The Arab Shi'a: The Forgotten Muslims. - Review - book review

Arab Studies Quarterly (ASQ), Summer, 2000 by Husam Mohamad

Graham E. Fuller and Rend Rahim Francke. The Arab Shi'a: The Forgotten Muslims. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1999. 290 pp. Hardcover $5.00.

Graham Fuller, a political analyst at RAND corporation and former vice chairman of national intelligence at the CIA, together with Rend Francke, an executive director of the Iraq Foundation, make clear that most Arab Shi'ite communities suffer from deeply rooted discriminatory policies applied against them by Arab regimes. With the exception of Lebanon and, to a much less degree, Kuwait, the Arab Shi'a have been steadily denied access to political power. In this timely text, the authors have successfully examined the Shi'ite plight in the Arab world and addressed many of the misunderstandings and stereotyping made against them by others. In the most general terms, the book identifies Shi'ism and Shi'ite movements in Islamic history, examines old and recent transformations affecting Shi'ite identities and situations, and addresses fluctuations in their domestic and foreign relations. Following Iran's revolution and subsequent regional and international reactions to it, most, if not all, Shi'ite movements in th e Arab world began to be increasingly perceived as having potential threatening effects on the political stability of the region.

Over the years, Sunni Arab regimes have managed to control Shi'ite communities within limits, and succeeded, to a large extent in associating most Shi'ite activists with radicals and dissidents in the Arab world. In the West, the Shi'a were largely connected with hostage taking, extremism and terrorism. These images have complicated Arab Shi'ite relations with others and undermined the extent of their misery in the Arab world. To say the least, today's 14 million Arab Shi'a have been subjected to a hostile environment that still treats them as a taboo. The ability of the Arab Shi'ite to integrate in their societies and the willingness of various Sunni regimes to accept them as equal partners have not yet been accomplished. As the book concludes, there are variations in the situations of the Arab Shi'ite communities, known as "twelvers," located in the countries of Iraq, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Lebanon. Iran's and Turkish Shi'a, the Zaydis of Yemen and the Alawis ruling elite in Syria are excluded fr om Fuller's and Francke's text. The study of Shi'ite communities mentioned in the above five countries are supported with extensive face-to-face interviews. Knowing that the Arab Shi'a would particularly find it more difficult than others to express their views openly for good reasons, the task of conducting these interviews alone contributes to the subject matter under discussion. Relying on journalistic accounts, the authors argue that most Shi'ite grievances are legitimate and, if fulfilled, Shi'ite inclusion in the political process of their countries may perhaps help liberalize Arab politics. As the authors' approach to Shi'ism seems quite unique and sympathetic, their text may entice balanced debates on the subject.

The book's eleven chapters are divided into three thematic parts. The first part provides an analysis of Shi'ite identities, relations with Sunnis and connections with Iran and the West. The second part examines variations in Shi'ite situations in Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, respectively. The last part contains summaries, remarks and insights on Shi'ite relationships to democracy. The text particularly argues that the Arab Shi'a are more genuine in their pursuit of democracy than the Sunnis, assuming that democracy would put an end to Sunni manipulation of power and give Shi'a an access to authority that they have been denied in past centuries.

Repression against the Arab Shi'a have mainly increased in the years following Iran's revolution that supposedly enticed acts of violence against Sunnis and Western interests. The tragic American experience with the Iranian and Lebanese Shi'a in past decades have also led many to assume that perhaps all Shi'ite communities are monolithic, fanatics and extremists. The authors are critical of those assumptions on the grounds that the Shi'ite communities are far from being homogeneous, and contrary to many held beliefs, most Arab Shi'a are in fact victims of brutal treatments that often lead them to violent means while pursuing their goals. This may be true considering that whether they are a majority in Iraq and Bahrain, a plurality in Lebanon, or a minority in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, the Shi'a are subject to varying degrees of exclusions from centers of powers.

As Sunnis generally object to Shi'ite views on political successions of the Islamic Umma, a number of Shi'ite groups who were searching for acceptance often downplayed their own religious agendas and focused more on nationalist and secular objectives. However, knowing that the Arab Shi'a have historically emerged in the form of a protest movement that questioned Sunni practices, the Sunnis' willingness to accept and share power with them remains particularly difficult (p.12). Moreover, in spite of the fact that the inception of the Arab Shi'a pre-dates the emergence of Shi'ism in Iran, most Sunni leaders continue to associate Arab Shi'a with the Iranian regime in an effort to discredit their legitimacy in the Arab world. A number of Arab regimes have also argued that the Shi'ite communities in the Arab world are ideologically less Arab and religiously less Islamic than the Sunnis. Against such assertions, the Iraqi Shi'a have, for example, fought against Iran in defense of their country during the first Gulf war, and the Kuwaiti Shi'a have also participated in the Kuwaiti resistance against Iraq following its occupation of Kuwait. Despite apparent strength in their local national identity, the Shi'ite communities in the Arab world remain largely subjected to suspicions and to social as well as economic isolation and discrimination. The Arab Shi'a mostly live in poor or less developed areas, lack proper education, and in some countries, i.e. Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, suffer from a deep sense of loss and injustice. Although they have recently gained limited rights in Lebanon and Kuwait, the Shi'ite communities in these countries currently remain underrepresented compared to the Sunnis. In spite of that, Shi'ite political, religious and economic rights are much less restricted in those countries than they are in Iraq, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.