Sheikh Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...

Harith Sulayman al-Dhari (al-Dari) or Harith ibn Sulayman ibn Dhari al-Zoba'i al-shamri ( ar, حارث الضاري) (b. 1941 – 12 March 2015) was an Iraqi Sunni Arab cleric, and chairman of the

Association of Muslim Scholars The Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq (Arabic: هيئة علماء المسلمين في العراق ''Hayat al-Ulama al-Muslimin Fi al-Iraq'') is a group of religious leaders in Iraq. It was formed on the April 14, 2003, four days after th ...

. He is also leader of the Zoba' tribe. An outspoken critic of the American invasion of Iraq, he is known as "the Spiritual Leader of the Iraqi Resistance" (Insurgency). His father and grandfather killed British Colonel

Gerard Leachman Lieutenant-Colonel Gerard Evelyn Leachman, CIE, DSO (27 July 1880, Petersfield, Hampshire – 12 August 1920, Iraq) was an English soldier and intelligence officer who travelled extensively in Arabia. Career Leachman was commissioned a second ...

and played a part in the 1920 revolt against British imperial rule, which was the fiercest in the Shi'ite south, and was a seminal moment of unity between Iraq's Sunnis, Shi'ites, and Kurds that forced the British to allow a form of self-rule.

Education

Harith al-Dhari was educated at

Al-Azhar University , image = جامعة_الأزهر_بالقاهرة.jpg , image_size = 250 , caption = Al-Azhar University portal , motto = , established = *970/972 first foundat ...

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

. He later worked in the Islamic Law department of

Baghdad University The University of Baghdad (UOB) ( ar, جامعة بغداد ''Jāmi'at Baghdād'') is the largest university in Iraq, tenth largest in the Arab world, and the largest university in the Arab world outside Egypt. Nomenclature Both University ...

Iraqi politics

Al-Dhari has been an outspoken critic of the foreign military presence in Iraq and has said that he approves of the Sunni armed resistance in the absence of a timetable for the withdrawal of Coalition troops. This stance has won him support among Sunni Arabs and respect among the rebels. In May 2007 Al-Dhari did an interview with ''Time'', taking a stand in opposition to

Al-Qaeda in Iraq Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI; ar, القاعدة في العراق, al-Qā'idah fī al-ʿIrāq) or Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia ( ar, القاعدة في بلاد الرافدين, al-Qā'idah fī Bilād ar-Rāfidayn), officially known as ''Tanzim Qaidat a ...

, but also in opposition to the American occupation and the Maliki government. In July 2007 Al-Dhari did an interview with Al Jazeera Live channel, which stated that Al-Qaeda in Iraq killed 50 members of his family. His nephew Jamal al-Dhari currently leads the Iraqi National Project, a nationalist party that won a deputy in the 2021 parliamentary elections.

Arrest warrant

On November 16, 2006 Iraq's interior minister

Jawad al-Bolani Jawad al-Bulani ( ar, جواد البولاني) (also spelled Al-Bolani; born in 1960) served as the Interior Minister of Iraq within the Council of Ministers under Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki from 8 June 2006 to 21 December 2010. Bula ...

announced that an arrest warrant had been issued from the state's judicial system for Al-Dhari, who then lived between Cairo and Amman, on charges of inciting sectarian violence. "The government's policy is that anyone who tries to spread division and strife among the Iraq people will be chased by our security agencies." On September 16, 2008, the

U.S. Treasury Department The Department of the Treasury (USDT) is the national treasury and finance department of the federal government of the United States, where it serves as an executive department. The department oversees the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and ...

sanctioned Harith al-Dhari for "threatening the peace and stability of Iraq and the Government of Iraq by ordering and directing attacks against civilians and Iraqi and Coalition Forces." In his speech on July 2, 2006, Osama Bin Laden praised Al-Dhari.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dhari, Harith al- 1941 births 2015 deaths Academics from Baghdad Iraqi activists Iraqi Sunni Muslims Al-Azhar University alumni Academic staff of the University of Baghdad International Union of Muslim Scholars members Burials at Sahab Cemetery Iraqi expatriates in Egypt