Muqtada Al-Sadr .. the most correct cuff in the Iraqi scene

In elections, negotiations, and the formation of governments and demonstrations against them in Iraq, one name everyone searches for to know the course of politics in the country is the name of Muqtada Al-Sadr, who is considered the most favorable thing in the general scene.

The generalized gray-bearded beard casts himself as a sponsor of reform in a country that ranks 16th on the list of the most corrupt countries in the world, with a political class that has monopolized power for 16 years.

But despite that, the Iraqi expert, Fener Haddad, said that "the Sadrists are an integral part of the political class, and they were not once absent from high-level ministerial and public positions."

Muqtada al-Sadr, whom his close associates say is fast-tempered and with a little smile, was born on August 12, 1973 in Kufa, south of Baghdad, and he inherited great popularity, as he is the son of Muhammad Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr, the most prominent Shiite cleric opposed to Saddam Hussein who killed him and two of his sons. In 1999.

Muqtada's father is a cousin of Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, a prominent thinker, who was executed by Saddam and his sister, Nour al-Huda, in the spring of 1980.

This remarkable lineage gave Moqtada a boost, as he was one of the most prominent figures who played an essential role in rebuilding the political system after the fall of Saddam’s regime in 2003, and the leader of one of the most influential and popular Shiite movements in the country.

A march that began with fierce battles with the American forces that invaded Iraq in 2003, and ended in a dispute with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who ruled the country between 2006 and 2014.

Zigzag
Muqtada al-Sadr went into hiding in late 2006, when he stopped to seek knowledge in the Hawza, in the Iranian city of Qom, until he returned to his residence in the Hanana neighborhood in Najaf at the beginning of 2011.

Karim Bitar, a researcher in international relations, says that "Al-Sadr is a person with a winding line, who moved from being a national leader against the United States during the Iraq war, to find him allied with Saudi Arabia, and he suddenly returned once again to take a radical turn and get closer to the Iranians."

It is known that the personality and approach of Al-Sadr are problematic for Iran and the United States alike.

If Washington does not forget the "Mahdi Army", then Tehran does not forget the hostile stances of the Al-Sadr family known for their widely respected religious leadership.

After the assassination of America early last month in Baghdad, the commander of the Iranian Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, along with others, Al-Sadr had a hard line against Washington, and he was the first to seek to end the American presence in the country through a massive demonstration he organized in the capital.

Twitter
Al-Sadr heads almost daily to his supporters, taking advantage of the "Twitter" platform, through which he moves a street and calms another.

The researcher Renad Mansour of Chatham House says that Al-Sadr - one of the few leaders who lived through the period of Saddam Hussein - "is described as inconsistent with the passage of years, but in the end it is what the street craves."

Indeed, despite the fact that he was the godfather of Adel Abdel Mahdi’s resigned government, Al-Sadr was not satisfied - according to Mansour - to "see a government he formed fail."

Consequently, the wave of protests that killed more than 480 people was a sufficient excuse for Sadr, who leads the "Saeron" coalition that won the last legislative elections with 54 seats in Parliament, to put his weight in it and drop it in the street, and even in alliance with the crowd factions that were not On good terms.

"Sadr support was decisive in forming the current government and several previous governments, but it seems that this contradiction had a major impact on the image of Sadr outside his base," said Haddad.

A week ago, Sadr decided to withdraw from the demonstrations and then return to them the following week, which puzzled even his supporters, some of whom rejected the move to withdraw.

The recent Sadr movement was introduced by some in the context of undermining popular protests after the appointment of former Minister of Communications Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi to form the new government with the same alliance that had previously resulted in Abdul-Mahdi, given that Sadr enjoys wide popularity among the poor Shiites, especially in the heavily populated Sadr City in Baghdad.

Despite the winding graph of Sadr's political career, Bitar said he is "a contentious figure with a fluctuating path, but he will remain a necessity in Iraq in the coming years."