The Shi'is of Iraq

<TR>Preface<TR>A Note on Transliteration<TR>Abbreviations<TR>Introduction3<TR>Ch. 1The Making of Iraqi Shii Society13<TR>Iraq the Frontier14<TR>The Shrine Cities18<TR>The Conversion of the Tribes to Shiism25<TR>The Nature of the Conversion43<TR>Ch. 2Years of Upheaval49<TR>The Impact of Two Revolutions50<TR>Muslim Unity and the Jihad Movement55<TR>The 1919 Plebiscite61<TR>The 1920 Revolt66<TR>Ch. 3Exercising Social Control75<TR>Containing the Mujtahids75<TR>Managing the Tribal Shaykhs88<TR>Baghdad and the Shrine Cities94<TR>The Blow to the Status of Persians100<TR>Human Dilemmas105<TR>Ch. 4The Search for Political Representation109<TR>Recognizing the State109<TR>The 1935 Revolt120<TR>The Bid for Power125<TR>The Radical Options132<TR>Ch. 5The Commemoration of 'Ashura'141<TR>The Nature of the Muharram Observances142<TR>The Mujtahids and the Muharram Observances154<TR>The State and 'Ashura'157<TR>Ch. 6Pilgrimage to the Shrine Cities and the Cult of the Saints163<TR>Foreign Pilgrimage164<TR>Internal Visitation173<TR>Ch. 7The Corpse Traffic184<TR>Development and Socioeconomic Functions185<TR>The Religious Creed versus the Social Order192<TR>The State and the Corpse Traffic197<TR>Ch. 8Shii Money and the Shrine Cities205<TR>The Building of an Economic Base206<TR>The Oudh Bequest211<TR>The Consequences of Dependency on Foreign Funds229<TR>Ch. 9The Shii Madrasa in Iraq238<TR>Features and Functions241<TR>Signs of Decline247<TR>A New Iraqi Shii Madrasa262<TR>Conclusion269<TR>Epilogue: The Gulf War and its Aftermath273<TR>Appendix 1 The Constitution of the Buraq Quarter of Najaf283<TR>Appendix 2 Important Shii Shrines, Tombs, and Holy Sites in Iraq285<TR>Appendix 3 Shii Holy Burial Sites287<TR>Bibliography289<TR>Index303

Yitzhak Nakash teaches Middle Eastern history at Brandeis University. His publications on Iraq and Shi'i Islam have gained recognition in the United States and Europe as well as in the Arab world and in Iran. He is currently completing a new book focusing on Shi'ism and nationalism in the Arab world.

Nakash's account of the process of community formation in Iraq has fascinating implications for modern Middle Eastern history. In that broad historical revolution which is the settlement of the Middle Eastern tribes, we can see that the agents were: Sufism in most of the Sunni countries; fundamentalist Islam in Arabia; and Shi'ism in Iraq and Iran. In each case, the primitive Islam of the tribes takes on a new form as an accompaniment to a fundamental change in economic and social life.