Once Allies, Now Enemies: Al-Halbousi's Attack on Muslim Brotherhood and Shifting Ties to UAE`

Amid the failure of his party to secure the position of speaker of parliament, Iraqi politician Mohamed al-Halbousi has launched a fierce attack on the Muslim Brotherhood in Iraq, accusing them of attempting to impose a religious authority on the Sunni community.

Al-Halbousi's Progress party, ‘al-Takadum’ failed to reclaim the post from which he was ousted by a judicial ruling on 14 November 2023, after being convicted of forging a petition to dismiss a fellow lawmaker.

On 31 October 2024, Iraqi MP Mahmoud al-Mashhadani was elected speaker of parliament, despite al-Halbousi’s attempts to nominate a member of his own party for the role.

Continual Demonization

In a video clip that circulated widely on social media in mid-November 2024, Sunni politician Mohamed al-Halbousi accused the Muslim Brotherhood of using the issue of a Sunni personal status code not for legal purposes, but to establish themselves as the religious authority for Iraq’s Sunni community.

According to Al-Estiklal, al-Halbousi stated, “If a Sunni code were to be written, it should be done by those of religious standing, who define themselves as the Sunni reference. But what I know is that the Sunni reference is the Quran, the Sunnah, and the righteous ancestors, and there is no current religious authority.”

“However, the Brotherhood wants to impose themselves by drafting this Sunni code, so that when questions arise about who wrote it, they can be referred to as the religious authority. They are exploiting the needs, laws, and sentiments of the people for political gain.”

“We will not accept the Iraqi Fiqh Assembly to serve as the Sunni reference, neither by them nor by any other members of the Muslim Brotherhood in the country,” He said in a television interview on 31 October.

However, al-Halbousi contradicted his own statements from 2020, when he visited the headquarters of the Iraqi Fiqh Assembly in Baghdad, met with its senior scholar, Sheikh Ahmed Hassan al-Taha, and affirmed the Assembly's status as a legitimate authority with a distinguished presence in the Iraqi scene.

Al-Halbousi’s media office later deleted a statement from his social media platforms, where he referred to the Fiqh Assembly as a legitimate religious reference, after activists captured a screenshot from Facebook and widely circulated it.

This was not al-Halbousi’s first attack on the Muslim Brotherhood in Iraq. He had previously accused them of attempting to "monopolize the rights of the Sunni component," referring to the government positions allocated to Sunnis in the country.

In a television interview on 10 March 2024, al-Halbousi accused the Muslim Brotherhood in Iraq of being behind fabricated claims that he was attempting to create a new Sunni region and was involved in an Israeli project to resolve the Palestinian issue.

"The Brotherhood wants to regain control of Anbar province, but we will not allow that. They were the reason for the deterioration of the situation in the city. After failing to return to power there through elections, they started spreading rumors about the Sunni region and the Palestinian issue, among other things," al-Halbousi stated.

Al-Halbousi's Fearmongering Strategy

In response, Salim al-Jabouri, a former leader of the Iraqi Islamic Party (the Muslim Brotherhood’s political arm in Iraq), accused al-Halbousi of fabricating a narrative to create a sense of illusion and hostility.

Speaking in a television interview on 21 November, al-Jabouri, who is a former speaker of the Iraqi parliament, argued that "al-Halbousi’s messages are not only directed at the domestic audience but also to the outside world, positioning himself as the person capable of confronting a challenge that you fear and have long warned about."

“Al-Halbousi wants to portray himself as someone who can face this threat, positioning himself as your man in this regard. It’s a narrative without foundation, as evidenced by the fact that in the 2021 elections, he allied with the Brotherhood on a single electoral list. So, if they were a threat, did that danger disappear at that point?”

Al-Jubouri linked al-Halbousi’s statements to the upcoming parliamentary elections in Iraq, scheduled for October 2025.

He suggested that al-Halbousi’s approach was grounded in a philosophy of creating an enemy where none exists, saying, "If you have no enemy, you can invent one, and cultivate a sense of hostility to attract support."

Al-Halbousi's claims were described as "remarkable," with critics pointing out that the Muslim Brotherhood had never expressed an interest in establishing a Sunni personal status code, nor had the Fiqh Assembly ever been linked to the Brotherhood. 

As such, they argued, this issue seemed designed purely for political marketing, with both its apparent and underlying purposes being misleading. 

It was, in their view, nothing more than a "tactic to beg for support" for an upcoming political phase.

In this context, Iraqi politician Misha'an al-Juburi revealed in a television interview in early January 2023 that the United Arab Emirates had granted al-Halbousi $120 million. 

Of this sum, $100 million was used for the 2021 parliamentary elections, while $20 million was allocated for other purposes.

Al-Juburi claimed that al-Halbousi distributed part of these funds to candidates on his electoral list to finance their campaigns, requiring each one to sign a resignation request, ensuring that their positions remained under his control (and, by extension, under the UAE’s influence). Two candidates reportedly refused to accept any money.

According to al-Jabouri, al-Halbousi’s rise to power in his first term as parliament speaker (2018-2021) was supported by Iran, but in his second term (2021-2023), he relied on backing from the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

In a television interview on 10 March 2024, al-Halbousi confirmed his strong relationship with the UAE, stating that he takes pride in it, as well as with Saudi Arabia and several other regional countries.

Since the onset of the Arab Spring uprisings in late 2010, the UAE has been outspoken in its opposition to the Muslim Brotherhood, which had gained prominence in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, and Syria, as well as among their allies in the Gulf states. 

Through this stance, the UAE has channeled various forms of support to al-Halbousi in an effort to demonize the group and its supporters in Iraq.

Man of the UAE

Regarding the motivations behind al-Halbousi’s current attack on the Iraqi Muslim Brotherhood, Iraqi affairs researcher Iyad Thabet said that "the leader of al-Takadum party [Progress Party] is trying to present himself as the UAE’s man in Iraq. Therefore, if they do not support him, the Brotherhood will be the alternative to lead the Sunnis in the country."

Thabet explained to Al-Estiklal that "al-Halbousi is fabricating an antagonism with the Brotherhood in Iraq, seeking to place all Sunni political forces and parties in the same camp as the Brotherhood, demonizing them as a way to court Gulf regimes, particularly the UAE, which backs him in every parliamentary election."

"Al-Halbousi first became speaker of parliament after taking an oath in front of the Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, promising to carry out whatever was asked of him. This was revealed by politician Misha'an al-Juburi."

In a television interview on 15 November 2023, al-Juburi stated: "It was Iran that created al-Halbousi. The latter swore allegiance to Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (the deputy head of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces) before becoming parliament speaker."

The Iraqi politician added that his son, Yazan Mashaan al-Jabouri (a former leader in the Popular Mobilization Forces), "was the one who took al-Halbousi to Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis’s house, where he swore an oath in front of Qassem Soleimani to make him the speaker of the Iraqi parliament."

In a report on 9 January 2020, Al-Estiklal cited unnamed Iraqi sources who claimed that "there is ongoing talk within political circles about the UAE’s support for al-Halbousi, particularly in the reconstruction of Anbar province and its preparation to become a separate region."

The sources confirmed at the time that al-Halbousi traveled to the UAE via Jordan, then secretly continued to the United States, where he met with senior officials in the Gulf state, though the details of the visit were not disclosed.

On 18 June 2021, former Iraqi Member of the Parliament Abdullah Alkhirbit, from al-Takadum (Progress) alliance, revealed that Sunni political leaders and the public had already made their decision to establish the Anbar region, and the only step remaining was an official referendum, as stipulated by the constitution.

During a television interview, Alkhirbit stated that “the establishment of the federal Anbar region is being actively pursued by al-Takadum (Progress) alliance, and the head of the region will be the alliance leader, Mohamed al-Halbousi. We have already chosen him in advance.”

One of the main reasons behind the UAE's support for al-Halbousi is his push for the creation of a region in western Iraq, with himself as its leader. 

This was during a period of widespread popular protests in Baghdad and the central and southern provinces, which had erupted in October 2019.

In a previous statement, Abdul Khaleq al-Azzawi, deputy leader of the Sunni "Sovereignty" party, confirmed that "al-Halbousi, along with several MPs and bloc leaders from the Union of Forces that he heads, met in an undisclosed country to discuss the idea of establishing a Sunni region."

Al-Azzawi told Arabi 21 on 19 January 2020 that "the country’s current political situation, coupled with the ongoing popular unrest, does not allow for such a project to be proposed. While the constitution does permit the creation of regions, raising such a topic at this time would be unacceptable to anyone, as it amounts to division and fragmentation of the country."

"This initiative was driven by a foreign state, and the evidence is that they were discussing the matter in that country, without daring to adopt or present it publicly."

This comes after Al-Sumaria News revealed on 15 January 2020 that "al-Halbousi and several Sunni Iraqi MPs and politicians met in Abu Dhabi to discuss the creation of a Sunni region."

Al-Halbousi, born in Anbar in 1981, did not emerge in the political arena early on. He worked in the contracting business and owned a private company called Bayt al-Hadid (Iron House), executing a number of controversial infrastructure projects in Fallujah.

Following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, and with the expansion of his business dealings with the occupying forces, some residents of Anbar nicknamed him "the Americans’ contractor," and he became embroiled in allegations of financial corruption.

Al-Halbousi holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Al-Mustansiriya University, earned in the 2001-2002 academic year, a master's degree in engineering in 2006, and a diploma in English from the same institution.

His first political experience came when he was elected to parliament in 2014.

In 2017, he was appointed governor of Anbar, succeeding Suhaib al-Rawi, who was removed from office due to political disagreements between competing factions in the province.

Despite his youth and limited political experience, al-Halbousi surprised many by being elected speaker of parliament in 2018. 

This was before Misha'an al-Juburi revealed the story of an agreement between al-Halbousi and Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, where al-Halbousi agreed to take the position in exchange for carrying out whatever was asked of him.