Countries of the World/COUNTRYS.BIN/dp/0181/01814.txt

Text File | 1991-06-25 | 27KB | 435 lines

$Unique_ID{COW01814}
$Pretitle{231}
$Title{Iraq
Chapter 2B.   Religious Life}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Stephan Pelletiere}
$Affiliation{HQ, Department of the Army}
$Subject{shias
imam
islam
religious
shia
ali
iraq
prophet
al
sunnis}
$Date{1989}
$Log{}
Country:     Iraq
Book:        Iraq, A Country Study
Author:      Stephan Pelletiere
Affiliation: HQ, Department of the Army
Date:        1989

Chapter 2B.   Religious Life

     Although members of the ruling Baath (Arab Socialist Resurrection) Party
generally are ideologically committed to secularism, about 95 percent of
Iraqis are Muslim, and Islam is the officially recognized state religion.
Islam came to the region with the victory of the Muslim armies, under Caliph
Umar, over the Sassanids, in A.D. 637 at the battle of Al Qadisiyah. The
majority of inhabitants, including the Kurds, soon became Muslim, although
small communities of Christians and Jews remained intact in the area of
present-day Iraq. Iraq has been the scene of many important events in the
early history of Islam, including the schism over the rightful successor to
the Prophet Muhammad.

Islam

     Islam is a system of religious beliefs and an all-encompassing way of
life. Muslims believe that God (Allah) revealed to the Prophet Muhammad the
rules governing society and the proper conduct of society's members. It is
incumbent on the individual, therefore, to live in a manner prescribed by the
revealed law and incumbent on the community to build the perfect human society
on earth according to holy injunctions. Islam recognizes no distinctions
between church and state. The distinction between religious and secular law is
a recent development that reflects the more pronounced role of the state in
society, and Western economic and cultural penetration. The impact of religion
on daily life in Muslim countries is far greater than that found in the West
since the Middle Ages.

     The Ottoman Empire organized society around the concept of the millet, or
autonomous religious community. The non-Muslim "People of the Book"
(Christians and Jews) owed taxes to the government; in return they were
permitted to govern themselves according to their own religious law in matters
that did not concern Muslims. The religious communities were thus able to
preserve a large measure of identity and autonomy.

     The Iraqi Baath Party has been a proponent of secularism. This attitude
has been maintained despite the fact that the majority of Iraqis are deeply
religious. At the same time, the Baathists have not hesitated to exploit
religion as a mobilizing agent; and from the first months of the war with
Iran, prominent Baathists have made a public show of attending religious
observances. Iraq's President Saddam Husayn is depicted in prayer in posters
displayed throughout the country. Moreover, the Baath has provided large sums
of money to refurbish important mosques; this has proved a useful tactic in
encouraging support from the Shias.

     Islam came to Iraq by way of the Arabian Peninsula, where in A.D. 610,
Muhammad--a merchant of the Hashimite branch of the ruling Quraysh tribe in
the Arabian town of Mecca--began to preach the first of a series of
revelations granted him by God through the angel Gabriel. A fervent
monotheist, Muhammad denounced the polytheism of his fellow Meccans. Because
the town's economy was based in part on a thriving pilgrimage business to the
shrine called the Kaaba and to numerous other pagan religious sites in the
area, his censure earned him the enmity of the town's leaders. In 622 he and a
group of followers accepted an invitation to settle in the town of Yathrib,
later known as Medina (the city), because it was the center of Muhammad's
activities. The move, or hijra (see Glossary), known in the West as the
hegira, marks the beginning of the Islamic era and of Islam as a force in
history; the Muslim calendar begins in 622. In Medina, Muhammad continued to
preach, and he eventually defeated his detractors in battle. He consolidated
the temporal and the spiritual leadership in his person before his death in
632. After Muhammad's death, his followers compiled those of his words
regarded as coming directly from God into the Quran, the holy scriptures of
Islam. Others of his sayings and teachings, recalled by those who had known
him, became the hadith (see Glossary). The precedent of Muhammad's personal
behavior is called the sunna. Together they form a comprehensive guide to the
spiritual, ethical, and social life of the orthodox Sunni Muslim.

     The duties of Muslims form the five pillars of Islam, which set forth the
acts necessary to demonstrate and reinforce the faith. These are the
recitation of the shahada ("There is no God but God [Allah], and Muhammad is
his prophet"), daily prayer (salat), almsgiving (zakat), fasting (sawm), and
pilgrimage (hajj). The believer is to pray in a prescribed manner after
purification through ritual ablutions each day at dawn, midday, midafternoon,
sunset, and nightfall. Prescribed genuflections and prostrations accompany the
prayers, which the worshiper recites facing toward Mecca. Whenever possible,
men pray in congregation at the mosque with an imam (see Glossary), and on
Fridays they make a special effort to do so. The Friday noon prayers provide
the occasion for weekly sermons by religious leaders. Women may also attend
public worship at the mosque, where they are segregated from the men, although
most frequently women pray at home. A special functionary, the muezzin,
intones a call to prayer to the entire community at the appropriate hour.
Those out of earshot determine the time by the sun.

     The ninth month of the Muslim calendar is Ramadan, a period of obligatory
fasting in commemoration of Muhammad's receipt of God's revelation. Throughout
the month, all but the sick and the weak, pregnant or lactating women,
soldiers on duty, travelers on necessary journeys, and young children are
enjoined from eating, drinking, smoking, or sexual intercourse during the
daylight hours. Those adults excused are obliged to endure an equivalent fast
at their earliest opportunity. A festive meal breaks the daily fast and
inaugurates a night of feasting and celebration. The pious well-to-do usually
do little or no work during this period, and some businesses close for all or
part of the day. Since the months of the lunar year revolve through the solar
year, Ramadan falls at various seasons in different years. A considerable test
of discipline at any time of the year, a fast that falls in summertime imposes
severe hardship on those who must do physical work.

     All Muslims, at least once in their lifetimes, should make the hajj to
Mecca to participate in special rites held there during the twelfth month of
the lunar calendar. Muhammad instituted this requirement, modifying
pre-Islamic custom, to emphasize sites associated with God and Abraham
(Ibrahim), founder of monotheism and father of the Arabs through his son,
Ismail.

     The lesser pillars of the faith, which all Muslims share, are jihad, or
the crusade to protect Islamic lands, beliefs, and institutions; and the
requirement to do good works and to avoid all evil thoughts, words, and deeds.
In addition, Muslims agree on certain basic principles of faith based on the
teachings of the Prophet Muhammad: there is one God, who is a unitary divine
being in contrast to the trinitarian belief of Christians; Muhammad, the last
of a line of prophets beginning with Abraham and including Moses and Jesus,
was chosen by God to present His message to humanity; and there is a general
resurrection on the last, or judgment, day.

     During his lifetime, Muhammad held both spiritual and temporal leadership
of the Muslim community. Religious and secular law merged, and all Muslims
have traditionally been subject to sharia, or religious law. A comprehensive
legal system, sharia developed gradually through the first four centuries of
Islam, primarily through the accretion of interpretations and precedents set