Iraqi Shiite Islamic Movement Research

The Shi'i Islamic movement emerged as a result of continnous modernization of Iraqi society since the late 19 century. It has no connections with the influence of Iran and denominational contradiction in Iraq. From the establishment of the Islamic Call Party in 1958 to the break-out of Iraqi War in 2003, it successively underwent three periods: the period of peaceful development (1958-1978), the period of violent fight (1979-1989) and the period of pragmatism (1990-2003). In the first period, Shi'i Islamic organizations' focal point was propaganda and education, their thief task was to fight against the progagation of secular ideologies, and their activities were fairly clandestine. Kasem and the Arifs' attitude towards Islamic movement was rather moderate. After the Ba'th Party came to power in 1968, as it carried out rough policy of secularization, the contradiction between Islamic organizations and government became acute rapidly. In the second period, under the influence of Iranian Islamic Revolution, Shi'i Islamic organizations tried to overthrow the Ba'th regime in the first time and were ruthlessly suppressed. Shi'i Islamists fled Iraq one after another, shifting their force core from Iraq to aboard. Islamic organizations conducted assassination and destruction activities at home and aboard frequently. In the last period, after the Gulf Crisis, Shi'i Islamic organizations began to change from radicalism to pragmatism in big strides. As decreasing attack frequency greatly, they not only actively seeked cooperation with other political opposition factions, but also strived for sympathy and support from American, Saudia Arab and other states. However, both efforts didn't yield marked results.Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr is a prominent Islamic thinker in the Middle East in 20 century, who laid the theoretical foundation of the Islamic movement of Iraqi Shi'as. In the Islamic world, he comparatively early answered the challenge from the West towards Islamic civilization from philosophic angle. He criticized Socialism, Communism and Capitalism, and looked Islam as the most consummate system. He legalized Islamic state by means of Koran, set forth four principles and political structure of Islamic state, stipulated prerogatives and qualifications of marja'. These political ideas directly influenced the constitution of Iranian Islamic Republic.The Islamic movement of Iraqi Shi'as has some striking characteristics: Ulama play the principal role; it presents distinct family nature; Iran after Islamic Revolution influences it dually; it opposes sectarianism and proposes denomitational collaboration; it is both traditional and modern.Because Iraqi Shi'i Ulama's power is rather weak, demostic contradictation in the late 1970 had not absolutely intensified, the Ba'th Party bloodily suppressed it, complex conflict of denomitations and nations produced restrictive effect, Shi'i Islamic movement suffered large setbacks and couldn't realize its goal. In spite of this, it brought about important historical functions. It not only seriously weaken the rule basis of the Ba'th regime, but also lays a critical organizational fundation for Shi'i rising after Iraqi War. In the long run, The Shi'i Islamic movement will continuously influence Iraqi political development.