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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Iraq
Index
Great Mosque in the Shia holy city of An Najaf
Courtesy Matson Collection
Islam is a system of religious beliefs and an allencompassing way of life. Muslims believe that God (Allah)
revealed to the Prophet Muhammad the rules governing society and
the proper conduct of society's members. It is incumbent on the
individual therefore to live in a manner prescribed by the
revealed law and on the community to build the perfect human
society on earth according to holy injunctions. Islam recognizes
no distinctions between church and state. The distinction between
religious and secular law is a recent development that reflects
the more pronounced role of the state in society, and Western
economic and cultural penetration. The impact of religion on
daily life in Muslim countries is far greater than that found in
the West since the Middle Ages.
The Ottoman Empire organized society around the concept of
the millet, or autonomous religious community. The nonMuslim "People of the Book" (Christians and Jews) owed taxes to
the government; in return they were permitted to govern
themselves according to their own religious law in matters that
did not concern Muslims. The religious communities were thus able
to preserve a large measure of identity and autonomy.
The Iraqi Baath Party has been a proponent of secularism.
This attitude has been maintained despite the fact that the mass
of Iraqis are deeply religious. At the same time, the Baathists
have not hesitated to exploit religion as a mobilizing agent; and
from the first months of the war with Iran, prominent Baathists
have made a public show of attending religious observances.
Iraq's President Saddam Husayn is depicted in prayer in posters
displayed throughout the country. Moreover, the Baath has
provided large sums of money to refurbish important mosques; this
has proved a useful tactic in encouraging support from the Shias.
Islam came to Iraq by way of the Arabian Peninsula, where in
A.D.610, Muhammad--a merchant of the Hashimite branch of the
ruling Quraysh tribe in the Arabian town of Mecca--began to
preach the first of a series of revelations granted him by God
through the angel Gabriel. A fervent monotheist, Muhammad
denounced the polytheism of his fellow Meccans. Because the
town's economy was based in part on a thriving pilgrimage
business to the shrine called the Kaaba and numerous other pagan
religious sites in the area, his censure earned him the enmity of
the town's leaders. In A.D.622 he and a group of followers
accepted an invitation to settle in the town of Yathrib, later
known as Medina (the city), because it was the center of
Muhammad's activities. The move, or hijra, known in the
West as the hegira, marks the beginning of the Islamic era
and of Islam as a force in history; the Muslim calendar begins in
A.D.622. In Medina Muhammad continued to preach and eventually
defeated his detractors in battle. He consolidated the temporal
and the spiritual leadership in his person before his death in
A.D.632. After Muhammad's death, his followers compiled those of
his words regarded as coming directly from God into the Quran,
the holy scriptures of Islam. Others of his sayings and
teachings, recalled by those who had known him, became the
hadith. The precedent of Muhammad's personal behavior is called
the sunna. Together they form a comprehensive guide to the
spiritual, ethical, and social life of the orthodox Sunni Muslim.
The duties of Muslims form the five pillars of Islam, which
set forth the acts necessary to demonstrate and reinforce the
faith. These are the recitation of the shahada ("There is
no God but God [Allah], and Muhammad is his prophet"), daily
prayer (salat), almsgiving (zakat), fasting
(sawm), and pilgrimage (hajj). The believer is to pray in
a prescribed manner after purification through ritual ablutions
each day at dawn, midday, midafternoon, sunset, and nightfall.
Prescribed genuflections and prostrations accompany the prayers,
which the worshiper recites facing toward Mecca. Whenever
possible men pray in congregation at the mosque with an imam, and
on Fridays make a special effort to do so. The Friday noon
prayers provide the occasion for weekly sermons by religious
leaders. Women may also attend public worship at the mosque,
where they are segregated from the men, although most frequently
women pray at home. A special functionary, the muezzin, intones a
call to prayer to the entire community at the appropriate hour.
Those out of earshot determine the time by the sun.
The ninth month of the Muslim calendar is Ramadan, a period
of obligatory fasting in commemoration of Muhammad's receipt of
God's revelation. Throughout the month all but the sick and weak,
pregnant or lactating women, soldiers on duty, travelers on
necessary journeys, and young children are enjoined from eating,
drinking, smoking, or sexual intercourse during the daylight
hours. Those adults excused are obliged to endure an equivalent
fast at their earliest opportunity. A festive meal breaks the
daily fast and inaugurates a night of feasting and celebration.
The pious well-to-do usually do little or no work during this
period, and some businesses close for all or part of the day.
Since the months of the lunar year revolve through the solar
year, Ramadan falls at various seasons in different years. A
considerable test of discipline at any time of the year, a fast
that falls in summertime imposes severe hardship on those who
must do physical work.
All Muslims, at least once in their lifetime, should make the
hajj to Mecca to participate in special rites held there during
the twelfth month of the lunar calendar. Muhammad instituted this
requirement, modifying pre-Islamic custom, to emphasize sites
associated with God and Abraham (Ibrahim), founder of monotheism
and father of the Arabs through his son Ismail.
The lesser pillars of the faith, which all Muslims share, are
jihad, or the crusade to protect Islamic lands, beliefs,
and institutions; and the requirement to do good works and to
avoid all evil thoughts, words, and deeds. In addition, Muslims
agree on certain basic principles of faith based on the teachings
of the Prophet Muhammad: there is one God, who is a unitary
divine being in contrast to the trinitarian belief of Christians;
Muhammad, the last of a line of prophets beginning with Abraham
and including Moses and Jesus, was chosen by God to present His
message to humanity; and there is a general resurrection on the
last or judgment day.
During his lifetime, Muhammad held both spiritual and
temporal leadership of the Muslim community. Religious and
secular law merged, and all Muslims have traditionally been
subject to sharia, or religious law. A comprehensive legal
system, sharia developed gradually through the first four
centuries of Islam, primarily through the accretion of precedent
and interpretation by various judges and scholars. During the
tenth century, legal opinion began to harden into authoritative
rulings, and the figurative bab al ijtihad
(gate of interpretation) closed. Thereafter, rather than
encouraging flexibility, Islamic law emphasized maintenance of
the status quo.
After Muhammad's death the leaders of the Muslim community
consensually chose Abu Bakr, the Prophet's father-in-law and one
of his earliest followers, to succeed him. At that time some
persons favored Ali, Muhammad's cousin and the husband of his
daughter Fatima, but Ali and his supporters (the Shiat Ali, or
Party of Ali) eventually recognized the community's choice. The
next two caliphs (successors)--Umar, who succeeded in A.D.634,
and Uthman, who took power in A.D.644--enjoyed the recognition of
the entire community. When Ali finally succeeded to the caliphate
in A.D.656, Muawiyah, governor of Syria, rebelled in the name of
his murdered kinsman Uthman. After the ensuing civil war, Ali
moved his capital to Iraq, where he was murdered shortly there
after.
Ali's death ended the last of the so-called four orthodox
caliphates and the period in which the entire community of Islam
recognized a single caliph. Muawiyah proclaimed himself caliph
from Damascus. The Shiat Ali refused to recognize him or his
line, the Umayyad caliphs, and withdrew in the first great schism
to establish the dissident sect, known as the Shias, supporting
the claims of Ali's line to the caliphate based on descent from
the Prophet. The larger faction, the Sunnis, adhered to the
position that the caliph must be elected, and over the centuries
they have represented themselves as the orthodox branch.
Data as of May 1988
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