TEHRAN, Iran — The first chapter in the political life of Muqtada al-Sadr opened with the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq and his armed resistance against foreign forces. In subsequent years, he gradually scaled back such activity and began to cooperate with the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki while continuing to insist that US troops withdraw from Iraq.

The next chapter began in August 2015, when Sadr rallied some 100,000 Iraqis in Baghdad's Tahrir Square in a protest against what he believed to be corruption and partisanship in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, a clear sign of Sadr's return to the political scene. On Feb. 26, he again mobilized hundreds of thousands of Iraqis to take to the streets of Baghdad to protest against the incapability of the government to establish a nonpartisan and technocratic Cabinet.

A few weeks later, on March 18, Sadr and his supporters staged a sit-in outside the Green Zone, where government institutions, including the parliament, and foreign embassies are located. Sadr called the Green Zone a “bastion of support for corruption” and exhorted his supporters to continue sit-ins and strikes until the parliament and Abadi submit to their demand for political reform. Moreover, in a provocative speech on April 30, he tacitly encouraged his supporters to storm the parliament, which they proceeded to do. This means Abadi faces three main challenges: fighting the Islamic State (IS), implementing reforms and dealing with Sadr and his followers.

In general, to determine whether a political move is justifiable, useful or conventional, it should be assessed by criteria such as rationality, legitimacy, expediency and relative consensus of elites. As far as political rationality is concerned, it is obvious that to sow wind is to reap a whirlwind. By engaging in acts of sabotage and violence, such as storming the parliament, Sadr is provoking the other side, including the government, to take repressive actions against him. Such actions will create a cycle of chaos and disorder in Iraq and, as a result, everyone will suffer.