It was hard to believe Moqtada Al Sadr when he announced that he had completely withdrawn from Iraqi politics. The vocal Iraqi religious leader has been a forceful presence in his country’s politics for many years and was the mastermind behind the Mahdi Army, which was one of the more aggressive forces in Iraq’s long civil war and clashed with US forces on many occasions. To this day, Al Sadr heads the Sadrist political party that is part of the National Iraqi Alliance in the parliament.
When Al Sadr fled from Iraq in 2007, he moved to Iran to start a new round of religious studies and he appeared to be building a personal position of increased religious authority to promote his views that Iraq needed an “Islamic democracy”, as he worked towards his own Iraqi nationalist vision.
Al Sadr’s apparent withdrawal from politics coincides with a greatly expanded presence of rival Shiite militias, like the Asaib Ahl Al Haq, an Iran-backed group that has opened political offices in Baghdad and the south; and the Badr Organisation, which was formed by exiled Iraqis who fought for the Iranians in the Iran-Iraq war, and has now many members who are active in the Iraqi security forces.
In the volatile world of Iraqi religious politics, it will be premature to write off Al Sadr completely, given both his temperament and his distinguished lineage.
