Muqtada al-Sadr, a charismatic Iraqi cleric who comes from a powerful clerical dynasty, emerged as one of the country's most talked-about Shi'a leaders.

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Muqtada al-Sadr Hojatoleslam Sayyid Muqtada al-Sadr . (born August 12, 1973) is the fourth son of the famous Iraqi Shi?a cleric, the late Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Mohammad Sadeq al-Sadr and son-in-law of Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Baqir As-Sadr. While he does not hold any official title in the Iraqi government, he is one of the most influential religious and political figures in the country. The elder al-Sadr, a well-respected figure throughout the Shi'a Islamic World, was murdered along with two of his sons allegedly by the government of Saddam Hussein, though some believe it was an insider job carried out by the orders coming from Najaf, in February 1999 in Najaf, the power center of the al-Sadr clan. Muqtada's father-in-law was executed by the Iraqi authorities in 1980. As Muqtada al-Sadr lacks the religious education and degrees required by Shi?a doctrines, he does not claim the title of mujtahid (the equivalent of a senior religious scholar) or the authority to issue fatwas (religious edicts); consequently he bases his religious authority on his lineage alone. Assassinations and violence His relationships with other Shi?a clerics are tense and occasionally violent. Some of his followers are alleged to be responsible for the 10 April 2003 assassination of Imam Abdul Majid al-Khoei. This is accounted for by the fact that the perpetrators pulled Abdul Majid al-Khoei and his aide's bodies with ropes across some alleys near the Shrine of Imam Ali in Najaf and shouted slogans claiming vengeance for the assassination of al-Sadr. The al-Khoei Family, however, do not hold Muqtada al-Sadr responsible and have blamed Ba'athists for the killing. There was a dispute over the keys to the Imam Ali Mosque in Najaf. The mosque contains the tomb of Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad and, according to Shi?a belief, heir to the Prophet's legacy. It is among the most sacred Shi?a sites, and also the source of a considerable amount of revenue. The traditional hereditary holder of the keys, Haidar Raifee fled for fear of his life after the fall of Saddam's regime. Mr. Raifee was widely believed to be an agent of Saddam's Ba'ath party who had informed on countless Shi?a opponents of Saddam's regime. Many of these activists and their families were allegedly tortured and killed by Saddam's Mukhabarat, or secret police. According to witnesses, at the mosque they were confronted by an angry mob, some of whom shouted "Raifee is back". They called him an "animal" and threatened to beat him with their sandals (a traditional Iraqi insult). According to reports, Al-Khoei fired his pistol in the air to get the crowd to back off. However, rather than retreating, the angry crowd surged at them. The mob killed Raifee with bayonets and knives; al-Khoei was chased down and killed in an alley near the nearby headquarters of al-Sadr. Ethnic Cleansing of Sunni Muqtada al-Sadr's militia have been involved in widespread ethnic cleansing of Sunni, especially those living in Shia areas. . Reports also indicate that the death squads which have been responsible for the deaths of many Sunis are not the actions of rogue elements but "a carefully orchestrated response to the attacks of Sunni extremists" by Sadr's Mahdi Army .It is however difficult to determine al-Sadr's personal involvement, but his public statements have on occasion condemned violence against Sunnis as well as terrorist attacks directed against the shia population. He has exhorted his followers not to fall into the trap of tit for tat retaliation leading to civil war. He claims that America stands to gain the most from an Iraqi Civil War which would require the continued presence of US troops and put the US in the role of political referee and powerbroker between the waring factions. He has been the most consistent advocate of Iraqi nationalism and Shia-Sunni unity.

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