Another perspective on Muqtada- an interesting figure:
atimes.com
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." |
