The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the U.S. were "a miracle from God," and Israel's assassination of Hamas' terrorist leader was a "dirty crime against Islam," says a prominent Shiite cleric in Iraq.

During Friday prayers at a mosque near the holy city of Najaf, Moqtada al-Sadr praised the attacks that killed some 3,000 Americans, reported CNN.

"As we say, 'The rain starts with a drop,'" al-Sadr said.

The cleric called Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon the "biggest terrorist of all" for killing Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin, whose terrorist group killed hundreds of Israeli citizens.

Yassin and seven others were killed in an attack Monday when Israeli helicopters fired rockets as the entourage left a Gaza City mosque.

Sharon "has committed this dirty crime and killed one of the greatest of Islamic mujahedeen," al-Sadr told hundreds of worshippers at the Kufa mosque, according to CNN. "This was once again a dirty crime against Islam."

He accused the United States of complicity in the killing and led worshippers in chants: "No, no Israel! No, no to the Jews! No, no America! No, no to terrorism!"

Al-Sadr, who has a powerful base of support in Baghdad, railed against the U.S. presence in Iraq, urging the worshippers to "seek the spread of freedom and democracy in the way that satisfies God."

"They have planned and paved the ways for a long time, but it is God who is the real planner – and the proof of this is the fall of the American Twin Towers."