The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought

Iraq

Some of the central ideas in modern Islamic political thought—notably, constitutionalism, just government, and the role of clerics in politics—were conceived or elaborated in Iraq during the 20th century and in the years following the 2003 U.S. invasion of the country. Shi‘i clerics have taken the lead in developing ideas, overshadowing their Sunni counterparts. This is not simply a reflection of the majority share of Shi‘is within the population but rather a consequence of the financial and intellectual independence of Shi‘i clerics in relation to the Sunni government. Also, until 2003, Sunni clerics were part of the bureaucracy of the state and therefore had little control over the curriculum of their religious schools and the content of sermons delivered in mosques.

The Iranian Constitutional Revolution of 1905 to 1911 and the Young Turk Constitutional Revolution of 1908 had an impact in Najaf and Karbala. Both revolutions, and the Ottoman removal of the ban on publications and political association, enabled Shi‘i clerics to articulate their vision of constitutionalism and develop a political theory of a just government. Muhammad Husayn Na’ini’s (d. 1936) Tanbih al-Umma wa-Tanzih al-Milla (The awakening of the community and the purification of religion) is the most famous theoretical and systematic work written by a Shi‘i jurist in support of the Iranian constitution, defining government accountability in the eye of clerics and setting principles for their resistance to the ruler and their participation in state affairs.

Na’ini’s work influenced later generations of Shi‘i jurists and had an impact on the events surrounding the British establishment of Iraq. Thus, in the course of the 1919 plebiscite, Shi‘i clerics and other religious functionaries in Karbala, inspired by the jurist Muhammad Taqi Shirazi (d. 1920), signed a petition calling for an Arab Islamic government in Iraq led by a king whose acts would be supervised by a national assembly elected by the people to enact the rules approved by the clerics.

The 1921 establishment of Iraq as a state dominated by a Sunni minority elite was a setback to Shi‘i Islam, forcing Shi‘i clerics to withdraw from politics in the country. While the revival of Islamic ideology may be traced to the late 1950s, it became pronounced only under the Ba‘th Party (1968–2003) and following the 1978 to 1979 Iranian Islamic revolution. Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr was the moving figure behind Shi‘i Islamic resurgence in Iraq and the establishment of the Da‘wa Party in 1959. He gained reputation through his works Falsafatuna (Our philosophy), Iqtisaduna (Our economy), and al-Islam Yaqud al-Hayah (Islam leads life). Sadr developed a vision of Islamic government and distinguished between two types of religious leaders: the preeminent cleric who gains recognition by consensus, or a majority, among followers in the Shi‘i world and the one who is not necessarily the most learned cleric but who springs from within his milieu and responds to the needs of his local constituency.

Sadr’s activism was a threat to the Ba‘th Party and led to his execution in 1980. Yet his legacy inspired followers, including Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr (a cousin of Baqir al-Sadr and known as Sadr II). During the 1990s, Sadr II succeeded in reconnecting the Najaf world of clerics and seminaries with the rural communities of southern Iraq and the Shi‘i urban poor in Baghdad. His strategy built on grassroots politics and on the function of the religious leader as a field commander. Sadr II’s path to becoming a cleric commanding popular support was cut short, however, when gunmen shot him to death in 1999. His movement would reemerge under his son Muqtada al-Sadr following the collapse of the Ba‘th Party.

The U.S. invasion reenergized Shi‘i clerics and led Grand Ayatollah ‘Ali al-Sistani (b. 1930) to adapt Islamic political thought to an Iraq led by Shi‘is with significant Sunni and Kurdish minorities. From 2003 to 2009, Sistani insisted on direct elections to parliament, objected to the appointment of drafters to write the constitution, and advocated a government representing all social groups. Although Sistani had a vision of what an Islamic government should be, he was not inspired by Khomeini (d. 1989), who allowed the idea that clerics should rule to be implemented in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Sistani’s ideas were more in tune with those of Na’ini and emphasized government accountability. Moreover, Sistani accepted the political reality of a modern nation-state led by lay politicians and tacitly acknowledged that there should be limits on clerical participation in state affairs.

Meanwhile, amid the collapse of the Ba‘th Party, Sunni clerics emerged as community leaders. The period between 2003 and 2009 also saw the establishment of Sunni organizations such as the Association of Muslim Scholars (AMS), which attempted to position itself as a counter to the Shi‘i religious leadership and sought to rethink the role of Sunni clerics and Sunni religious institutions in a Shi‘i-led state—a novelty in the modern Arab world.