Iraqi Shiites' religious fervor could hamper post-Saddam government
KARBALA, Iraq (BP)--Hundreds of thousands of Shiite Muslims descended upon one of Iraq's sacred cities April 22 in a demonstration of that country's new freedom of religion. Under Saddam Hussein's rule, the Shiite majority was not allowed to make the traditional pilgrimage to Karbala to pay homage to one of their most venerated religious figures.
But after coalition forces moved in and toppled Hussein's regime, the Shiites quickly organized and showed they will be a dominant factor in the shaping of a new Iraqi government.
The pilgrimage marked the end of a 40-day mourning period for the prophet Muhammad's martyred grandson, Hussein, who was killed nearly 1,400 years ago at the Battle of Karbala. As recounted in a New York Times article April 23, Muslims were divided after Muhammad's death in 632 about who should succeed him. The group which would become known as Shiites believed the leader should be a descendant of Muhammad, and they chose the prophet's cousin and son-in-law, Ali. Those who would be called Sunnis believed the leader should be someone with the strongest leadership qualities.
When Ali was assassinated, Shiite leadership was passed to his sons, Hasan and Hussein, but in 680 a new Sunni leader demanded Hussein's allegiance. Hussein refused and left Medina on a journey to Kufa, where there was a large Shiite presence. On his way, he was attacked by Sunni forces at Karbala. He was decapitated, and his body was buried in Karbala but his head was sent to the Sunni leader in Damascus.
This April, as Shiites made the pilgrimage to Karbala, many were seen cutting themselves with swords, beating themselves with chains or inflicting pain in other ways.
While all of that looks quite strange to the American eye, a longtime Baptist worker in the Middle East told Baptist Press it's not that much different from some of the radical Catholics in places like the Philippines who hang themselves on crosses and torture themselves at Easter in response to Christ's death.
"This grieving and mourning for a historical action is part of the religious world," said the worker, who cannot be identified for security reasons. "It's not a part of the relationship with God and the spiritual world."
Most reports indicate that Shiites account for 60 percent of Iraq's population, which would give them heavy sway in a democratic setting. Many, especially Americans whose impression of Shiite rule harkens back to Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini and the hostage crisis of the late 1970s, fear Iraq will meet a fate similar to Iran.
What will happen when the Shiites are part of a democratic government in Iraq or if they somehow form a theocracy? The Baptist worker said Shiism focuses on the leader and his authority to interpret Islam. The basic tenet of belief is that there is a hidden world leader of Islam who is going to step forward at some time, and it may be that the leader is already in power. When recognized, that leader will have the same authority as Hussein, the Muslim leader of centuries ago.
A leader in Shiite Islam has much more freedom to transcend the traditions that have preceded him, the worker said, and because Shiites in Iran believed Khomeini could have been that ultimate leader, they followed him wholeheartedly.
"Whoever would emerge as the leader of Arab Shiites in Iraq would have tremendous interpretive powers regarding how the Iraqi Shiite community should implement Islamic community," the worker said. "They would normally do that as we see in Iran as councils of religious leaders.... But this is all pure speculation."
The worker also noted that Islam, whatever its expression, has difficulty with governing a pluralistic society. In Iraq's case, that would include the Sunnis who make up 37 percent of the population.
"They have rules for governing non-believers [Christians and Jews] in the Koran and Haddith, but there is no standard for governing Muslims who disagree with the interpretation of Islam," the worker said. "The problem when you have a Sunni government with a Shiite representation in that country is that they're always trying to carry the Shiites to documentary authority and the long tradition of Sunni."
Sunni is translated "accepted way," and the metaphor in Arabic is there is a path from one oasis to the next, and all are expected to stay on that path because it's the safe way. Those who stray will be lost in the desert.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld noted at a Pentagon briefing April 21 that an Iranian model of government in Iraq would not be consistent with the democratic and pluralistic principles the United States believes should be adopted by an emerging Iraqi government.
"I think there are an awful lot of people in Iran who feel that that small group of clerics that determine what takes place in that country is not their idea of how they want to live their lives," Rumsfeld said.
A representative democracy that is secular in base is important for Iraq, the Baptist worker said, because "we have brothers and sisters in Christ who are there worshiping in orthodox and evangelical churches." He said the small Christian minority will seek to be the presence of Christ and seek to work and live under the authority of the new Iraqi government.
Most Shiites, meanwhile, cannot readily comprehend how the Jesus of Christianity is different from the Jesus of Islam, the worker noted. Generally speaking, Shiites follow a strong leader while Sunnis are devoted to the Koran. Most likely, very few Iraqi Shiites have even read the Koran themselves, but rather are accustomed to following the local religious leadership.
