Iraqi Shias vs Iranian Shias

A general misconception people have about Shiism is that it is a byproduct of Iranian culture and social values. The author of the book believes that there’s a tendency for most people to overlook the unique identity and feature of Arab Shia (especially the Iraqi Shias). One of the reasons is because Shia literatures are heavily based (tilted towards) on the Iranian side.

Only after the Iran-Iraq war, has there been more concerted effort at understanding the distinct culture and social values of the Iraqi Shias and the different patterns of ritual and organizational taken in Iraq. The book sets out to correct the widely held assumption that the Iraqi Shias are patterned after the Iranian Shias.

Author mentioned his objectives in the following set of questions:

• How was the modern Iraqi Shia society formed and during which period?
• What was the impact of the rise of the modern state on the status of the Iraqi Shia leadership and classes, and on the socioeconomic and political position of the shrine cities?
• What are the basic political aspirations of the Iraqi Shias?
• What are the fundamental differences between the subjective cultural beliefs and social values of Iraqi and Iranian Shias as evident in their rituals and religious practices?
• In what ways did Iraqi and Iranian Shia Islam differ in their organizational forms?
• What were the consequences of the weakening financial power of the Shia religious establishment, and of the decline of its major source of intellectual strength, the madrasa, on the position of the Shia ulama and their ability to mobilize people for political action in modern Iraq?

Reference
Yitzhak Nakash, The Shia of Iraq, 1994, Princeton University Press, ISBN: 13579108642