Moqtada al-Sadr is a powerful religious voice in Iraq and his fiercely loyal Mahdi Army is becoming a powerful military force. But a voice for what and a force for what? A suggestion of how to answer such questions was revealed in the town Qawliya - or perhaps we should say "former town," because al-Sadr's men have completely destroyed it and scattered its inhabitants.

The Telegraph reports:

It was this brutal display of Mahdi Army muscle last month - combined with the increasing power wielded by its Islamic sharia law courts - that finally persuaded Paul Bremer, chief US administrator of coalition forces, to declare al-Sadr an outlaw, The Telegraph has been told. ... Coalition officials see the Qawliya attack as a watershed event which gave a disturbing foretaste of how Iraq might develop if religious extremists such as al-Sadr gain the upper hand. Officials have also received reports of illegal arrests and torture conducted by Mahdi Army militiamen on behalf of al-Sadr's sharia courts. US intelligence sources believe al-Sadr is funded by "donations" from pilgrims - not all of them voluntary - and from hardline ayatollahs in Iran.

"Al-Sadr is a thief who steals from pilgrims and he is a murderer," said a member of a prominent Najaf family. "His people will kill anyone who speaks out against him." In one of the few stores still open there [Kufa] is a pro-Sadr tract for sale entitled A Muslim Woman's Education. It forbids women to dance, even with their husbands, and says young girls should not learn nursery rhymes as they must not sing. It is the type of Islamic zealotry which the Mahdi Army brought to Qawliya, and which al-Sadr hopes to enforce across more of Iraq if coalition forces leave the country.

Al-Sadr's power is based on religion and the religious devotion of thousands of followers. It was built up over decades not simply by him but by his father, his family, and generations of Islamic belief in Iraq. It cannot be broken by military or police action. It may not even been breakable by religious action - but a purely secular move against al-Sadr will leave his power in place. He will be a martyr and nothing will change because someone new will move into place. If coalition forces cannot work with him (and there are good reasons not to), they will need to find some way around him. Unfortunately, it may be too late for that - the groundwork for a moderate Islam in Iraq should have been laid long ago.

Read More:

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• Religion in Iraq