Sects And Solidarity
In Iraq
By Dahr Jamail
22 March, 2005
The Nation
Baghdad: Wrapped
in his brown abaya, Sheik Sayak Kumait al-Asadi, a spokesman in Baghdad
for the revered Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, is angry
and forceful when speaking of both the US occupation and the suffering
of the Shiites under the regime of Saddam Hussein. Above him hangs an
ornately framed poster of Sistani.
The spokesmans
point is clear: After decades of repression, now is the time for the
Shiites to have power, no matter the price. Most of the Sunnis
are accepted by us, but there are those among them who don't want the
Shia in the government, nor the Kurds. Some Sunnis will either kill
us or make us slaves. We accept these elections now, says Asadi,
pulling the abaya close over his shoulders. But many Shias and
Kurds believe dividing the country is the only real solution.
After all, the Shiites
suffered horribly under the reign of the deposed dictator. Among the
highly prominent Shiite ayatollahs killed by Saddams men were
the revered Mohammed Bakr Sadr, executed with his sister in 1980, and
his cousin Mohammed Sadiq Sadr (the father of Muqtada al-Sadr), who
was assassinated in 1999.
But Shiite loathing
for the Sunni elite that oppressed them under Saddam does not translate
into sympathy for the US occupiers. We cannot push the Shia to
accept any of the Westerners in our country, Asadi says while
leaning forward for emphasis, Because they are the tail of the
American snake.
With Shiite domination
in the National Assembly, they will have much power in writing Iraq's
new constitution. Will this lopsided dynamic provoke a violent reaction
from the Sunni-dominated insurgency? If it does, will the Shiite militias,
like the Badr Organization, the armed wing of the Supreme Council for
the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), strike back, igniting a civil
war?
When examining the
statements of some political and religious leaders from both communities,
one gets the sense that civil war is indeed imminent. Sheik Asadis
venom toward the Sunni is matched by that of some of his Sunni counterparts
toward the Shiites. But Western media outlets, focusing on the sensational,
have played up the potential for civil war, muting the voices of Sunni
and Shiite leaders who are skeptical of such predictions and united
against partition. And on the ground, Sunnis and Shiites are much more
intertwined by bonds of tribal affiliation and family than is commonly
understood in the United States. Descend from the politically charged
worlds of the Shiite imams, Sunni sheiks and mainstream media to the
realm of everyday people, and the danger of civil war seems more remote.
A gaunt mujahedeen
fighter-fresh from the ruins of Falluja where he had been inspecting
the rubble of his former home-agrees to meet me in Baghdad. He is ready
to die fighting America, but he went back to Falluja because hed
also like to recover whatever belongings of his might still exist. By
his account, even in Falluja-the geographic and political heart of the
Sunni resistance-there are vivid examples of just how connected Sunnis
and Shiites can be, not only by family but also in their opposition
to the US occupation.
We sent fighters
to Najaf when the Americans were attacking our Muslim brothers,
says the nervous, high-strung muj fighter, referring to the intifada
Sadr called last summer. They helped us when the invaders were
attacking our city last April; they helped us again this time and we
will never forget that.
During the April
siege of Falluja I saw crowds of Shiites at the Abu Hanifa mosque in
the heavily Sunni and Baathist Baghdad neighborhood of al-Adhamiya loading
trucks with bags of food, blood for transfusions and many young male
humanitarian volunteers-all ready for shipment to besieged
Falluja.
And today a sampling of opinion among regular Baghdadis, both Sunnis
and Shiites, makes the chances of civil war appear slim.
I don't believe
civil war will happen, remarks Amin Rathman, a 43-year-old owner
of an internet cafe in Baghdad. College students bustle about, making
copies of term papers and drinking tea together as a patrol of US Humvees
rumbles by outside a window recently shattered by gunfire. Rathman says
he believes that although Iraq is in a precarious position and vulnerable
to the provocations of the worst elements in the political parties,
Islam, nationalism and patriotism will prevail. There are reasonable
people in these political parties who will see that at the end of the
day we are all Muslim, and we are all Iraqi, so sectarian differences
are certainly no reason to begin a civil war.
Some leaders, both
Sunni and Shiite, echo this view, but tensions are rising. The January
30th vote-forced upon the United States by Sistanis January 2004
call for protests demanding elections-was marred by a widespread Sunni
boycott. The elections, which produced a triumphant slate of Shiite
politicians, the United Iraqi Alliance backed by Sistani, has amplified
friction between Sunni and Shiite leaders. The UIA includes the Dawa
and SCIRI parties, as well as the Iraqi National Congress, led by Ahmed
Chalabi, among others.
Even among the more
religious and politically active Shiites, however, many feel that a
geographical divide along sectarian lines is not the answer to Iraqs
problems.
We are against
any kind of division to the country, says Ahmed al-Asadi, the
public relations officer for the Dawa Party, speaking from his office
in the upscale Monsoor district of the capital city just after the elections.
He believes dividing Iraq would lead to foreign control of the political,
social and economic sectors, which he vehemently opposes.
We will not
fight each other as they mention in the media, Asadi says while
folding his hands together and leaning back in his chair. There
is no hope for civil war as our enemies want, and I don't think true
Iraqis want this. The spokesman acknowledges divisions between
the sects, but adds, This doesn't mean that these divisions will
fight each other.
At the headquarters
of SCIRI in Baghdad, Redah Jawad Taki expressed similar views. There
are divisions and each division has its thoughts, but it doesn't mean
that these divisions will prevent the Shiite from unity with our Sunni
brothers and among ourselves, he says. Our enemies are waiting
for us to start fighting each other, [but] that will never happen.
Their headquarters was car-bombed before the elections, but Taki dismisses
concern that the attack might have set off a cycle of violence. We
have no evidence saying that an Iraqi Muslim Sunni is assassinating
an Iraqi Muslim Shiite, he says. The one who will accept
the division of our country will agree that our country stays under
the occupation.
Sheik Ghaith al-Timini
al-Kadhimi, deputy spokesman for the Sadr office in the sprawling slum
of Sadr City, Baghdad, is further out on the spectrum of opinion. When
asked if he feels recent attacks on Shiite mosques and assassinations
of Shiite political figures could spark civil war, he replies, rather
ominously, I dont think that our brothers, the Sunnis, will
commit such crimes against the Shiite, but if we find some persons who
commit these crimes they are executing a foreign and a Zionist plan
inside the country aiming that we will fight each other, and this is
the civil war that the Americans and most satellites are speaking about.
Dr. Wamid Omar Nadhmi,
a senior political scientist at Baghdad University and a Sunni, believes
any talk of division is an overreaction to past grievances.
When weve
had a society with no free flow of ideas, you get obsessions from certain
groups and individuals, he explains on his porch overlooking the
Tigris River in Baghdad. But Nadhmi believes that these are peripheral
ideas that lack broad popular support. Don't underestimate Iraqi
patriotism, and dont overestimate sectarian divisions, because
in the final analysis, Shia and Sunni are Muslims, he says, while
Apache helicopters rumble low over the brown muddy waters that separate
his home from the concrete blocks demarcating the Green Zone.
Expressing a commonly
held view in Baghdad, Professor Nadhmi says, This civil war is
only in the brain of the American decision-maker, and perhaps he himself
is aware that there is no civil strife between Shia and Sunnis, but
[attempts] to use it as a pretext.
After watching the
black silhouettes of the helicopters grow smaller against the setting
sun, he adds, The Americans are actually saying, Let us
stay in your country, let us kill you, Iraqis, because we don't like
you to kill each other.
Imam Muayad
al-Adhami of the Abu Hanifa mosque in Baghdad also blames foreign influence
for the recent talk of rising sectarian tensions. The Americans
are using divide and conquer to try to split the Muslims of Iraq,
he says softly, while gesturing with his large hands. But Iraqi
society is Muslim first and tribal second. That means Sunni and Shia
are relatives, often in the same family with so many links and intermarriages.
This is our society and anyone trying to divide us is blind to these
facts.
The sheik offered several examples of solidarity between the two sects.
Last year, when his Shiite neighbors in the Khadamiya district just
across the Tigris from Adhamiya were struck by a devastating suicide
bomb attack during the Ashura holiday, his was the first mosque to ask
people to donate blood.
We didnt
feel any different from them, emphasizes Sheik Muayad. They
are Muslims and we must help them. When they analyzed the donated blood
for our brothers and sisters in Khadamiya, they couldn't tell if it
was Sunni or Shia blood.
A visit to Baghdad
University reinforces the sense that Iraqi nationalism and Islamic identity
are more deeply felt than sectarian allegiances. Despite the fact that
the university suffered looting in the aftermath of the invasion and
much of it remains in disrepair, the campus, now home to more than 100
refugee families from Falluja, remains an island of normalcy for college
students of both sects of Islam. Most do not foresee sectarian differences
necessitating civil war or the partition of their country.
There is not a split between Sunni and Shia here, we are all Iraqi,
says Intisar Hammad. The 21-year-old physics student, who is a Shiite,
adds, There are enemies of Iraq who want us to be separate, but
we are all Muslims and our constitution is the Koran.
Another Baghdad
University student named Saif feels the same. There is no split.
We are together. We are one.
Such declarations
of national unity aside, the specter of civil war looms in the back
of Iraqi minds as the political machinations grind forward. Tensions
continue to swirl over Kirkuk, the oil-rich city claimed by the countrys
Kurdish minority, whose power was emboldened by its strong showing in
the recent elections. The lack of Sunni representation in the National
Assembly, meanwhile, could set the stage for a reinvigorated insurgency,
threatening the new government. The Bush Administration declared the
elections a success simply because they occurred, but their success
or failure will truly be decided as these possibilities unfold in the
coming months.
Even before the
National Assembly drafts the new constitution, debate over US withdrawal
is likely to intensify, with Sadr and Sistani staking out distinct positions:
While Sistani appears to favor allowing more time for withdrawal, Sadr
announced just days after the elections that an immediate timetable
for US withdrawal was the only solution.
The highly influential
Sunni Association of Muslim Scholars recently restated its demand that
occupation forces provide a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq and remain
in their bases until this is accomplished. The group also announced
that they regard the recent elections as completely illegitimate and
would not respect any government created by them. Interestingly, however,
they also said they would be open to joining the political process in
drafting the constitution if a timetable for the withdrawal of occupation
forces was announced.
Whatever their views
on the timetable, one theme most Iraqis seem to agree on, whether Shiite
or Sunni, religious leaders or ordinary people, is that the foreign
power in Iraq must depart, leaving Iraqis to sort out their sectarian
and ethnic differences.
As Wamid Nadhmi
says, It will take Iraqis something like a quarter of a century
to rebuild their country, to heal their wounds, to reform their society,
to bring about some sort of national reconciliation, democracy and tolerance
of each other. But that process will not begin until the US occupation
of Iraq ends.