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 ...

Jalal al-Din Ali al-Sagheer ( ar, جلال الدين علي الصغير, Jalāl ud-Dīn ʿAliyy aṣ-Ṣaḡīr) is an Iraqi politician and a former member of parliament in the

Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq The Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI or SIIC; ar, المجلس الأعلى الإسلامي العراقي ''Al-Majlis Al-A'ala Al-Islami Al-'Iraqi''; previously the party was known as the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq ...

. Prior to the 2003 US-led Invasion of Iraq he was the chairman of the

Paris Mosque The Grand Mosque of Paris (french: Grande Mosquée de Paris), also known as the Great Mosque of Paris or simply the Paris Mosque, is located in the 5th arrondissement and is one of the largest mosques in France. There are prayer rooms, an outdoo ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. He is the imam of the Shi'a Buratha Mosque in Baghdad. In May 2005, he was appointed to the

committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

that drafted the

Constitution of Iraq The Constitution of the Republic of Iraq ( ar, دستور جمهورية العراق Kurdish: دەستووری عێراق) is the fundamental law of Iraq. The first constitution came into force in 1925. The current constitution was adopted on Se ...

. In December 2005 he was

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...

to the

Iraqi Council of Representatives The Council of Representatives ( ar, مجلس النواب, Majlis an-Nuwwāb al-ʿIrāqiyy; ku, ئه‌نجومه‌نی نوێنه‌ران, ''Enjumen-e Nûnerên''), usually referred to simply as the Parliament is the unicameral legislatur ...

on the

United Iraqi Alliance The National Iraqi Alliance (NIA or INA; ar, الائتلاف الوطني العراقي; transliterated: al-Itilaf al-Watani al-Iraqi), also known as the Watani List, is an Iraqi electoral coalition that contested the 2010 Iraqi legislative ...

list. In April 2006, three suicide bombers killed at least 69 people in an attack at the Buratha Mosque. al-Saghir accused Sunni politicians and clerics of waging "a campaign of distortions and lies against the mosque". Two months later he was the target of another suicide bomber from

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 ...

, who killed 13 people when he blew himself up in the mosque. In October 2006, he was one of the senior Iraqi clerics who prepared the Mecca Declaration condemning sectarian violence. In November 2006 he clashed in Parliament with Sunni Arab leader

Adnan al-Dulaimi Adnan al-Dulaimi ( ar, عدنان الدليمي, 1932 – 3 May 2017) was a Sunni Iraqi politician who became prominent following the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the fall of the regime of Saddam Hussein. He and his supporters largely focused on ...

, which was shown on live television. He claimed Shiites in some areas were enduring violence that was driving them towards militias and "''opening the gates of hell''", and that Sunni Arab parliamentarians were inciting the violence. In February 2007, the Buratha Mosque was searched by Iraqi Special Forces as part of the

Baghdad Security Plan Operation Imposing Law, also known as Operation Law and Order ( ar, عملية القانون والنظام, translit=amaliat al-qaanoon wa an-nazaam), Operation Fardh al-Qanoon ( ar, فرض القانون) or Baghdad Security Plan (BSP), was a ...

after complaints that the mosque was a base for sectarian death squads. In 2007 he was appointed to the

parliamentary committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

charged with agreeing amendments to the

. In 2014, he created Saraya Ansar al-Aqeeda as a part of

Popular Mobilization Forces The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) ( ar, الحشد الشعبي ''al-Ḥashd ash-Shaʿbī''), also known as the People's Mobilization Committee (PMC) and the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), is an Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, transli ...

. In a January 2018 interview, Saghir stated his support for the authority of the Iranian Islamic theologian and head of state

Ali Khamenei Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei ( fa, سید علی حسینی خامنه‌ای, ; born 19 April 1939) is a Twelver Shia ''marja and the second and current Supreme Leader of Iran, in office since 1989. He was previously the third president o ...

.Iraqi Politician Sheikh Jalal Al-Din Al-Saghir: Khamenei Is Our Source of Authority, We Are Committed to the Iraqi Constitution because He Authorized It
Jan. 2018

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saghir, Jalal Al-Din Ali 1957 births Living people Members of the Council of Representatives of Iraq Iraqi Shia Muslims Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq politicians Members of the Popular Mobilization Forces