Fire and ice: Iraq's two Shiite rivals

NAJAF, Iraq —

On one side of the grinding political deadlock over who should lead Iraq's next government was a fiery icon of the downtrodden with an exalted family name: al-Sadr.

On the other was a wizened mullah whose al-Hakim clan founded Iraq's largest political party and whose scholarly air belies a reputation for ruthlessness.

The two men have been on opposing sides of the dispute over whether Ibrahim al-Jaafari should retain his post as prime minister. The impasse hinged not only on myriad political factors but also on the two clerics' family feud.

Muqtada al-Sadr and Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim head the two leading dynasties of Iraq's Shiite Muslim majority. They operate the country's two largest Shiite militias — the Mahdi Army and the Badr Brigade, respectively — each with more than 10,000 men under arms. And they are heirs to rival movements that for generations have competed, sometimes violently, for supremacy among their long-persecuted people.

"Iraqi clerical Shiism tends to run in families and has for a long time," said Juan Cole, a University of Michigan professor and expert on Shiite Islam. "Throughout the 20th century, the Sadr and Hakim families have been maybe the most prominent examples and have vied for influence."

The coalition of Shiite parties that won the most votes in Iraq's Dec.15 elections nearly fractured over its choice of al-Jaafari as nominee for prime minister. Al-Sadr, whose political allies control about 30 seats in the new legislature, lined up behind al-Jaafari, believing him more likely to push the Americans to depart Iraq soon. Al-Hakim's Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which also holds about 30 seats, sought to install its own candidate, Adel Abdul Mahdi.

Shiite politicians agreed Friday to nominate Jawad al-Maliki, a top ally of al-Jaafari, to succeed him as prime minister in a bid to clear the way for the long-delayed new government. But al-Maliki's prospects may be clouded by long-standing enmity between the Shiite factions.

Despite being groomed for decades by the government of Iran, al-Hakim has largely embraced the United States since the 2003 invasion and has profited from it. His Supreme Council party works closely with U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and controls several ministries in Iraq's lame-duck transitional government.

Al-Sadr, meanwhile, has battled the U.S. presence. In 2003, an Iraqi judge issued a murder warrant for al-Sadr in connection with the killing here of a rival cleric with ties to the United States. Two years ago, his Mahdi Army militiamen fought U.S. forces here and in Baghdad. U.S. diplomats and commanders say they number al-Sadr and his militia among the gravest threats to Iraq's security, and none has met with him directly.

Al-Sadr and his followers paint the Supreme Council as a foreign movement; its founders were exiled in Iran when Saddam Hussein ruled Iraq. In a rare interview soon after Baghdad fell three years ago, al-Sadr said Iraq should be governed by those who did not flee Saddam's rule. He also has been critical of clerics who remained in Iraq but suffered Saddam's oppression silently.

"The difference is simple: The Hakim family decided to get out of Iraq to fight the former regime, while the Sadr family stayed inside and openly defied Saddam," said Sahib al-Amiry, head of the al-Sadr-run God's Martyr Foundation. He denied frequent reports that al-Sadr also receives substantial support from Iran. "Our only relationship with Iran is as a neighbor," he said.

Both al-Sadr and al-Hakim owe their strength to a mix of religious legitimacy and impeccable bloodlines. Both wear the black turban that signifies their status as putative descendants of the prophet Muhammad.

Al-Sadr lost brothers, an uncle and his father, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, at the hands of Saddam's Sunni-dominated security forces. Al-Hakim says more than 60 family members were killed in recent decades — including his brother, former Supreme Council leader Mohammed Bakir al-Hakim, who was killed by a car bomb outside Najaf's Imam Ali shrine in 2003. In the past half-century, members of both families have held the revered rank of grand ayatollah, the top position in Najaf's Shiite religious hierarchy.

Leaders in both camps are quick to point out that stereotypes of the two Shiite factions have not always held true. While al-Sadr and his father were heroes to Iraq's working class, al-Sadr's grandfather was known for his religious scholarship.

The two families are also intertwined by marriage: Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim's wife is a cousin of Muqtada al-Sadr.

While his bloodlines are unquestioned, al-Sadr, in his early 30s, lacks the seminary training and polish of a top cleric. He draws followers from the Shiite underclass, whose speech patterns are echoed in his own. His base is concentrated in the teeming Baghdad slum of Sadr City, named for his father, where up to 10 percent of Iraq's population lives. His main mosque is in Kufa, a poorer city adjoining Najaf.

Following the model of the Lebanese party and guerrilla movement Hezbollah, al-Sadr has won support by catering to the needy and maintaining an armed militia.

While also operating charitable organizations, the Supreme Council is a more modern political movement, with a satellite television channel and an unmatched grass-roots organization and cultural programs overseen by Amar Hakim, who made a widely publicized visit to the United States last year.

"We have 80 offices from Basra to Sulaymaniyah," he said. "We have 1,000 mosques in Iraq and 5,000 clergymen linked to us. We have 1,500 women activists. We have educational foundations, schools and charities."

The marjiya, a council of senior Shiite clerics based in Najaf, has urged the two sides to mend the rift that has dominated Iraqi politics since the U.S. invasion. And on Tuesday, a senior aide to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, the most influential cleric in Iraq, said patience with Shiite politicians was wearing thin.

"The ones harmed by this delay are the Iraqi people. ... The Green Zone is soothing, and the Iraqi street is another thing," warned the aide, Ahmed al-Safi, referring to the fortified section of Baghdad that houses the Iraqi and American military leaderships.

But concern is mounting across southern Iraq that if al-Jaafari and his allies are eventually pushed aside, the Mahdi Army will occupy the streets. Last August, after al-Sadr's Najaf office was burned by a mob, his followers blamed the Supreme Council's Badr Brigade. The next day, the Mahdi Army attacked Badr offices across the south before al-Sadr and al-Hakim called for calm. Both sides have in recent days asked supporters to maintain order, but aides have said they would not rule out armed unrest.

"It is not our official policy," said Amiry, of the Sadr foundation. "But maybe some people will express their stance that way."