the south
when he urged them to fight [in the 1991 intifada] and
didn't come in to help them, causing the intifada to
fail. The Badr forces came from the outside and do not
represent the people." Muqtada also dismisses Sistani,
who was born in Iran and has a slight Iranian accent,
for being a foreigner, although US military intelligence
believes that Muqtada himself receives money from Iran,
though it is not clear whether it is from the government
of from religious leaders.
When asked if he
wanted to attack America, Muqtada snorted and replied in
a very colloquial expression that means "why would I
want to f... myself," implying that if he answers the
question he will only get into trouble. He said only, "I
will fight America when Muhamad al-Mahdi [the 12th
leader of the Shi'ites who disappeared and will return
to save them] will appear because this is the land of
Muhamad al-Mahdi and they occupy his land."
(Copyright 2003 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All
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