Iraq: Difference between revisions

Crucial historical events took place in Iraq such as the [[Battle of Jamal]], the [[Battle of Siffin]], the [[Battle of Nahrawan]], the [[Event of Karbala]], and [[Uprising of Mukhtar al-Thaqafi]]. Shi'a rulers always paid enormous attention to the holy shrines of Shi'a Imams in Iraq and they supported rebuilding them throughout the years.

{{Main|Event of Karbala}}

It is the first of Shi'a uprisings which took place after the [[event of Ashura]] in revenge of Imam al-Husayn's (a) blood in 'Ayn al-Warda region led by [[Sulayman b. Surad al-Khuza'i]].

The existence of [[holy shrine of Imam al-Husayn (a)|Imam al-Husayn (a)'s shrine]] in Karbala has made this city globally well-known. It was under attacked several times throughout history. Also [['Abbas b. Ali]] and other martyrs of the [[Event of Karbala]] have been buried there.

After Baghdad was founded by immigrants from [[Kufa]], Basra and [[Khurasan]] as well as settlement of a large number of grand Shi'ite scholars in Karkh, a region in Baghdad, who were noble or official chiefs in Baghdad. The region of Karkh is called the region of [[Rafidi]] in sources. [[Yaghut al-Hamudi]] expressed: "Those who lived in Karkh were all Twelver Shi'a Muslims and there were no [[Sunni]] among them." When [[Buyid]] came to Baghdad in 344 A.H, they remarkably supported Shi'a Muslims and Shi'ite ceremonies such as holding mourning ceremonies of [[the day of Ashura]] and [[Ghadir Day]], which led to start of oppositions between Sunni Muslims of Bab al-Basra and Shi'a Muslims of Karkh region. Then after the emergence of Turks in Baghdad, Shi'a Muslims were prosecuted and distressed.

Ba'ath government tried their best to keep Shi'a Muslims and Kurdish Iraqi away from political power. From 1920 until the occupation of Iraq by American army in 2003 Sunni were largely in charge of political power in Iraq. After the attack of Iraq to Kuwait in 1991 and afterwards the attack of the United States' army to Iraq, Shi'a Muslims started a revolution against Ba'ath government called Sha'baniyya, which was supported by a grand religious leader, [[Ayatullah Khoei]]. After the failure of this riot, Iraqi army massacred Shi'a Muslims all over the country; they used tanks that carried flags written on them "There will not be any Shi'a Muslim anymore." According to sources, between three hundred to five hundred thousand Shi'a were murdered. In the meantime, the war between Iraq and Iran and also expulsion of Iranian from Iraq took place.

Sha'ban Intifada in Iraq, was a riot against the government of Saddam Husayn in Sha'ban month in 1411 A.H/1991. It took place after the defeat of Iraqi army in their attack to Kuwait. Subsequently Iraqi army suppressed the rioters and oppositions, killing thousands of people while two million left their houses. Meanwhile the holy shrines of Imam Ali (a) and Imam al-Husayn (a) were damaged and Ayatullah Khoei was arrested.

After the fall of Saddam Husayn's Government in 2003, Shi'a Muslims who were exiled to [[Iran]] and [[Syria]] returned to their homeland. After a couple of months the first parliament was formed with 25 members, including 13 Shi'a representatives; [[Ibrahim al-Ja'fari]] was the head of this Majlis. The United States proposed writing a constitutional law for Iraq which was rejected by [[Ayatullah Sistani]]. His opposition with American plan made Ayatullah Sistani the defender of Iraqi people. The United States was interfering with internal affairs of Iraq, which led to civil wars in the country. [[Ayatullah Hakim]] and [['Izu al-Din Salim]] were martyred in these incidents. Suicidal attacks in [[Karbala]], [[Kadhimiyya]] and other holy shrines led to killings of a large number of Shi'a Muslims in Iraq.

After the fall of Ba'ath government Shi'a Muslims and Kurds found a chance to get involved in political activities in their country. Iraq conducted nationwide parliamentary elections in 2005. Shi'a Muslims' representatives managed to achieve140 chairs out of total 257 chairs of the parliament. Ibrahim al-Ja'fari became the head of the government. In 2005 fifty members including 28 Shi'a Muslims became responsible to draw up the new Constitution of Iraq. Later Sunni representatives also were added to them, which made them a 75 member group. On 25th of October a referendum were held in Iraq on the new Constitution which was accepted by 78% of Iraqi people. [[Al-Sayyid Ali al-Sistani]] and later the leaders of [[Al-Da'wa party]] and [[Al-Majlis al-A'ala al-Islami al-Iraqi]] (Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq) were leaders of Shi'a Muslims throughout theses political occasions. Currently the prime minister of Iraq is a Shi'a Muslim. [[Ibrahim al-Ja'fari]], [[Nuri al-Maliki]] and [[Heydar al-Abbasi]] were Prime ministers also for some time. Today sixty percent of ministries of Iraq are administrated and managed by Shi'a representatives.

[[Islamic Da'wa party]] is regarded as one of the main Shi'ite parties in Iraq. It was founded in [[Najaf]] by [[Al-Sayyid Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr]], [[Al-Sayyid Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim]] and [[Muhammad Sadiq al-Qamusi]]. [[Al-Sayyid Murtada al-Askari]] became a member of this party later.

Al-Majlis Al-A'ala al-Islamic al-Iraqi (Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq) was founded in 1982 in Tehran with the purpose of throwing down the Ba'ath government in Iraq. [[Al-Sayyid Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim]] was a pioneer in founding this Majlis. It includes Shi'ite, Sunni, Kurd, Arab and Turkmen members, with Arab Shi'ite as their majority. It also comprises a number of political parties and groups including Islamic Da'wa party, Islamic Action Society, Haraka al-Mujahidin al-'Araqi'in, Hizbullah of Kurdistan and numbers of Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin in Iraq. [[Al-Sayyid Mahmud al-Hashimi]] and [[Muhammad Baqir al-Hakim]] were previously the head of this Majlis, currently [['Ammar al-Hakim]] is the head of this organization.

Afaq Satellite Channel, Radio Afaq, Radio Bintu al-huda, Islamic Da'wa Journal, Al-Bayan and Al-Da'wa newspapers are a number of popular broadcasting bases which are managed and administrated by Shi'a Muslims of Iraq.

Iraq was part of Persia's territory in ancient time. After the foundation of Ottoman's government in Istanbul, Iraq was conquered frequently by Iran and Ottoman's armies. Shah Isma'il, a Safavid ruler, conquered Baghdad in 914 A.H. However Iraq was seized by Ottoman's ruler Sultan Murad IV in 1059 A.H; it was the last time that Iran ruled over Iraq. After the fall of Ottoman's dynasty, Tehran and Baghdad had conflicts over [[Arvand Rud]]. Later in 1937 they reached an agreement to settle the conflicts on this river which kept them in peace until 1958.

[[Mirza Muhammad Taqi al-Shirazi]] issued a [[Jihad]] [[fatwa]] against English occupiers in Iraq, accordingly Iraqi and Iranian people including [[Al-Sayyid Muhammad Yazdi]], [[Sayyid Ali Damad Tabrizi]], [[Shari'at Isfahani]], [[Mirza Muhammad Shirazi]] and [[Sayyid Muhammad Taqi Khunsari]] attended the battled and fought against English troops. On the other hand, the English exiled a number of religious leaders of Iraq including [[Mirza Muhammad Shirazi]], [[Shaykh Jawad Zanjani]], [[Muhammad Taqi Khunsari]] and [[Abd al-Karim Puyan]] to Hingam Island. When [[Ayatullah Shirazi]] passed away, [[Shari'at Isfahani]] was chosen as the new leader of the opposition against the English which started a new wave of encounters. Afterwards [[Al-Shaykh Muhammad al-Khalisi]] along with a number of religious leaders were exiled to [[Qom]] in Iran.

A number of Iranians immigrated to Iraq many years ago, they were living in [[Karbala]], [[Najaf]] and Kadhimiyya near Baghdad. A number of them were forced to leave Iraq in the time of Saddam Husayn's government. However after the fall of Ba'ath regime some of them returned back to Iraq.

Hakim family with Iranian origins, are a well-known Shi'ite family who are prominent in scientific and political areas. Their ancestor [[Al-Sayyid Ali al-Hakim]], the son of [[Al-Sayyid Murad b. Sayyid Shah Asad Allah]], was the special doctor of Shah Abbas I Safavid. He accompanied Shah Abbas in his visit to Najaf but he stayed there due to medical needs of people. Thus he was known as [[Al-Sayyid Ali al-Hakim]] (Hakim means doctor in Arabic).

A number of Arab and Kurd Iraqi people have immigrated to Iran in recent decades. According to an official census in 2001, about two hundred and three thousand Iraqi people were living in Iran. Some sources believe about five hundred thousand Iraqi people live in Iran. A large part of them have become Iranian citizens and they are mainly living in Qom, Tehran, Khuzistan and Khurasan. Nevertheless some of them returned to Iraq after the fall of Saddam Husayn's regime.

Arba'in in Karbala: The largest gathering of Shi'a Muslims in the whole world is held every year in [[Arba'in]] in [[Karbala]]. Shi'a Muslims from different countries move toward Karbala every year in order to attend mourning ceremonies there. They also walk on foot the distance between Najaf and Karbala. In the time of Ba'ath regime Shi'a Muslims were not allowed to hold or attend Arba'in ceremonies which were conducted for many centuries in Karbala; therefore, after the fall of Saddam Husayn procession of Arba'in resumed.

After an attack of Iraq's army to some Sunni settlers in 2014, they were forced to retreat and leave Ramadi and Falluja in Al-Anbar province. It gave a chance to ISIS forces to occupy these cities consequently. However after series of attacks and clashes the head of ISIS in Ramadi was killed and they lost the control of these two cities.

In June 2014 ISIS attacked to northern parts of Iraq and they occupied Mosul, the second largest city of Iraq. They destroyed all the historical sites and mosques in Mosul which were valued by Shi'a Muslims. ISIS forces demolished the burial places of [[prophet Yunus]] (Jonah), [[Jirjis]], [[Sheeth]] (Seth) and Yahya b. Zayd near Kufa. Ayatullah Sistani asked Iraqi people to stand and fight against ISIS, which made a large number of people encouraged and motivated.

Currently northern parts of Iraq near the borders of Syria are occupied by ISIS including cities like [[Nineveh]], [[Tikrit]] and [[Yathrib]]. There is no official account on the number of casualties in ISIS attacks, it is reported only in August 2014 attacked ISIS injured 1370 and killed 1420 Iraqi. Unofficial reports reported that ISIS attacks have made five hundred thousand Iraqi to leave their houses. About a thousand infants and children were killed in Nineveh and Salah al-Din. Numerous governments and international organizations have condemned ISIS attacks.