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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Iraq
Index
Arch of Ctesiphon
Courtesy Ronald L. Kuipers
The most critical problem that faced the young Islamic
community revolved around the rightful successor to the office of
caliph. Uthman, the third caliph, had encountered opposition
during and after his election to the caliphate. Ali ibn Abu
Talib, the Prophet Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law (by virtue of
his marrying the Prophet's only surviving child, Fatima), had
been the other contender.
Ali's pietism was disquieting to certain vested-interest
groups, who perceived the more conservative Uthman as more likely
to continue the policies of the previous caliph, Umar. Discontent
increased, as did Ali's formal opposition to Uthman based on
religious grounds. Ali claimed that innovations had been
introduced that were not consonant with Quranic directives.
Economics was the key factor for most of the members of the
opposition, but this, too, acquired religious overtones.
As a result of the rapid military expansion of the Islamic
movement, financial troubles beset Uthman. Many beduins had
offered themselves for military service in Iraq and in Egypt.
Their abstemious and hard life contrasted with the leisured life
of Arabs in the Hijaz (the western part of the Arabian
Peninsula), who were enjoying the benefits of conquest. When
these volunteer soldiers questioned the allocation of lands and
the distribution of revenues and pensions, they found a ready
spokesman in Ali.
Groups of malcontents eventually left Iraq and Egypt to seek
redress at Medina in the Hijaz. Uthman promised reforms, but on
their return journey the rebels intercepted a message to the
governor of Egypt commanding that they be punished. In response,
the rebels besieged Uthman in his home in Medina, eventually
slaying him. Uthman's slayer was a Muslim and a son of the first
caliph, Abu Bakr. The Muslim world was shaken. Ali, who had not
taken part in the siege, was chosen caliph.
Two opponents of Ali enlisted Aisha, a widow of the Prophet
Muhammad, to join them in accusing Ali and demanding retribution
for Uthman's death. When the three went to Iraq to seek support
for their cause, Ali's forces engaged theirs near Basra. Aisha's
two companions were killed, and Ali was clearly victorious.
Muawiyah, a kinsman of Uthman and the governor of Syria, then
refused to recognize Ali, and he demanded the right to avenge his
relative's death. In what was perhaps the most important battle
fought between Muslims, Ali's forces met Muawiyah's at the Plain
of Siffin near the largest bend of the Euphrates River.
Muawiyah's forces, seeing that they were losing, proposed
arbitration. Accordingly, two arbitrators were chosen to decide
whether Uthman's death had been deserved. Such a decision would
give his slayer status as an executioner rather than as a
murderer and would remove the claims of Uthman's relatives. When
the arbitrators decided against Ali, he protested that the
verdict was not in accordance with sharia (Islamic law) and
declared his intention to resume the battle.
Ali's decision, however, came too late for the more extreme
of his followers. Citing the Quranic injunction to fight rebels
until they obey, these followers insisted that Ali was morally
wrong to submit to arbitration. In doing so, they claimed, he
bowed to the judgment of men--as opposed to the judgment of God
that would have been revealed by the outcome of the battle. These
dissenters, known as Kharajites (from the verb kharaja--to
go out), withdrew from battle, an action that had far-reaching
political effects on the Islamic community in the centuries
ahead. Before resuming his dispute with Muawiyah, Ali appealed to
the Kharajites; when they rejected the appeal, he massacred many
of them. Furious at his treatment of pious Muslims, most of Ali's
forces deserted him. He was forced to return to Al Kufah--about
150 kilometers south of Baghdad--and to await developments within
the Islamic community.
A number of Islamic leaders met at Adruh in present-day
Jordan, and the same two arbitrators from Siffin devised a
solution to the succession problem. At last it was announced that
neither Ali nor Muawiyah should be caliph; Abd Allah, a son of
Umar, was proposed. The meeting terminated in confusion, however,
and no final decision was reached. Both Ali and Muawiyah bided
their time in their separate governorships: Muawiyah, who had
been declared caliph by some of his supporters, in newly
conquered Egypt, and Ali, in Iraq. Muawiyah fomented discontent
among those only partially committed to Ali. While praying in a
mosque at Al Kufah, Ali was murdered by a Kharajite in 661. The
ambitious Muawiyah induced Ali's eldest son, Hasan, to renounce
his claim to the caliphate. Hasan died shortly thereafter,
probably of consumption, but the
Shias (see Glossary) later
claimed that he had been poisoned and dubbed him "Lord of All
Martyrs." Ali's unnatural death ensured the future of the Shia
movement--Ali's followers returned to his cause--and quickened
its momentum. With the single exception of the Prophet Muhammad,
no man has had a greater impact on Islamic history. The Shia
declaration of faith is: "There is no God but God; Muhammad is
his Prophet and Ali is the Saint of God."
Subsequently, Muawiyah was declared caliph. Thus began the
Umayyad Dynasty, which had its capital at Damascus. Yazid I,
Muawiyah's son and his successor in 680, was unable to contain
the opposition that his strong father had vigorously quelled.
Husayn, Ali's second son, refused to pay homage and fled to
Mecca, where he was asked to lead the Shias--mostly Iraqis--in a
revolt against Yazid I. Ubayd Allah, governor of Al Kufah,
discovered the plot and sent detachments to dissuade him. At
Karbala, in Iraq, Husayn's band of 200 men and women refused to
surrender and finally were cut down by a force of perhaps 4,000
Umayyad troops. Yazid I received Husayn's head, and Husayn's
death on the tenth of Muharram (October 10, 680) continues to be
observed as a day of mourning for all Shias. Ali's burial place
at An Najaf, about 130 kilometers south of Baghdad, and Husayn's
at Karbala, about 80 kilometers southwest of Baghdad, are holy
places of pilgrimage for Shias, many of whom feel that a
pilgrimage to both sites is equal to a pilgrimage to Mecca
(see Religious Life
, ch. 2).
The importance of these events in the history of Islam cannot
be overemphasized. They created the greatest of the Islamic
schisms, between the party of Ali (the Shiat Ali, known in the
West as Shias or Shiites) and the upholders of Muawiyah (the Ahl
as Sunna, the People of the Sunna--those who follow Muhammad's
custom and example) or the
Sunnis (see Glossary). The Sunnis
believe they are the followers of orthodoxy. The ascendancy of
the Umayyads and the events at Karbala, in contrast, led to a
Shia Islam which, although similar to Sunni Islam in its basic
tenets, maintains important doctrinal differences that have had
pervasive effects on the Shia world view. Most notably, Shias
have viewed themselves as the opposition in Islam, the opponents
of privilege and power. They believe that after the death of Ali
and the ascension of the "usurper" Umayyads to the caliphate,
Islam took the wrong path; therefore, obedience to existing
temporal authority is not obligatory. Furthermore, in sacrificing
his own life for a just cause, Husayn became the archetypal role
model who inspired generations of Shias to fight for social
equality and for economic justice.
During his caliphate, Ali had made Al Kufah his capital. The
transfer of power to Syria and to its capital at Damascus aroused
envy among Iraqis. The desire to regain preeminence prompted
numerous rebellions in Iraq against Umayyad rule. Consequently,
only men of unusual ability were sent to be governors of Al
Basrah and Al Kufah. One of the most able was Ziyad ibn Abihi,
who was initially governor of Al Basrah and later also of Al
Kufah. Ziyad divided the residents of Al Kufah into four groups
(not based on tribal affiliation) and appointed a leader for each
one. He also sent 50,000 beduins to Khorasan (in northeastern
Iran), the easternmost province of the empire, which was within
the jurisdiction of Al Basrah and Al Kufah.
The Iraqis once again became restive when rival claimants for
the Umayyad caliphate waged civil war between 687 and 692. Ibn
Yasuf ath Thaqafi al Hajjaj was sent as provincial governor to
restore order in Iraq in 694. He pacified Iraq and encouraged
both agriculture and education.
Data as of May 1988
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