Arab Shia

In June (can't really believe that that was five months ago), I was reading a book about the Iraqi Shias[1]. I managed to finish reading it in record time (24 or 48 hours). Unfortunately, I didn't get to create many blog posts based off the book. I'm thinking of going through it again, and summarizing key details.

I'm particularly interested in the Iraqi Shias in the context of them being Arab first and Shia second. Prior to this, I've examine a few articles about the forgotten Shias of Saudi Arabia. What? You didn't know there are/were Shias in Saudi Arabia?

The official interpretation of Islam in Saudi Arabia is Wahabism (also sometimes referred to as Salafism). This sect only gain prominence in the holy cities in the last two hundred years via tribal warfare. Prior to it being the state religion, after being adopted by the reigning tribe (the Sauds) and being forced upon the inhabitant of that geographical area (now known as Saudi Arabia), most of the people were followers of the orthodox schools of Islam (Sunnism and Shiasm).

People who are very ignorant of Shiasm frequently confuse Shiism as an Iranian sect or religion. The history of Shiism in Iran is very brief/short. Iranians started converting to the Islamic faith within the first 25 years after the death of the Holy Prophet when its territory was conquered by the Arabs. For the next thousand or so years, Iranians were officially followers of Sunnism until the Safavid came to power in the 15th century.

Also, many of the Sunnis living in the middle eastern or African countries (Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Sudan etc) didn't really become Muslim or Arab until they were converted to Islam by their Arab or non-Arab conqueror and adopted the Arabic language.

On the other hand, the Iraqi Shias have a very long and unique history due in part because of the strong tradition of being very close and faithful to the family of the Holy Prophet.

The author of the book [1] introduce Shias of Iraq as

"Shia Islam was closely associated with Iraq as several of the formative events of Shia history took place there. In AD 661, Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth caliph and the first Shia Imam, was assassinated in a mosque in Kufa. Ali's son, Husayn, who laid claim to the caliphate, was killed in a battle which took place on the plain of Karbala in 680 A.D. Many of the twelve Shia Imams spent at least part of their lives in Iraq."

to be continued...


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