The Shiis of Iraq.

• Author: Pelletiere, Stephen C.

This is a useful book. It tells us something about Iraq's Shi a community, a people about whom we know little, and much of that unreliable. Nakash focuses on several important facts about this group, and thereby we get some significant insights. For example, he points out that, in comparison to the Iranians, the Iraqis' conversion came late, and then was practically forced upon them. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, bedouins in flight from the Wahhabis converged on Najaf and Karbala, where subsequently they settled and took up the practice of Shi ism. Theretofore, these bedouins had been practically pagans, or, at least, Nakash tells us, this was the view of Rashid Rida.

Why did the Iraqis convert en masse to Shi ism? It appears from Nakash's telling that there were pragmatic reasons for this. They liked living in the cities, which were watered by major irrigation works, and maintained by munificent endowments. Another factor was Ottoman policy. This was the era of the tanzimat. The Ottomans were attempting to settle the tribes, so, for many, there was no recourse - once in the cities, they had to stay there. The shrine cities, at this time, were dominated by Iranian mujtahids, who, for their own pragmatic reasons, insisted that the bedouins convert.

Having established how the Iraqis came to be Shi is, Nakash then sets about showing us the effect of their conversion. An entirely different religious community from that of Iran was produced. In Iraq, the laity do not presume to interfere in religious affairs, which the Iranian bazaaris do all the time. Further, the Iraqis are not generous contributors to the upkeep of the faith; they rather look to the state for funding. This has provided an opening for the Ba thists to exercise their control over the religious establishment.

All of this information is useful to the laymen mystified by recent events in the Gulf. Why have the Iraqi Shi is not...