However, this chain of succession was disrupted with the vanishing of the twelfth imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: A Nuclear Iran: The Case for Action
Hadi al-Mahdi, 44, hosted one of the most popular talk shows in Baghdad, on Radio Demozy.
The biggest challenge, Mr al-Mahdi believes, is to agree on the boundaries of Islam.
Mr al-Mahdi and Mr Mirghani might abandon their southern allies, return to Khartoum and go along with the Egyptian plan.
First were the local mujahadin, who were truly concerned about protecting the neighborhood from the Shiite Militias, particularly Jaysh al- Mahdi (JAM).
Both of President Bashir's main rivals, Sadiq al-Mahdi of Umma and Yassir Arman of the former southern rebels, the SPLM, are boycotting the presidential election.
It included stepped-up coordination with Shia militias such as Moqtada al-Sadr's Jaish al-Mahdi as well as Syrian-backed Sunni Arab groups and al-Qaida in Mesopotamia, he added.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Iran has a plan to manipulate US Congress
As a result, one of the group's most prominent members, Adel Abd al-Mahdi, a moderate Islamist and a current vice-president, stands a good chance of becoming prime minister.
ECONOMIST: Iraq takes another step down a long, hard road | The
"I condemn the murder of Hadi al-Mahdi, " the Director-General said.
"Indications are that it appears many honorable members of Jaish al-Mahdi are fulfilling Sadr's pledge of honor to stop attacks and reduce the violence, " the military said, using the Arabic name for the Mehdi Army.
The removal of Mr Turabi has cleared the way for the government to make its peace with two exiled northern politicians, Sadiq al-Mahdi, leader of the Umma Party, and Muhammad Osman Mirghani, leader of the Democratic Unionist Party.
And he said, by the way, you know, a lot of these guys are all, you know, they'd be in Jaysh al-Mahdi if they weren't out here selling - it was one of these massive markets where you can buy anything - tens of thousands of Iraqis.
Norquist's ties to Muslim Brotherhood operatives, including three who were also convicted of felonies - terrorist financier Abdurahman Alamoudi, Palestinian Islamic Jihad leader Sami al-Arian and Islamist activist Mahdi Bray - and Alamoudi's longtime deputy Khalid Saffuri.
CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: "Horatius Wolf": Rep. Frank Wolf takes on Grover Norquist
Scotland's richest man was named as Mahdi al-Tajir, owner of mineral water firm Highland Spring.
Residents blame the local representatives of Moqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army for targeting the Sunnis in the area.
On January 1st, American troops and Iraqi paramilitaries raided Baghdad's main Salafi mosque and arrested its prayer leader, Sheikh Mahdi al-Sumayda.
In contrast, Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army, the Dawa Party and the Badr Brigades are agents of the Iranian regime, as are Hizbullah and the Iraqi Special Groups.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's most influential Shia cleric, has restrained the hands of the most militant of the armed Shia groups, such as Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army.
Iraqi Trade Minister Muhammad Mahdi al-Salih Tuesday called for U.N. aid shipments being held "in the sea" near Iraq or at Iraq's borders to be released into the country.
But Iraqi Trade Minister Muhammad Mahdi al-Salih Tuesday said the U.S. and Britain were holding up shipments of food and medical supplies which Iraq would receive under the oil for food program.
In Iraq, this dangerous penchant for negotiations is what enabled Muqtada al-Sadr's pro-Iranian, pro-Hizbullah Mahdi Army to emerge from its April 2004 offensive against Coalition forces intact and free to become the power broker in Shii'te politics that it is today.
One of the detainees, Mahdi Jassim Abdullah al-Behadili, told the inquiry last month he feared being tortured and executed.
BBC: Al-Sweady Inquiry: Iraq teenager was hanged, says uncle
There are also Shia insurgents, the Mahdi Army of Moqtada al-Sadr.
The US defeated al Qaida and Muqtada el-Sadr's Mahdi Army in Iraq in 2007 and 2008 by taking and retaining security control over Iraq.
The difference this time is that the mosque was Shia, and some of the dead belonged to the Mahdi Army loyal to Muqtada al-Sadr, a volatile cleric with a large Shia following.
Since August 2007, al-Sadr has been credited with reducing violence in Iraq by leading followers and his Mahdi Army in a cease-fire.
One of the biggest is the Mahdi Army, belonging to Muqtada al-Sadr, a troublemaking Shia cleric who has become something of a kingmaker in Shia circles.
And as time went on, they became the targets of the insurgents, of al-Qaida in Iraq, and finally, the Mahdi Army on the Shiite side who said anybody who works for the Americans or any Western organization is a traitor.
Rogue elements of the Mahdi Army are ignoring Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr's seven-month-old ceasefire order.
应用推荐