Is Muqtada al-Sadr retiring or repositioning? - Al-Monitor: The Middle Eastʼs leading independent news source since 2012

Harith al-Qarawee

Harith al-Qarawee

Feb 21, 2014

Shi'ite Muslim cleric Moqtada al-Sadr speaks in Najaf, 160 km (99 miles) south of Baghdad, February 18, 2014. Sadr stuck to his decision to leave political life and dissolve his movement, saying that politics had become a way to inflict injustice. Sadr, who led revolts against U.S. forces in Iraq before their pullout and became a major influence in the government, initially announced his retirement on Saturday via a handwritten statement on his website. REUTERS/Handout/Office of Moqtada al-Sadr (IRAQ - Tag — Muqtada al-Sadr speaks in Najaf, Feb. 18, 2014. — REUTERS

Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr speaks during a news conference in Najaf, south of Baghdad, Iraq April 30, 2016. REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani - RTX2C8B9

Muqtada al-Sadr, the most powerful man in Iraqi politics?

Mohammed A. Salih

Mohammed A. Salih

Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki (L) stands next to Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr during a news conference in Najaf, 160 km (100 miles) south of Baghdad October 18, 2006. Maliki travelled to the holy city of Najaf on Wednesday and met Sadr and Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the leading Shi'ite cleric in Iraq. REUTERS/AliAbu Shish (IRAQ)

Sadr and Maliki Battle Over Iraqi Oil

Iraq's firebrand Shiite cleric presents his political successor

Omar Sattar

An Iraqi man holds a picture of top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Husseini al-Sistani at a campaign rally for Ammar al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC), which is part of the broad Shiite coalition the Iraqi National Alliance, in Baghdad March 5, 2010. Politicians launched into their last day of campaigning as more than a million Iraqis living abroad began voting in an election that could turn the page on years of deadly sectarian strife. AFP PHOTO/AHMAD AL-RUBAYE (Photo credit sho

Sistani's critics want greater activism in Iraqi politics

Ali Mamouri