The National Wisdom Movement (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

:تيار الحكمة الوطني ''Tayar al-Hikmah al-Watani'') is a political coalition in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, the Persian Gulf and K ...

that was formed to contest the 2018 general election. It is led by

Ammar al-Hakim Sayyid Ammar al-Hakim ( ar, سید عمار الحكيم) is an Iraqi cleric and politician who led the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, from 2009 to 2017. Early life Al-Hakim was born in 1971 in Al-Najaf, the son of Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim, who ...

, who was previously the leader of 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 ...

(ISCI).

Background

ISCI is one of the oldest Shiite Islamist political parties in Iraq, founded in exile during the presidency of

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolutio ...

by a senior cleric,

Ayatollah Ayatollah ( ; fa, آیت‌الله, āyatollāh) is an honorific title for high-ranking Twelver Shia clergy in Iran and Iraq that came into widespread usage in the 20th century. Etymology The title is originally derived from Arabic word p ...

Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim. Following the US-led

invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

in 2003, it has been a leading party of the majority Shiite Arab population and an important component of every government. The leader of ISCI,

Abdul Aziz al-Hakim Ayatollah Abdul Aziz al-Hakim ( ; ar, سید عبد العزيز الحكيم; 1952 – 26 August 2009) was an Iraqi theologian and politician and the leader of Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, a party that has approximately 5% support in the ...

, was a member of the

Iraqi Governing Council The Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) was the provisional government of Iraq from 13 July 2003 to 1 June 2004. It was established by and served under the United States-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). The IGC consisted of various Iraqi pol ...

in 2003–04 and president in December 2003; a leading member,

Adil Abdul-Mahdi Adil Abdul-Mahdi al-Muntafiki ( ar, عادل عبد المهدي المنتفكي, born 1 January 1942) is an Iraqi politician who served as Prime Minister of Iraq from October 2018 until May 2020, hundreds of protestors of ''Tishreen revolutio ...

served as Prime Minister from 2018 to 2020 and was Finance Minister from 2004 to 2005 in the

Iraqi Interim Government The Iraqi Interim Government was created by the United States and its coalition allies as a caretaker government to govern Iraq until the drafting of the new constitution following the National Assembly election conducted on January 30, 2005. T ...

, Vice-president 2005–2011 – which included the

Iraqi Transitional Government The Iraqi Transitional Government was the government of Iraq from May 3, 2005, when it replaced the Iraqi Interim Government, until May 20, 2006, when it was replaced by a permanent government. On April 28 it was approved by the transitional Ira ...

and the

Al Maliki I Government The first government of Iraq led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki took office on May 20, 2006 following approval by the members of the Iraqi National Assembly. This followed the general election in December 2005. The government succeeded the Ir ...

– and Oil Minister (one of the "sovereign ministries") since 2014 as part of the Al Abadi Government. Another member, Baqir Jabr al-Zubeidi, was Minister of Interior in 2005–2006 and Finance Minister 2006–2010. Hadi Al-Amiri, who led the military wing of ISCI, was Transport Minister 2010–14 as part of the Al Maliki II Government. ISCI was led by Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim from 1992 until his assassination in 2003; he was succeeded by his brother,

, who led until his death in 2009 when he was succeeded by his son, Ammar. They were the largest component in the

Al-Muwatin Citizen Alliance ( ar, Al-Muwatin, ar, ائتلاف المواطن) was a political coalition in Iraq led by Ammar al-Hakim, President of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq, from 2014 to 2017. Most of its MPs joined the National Wisdom Movement ...

(Citizens Alliance) list which contested the

2014 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2014. * 2014 United Nations Security Council election 16 October 2014 Africa * 2014 Algerian presidential election 17 April 2014 * 2014 Botswana general election 24 October 2014 * 2014 Comorian presi ...

, coming third with 29 seats.

Foundation

Ammar al-Hakim announced in July 2017 that he was leaving ISCI and forming a new "non-Islamic national movement" called the National Wisdom Movement (al-Hikmah). All except 5 of the existing 29 MPs from the Citizens Alliance joined Al-Hikma. He said he would "''get rid of sectarian and nationalist polarization, open up to the Sunnis in Iraq, reach an understanding with neighbouring countries and disassociate Iraq from the conflict in the region''". Other senior members of ISCI had accused Ammar of making decisions without consulting other leaders and rejected his proposal to introduce more young people to the leadership; when he informed the

Supreme Leader of Iran The Supreme Leader of Iran ( fa, رهبر ایران, rahbar-e irān) is the head of state of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Supreme Leader directs the executive system and judicial system of the Islamic theocratic government and is the co ...

, Ayatollah

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 ...

, of his move he responded that "your withdrawal from the Council serves no interest and is a wrong step." The new party also retained from ISCI the main assets of the party, including Al-Forat TV station and the grand palace complex in Baghdad.

References

{{Iraqi political parties Political party alliances in Iraq Political parties established in 2017