Modernity And Tradition In The Islamic Movements In Iraq: Continuity And Discontinuity In The Role Of The Ulama

Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ), Wntr, 2001 by Keiko Sakai

The emergence of Muntada in Shi'i society filled the vacuum of political consciousness following the withdrawal of politicized ulama in the 1920s. Here we can shed light on the role of Shi'i 'ulama intervening onto the political stage through its history. Needless to mention the important role of Shi'i ulama in the Najaf revolt in 1918 and the 1920 uprising against Britain, [11] Shi'i 'ulama played a significant role in leading society politically, especially utilizing their religious and social influence within the community. This is an obvious difference with Sunni 'ulama, whose "door of ijtihad" had been closed. Many scholars have taken politicized 'ulama for granted as a kind of 'traditional' characteristic among Shi'i 'ulama, such as Kelidar, who takes the examples of Muhammad Taqi al-Shirazi or Shaykh Mahdi al-Khalisi as "[t]he activists among the Mujtahids" who "rel[ied] on their powers of interpretation, and the deployment of the philosophical approach, to justify an energetic, even a violent campaig n in the quest for good government." [12] Except for the rare case of achieving solidarity among Sunni and Shi'i 'ulama in the 1920 uprising in Iraq, these efforts of Shi'i ulama to lead the community were usually confined to Shi'i society, to the extent that their personal influence and charismatic powers are effective.

This trait of locality in politicizing the society, i.e., personalization of politics, can be seen as the second phase of Iraqi Islamic movements among Shi'i, in contrast to the first general and universal phase. Al-Hizb al-Ja'fari and Munazzamat al-Shabab, both of which were founded by notable families of 'ulama in Holy Cities, might have succeeded the tradition of local politics in Shi'i society to some extent. Hasan Shubbar, Sadiq al-Qamusi, and 'Abd al-Sahib Dukhayl, all of whom played prominent roles in al-Da'wa in its early days, are from Hizb al-Ja'fari. [13] From Munazzamat al-Shabab, Muhammad Salih Adib joined al-Da'wa.

In the figure that follows, the various factors composing the Iraqi Islamic movements, which paved the way for the political thought of Baqir al-Sadr and al-Da'wa are shown. The vertical line shows the Elite-Popularization factor in the movement, and the horizontal shows Locality-Universality of the thought. Mu'min describes those factors which compose the formation of modern Shi'i Islamic movements -- universality vs. locality and popularity vs. elitism -- relating to the framework of modernity vs. traditionalism as follows;

There were differences in the approach toward activities among the leaders of Islamic innovative consciousness in this century. Some of them adopted systematic methods, in the modern framework. ... The others are those who are content with using individual and traditional methods. The most prominent example for each is Hasan al-Banna and Muhammad Kashif al-Ghita. The former is based on organizational and innovative behavior and it adopts a combined and minute style, which continues until today. The latter are revisionists.... [14]