Editorial Reviews
Review
Nakash's account of the process of community formation in Iraq has fascinating implications for modern Middle Eastern history. In that broad historical revolution which is the settlement of the Middle Eastern tribes, we can see that the agents were: Sufism in most of the Sunni countries; fundamentalist Islam in Arabia; and Shi'ism in Iraq and Iran. In each case, the primitive Islam of the tribes takes on a new form as an accompaniment to a fundamental change in economic and social life.
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Book Description
Iraqi Shi'is, the country's majority group, are nevertheless politically disinherited, as was vividly demonstrated in the aftermath of the Gulf War. Here Yitzhak Nakash provides a rich historical background for understanding their place in today's Sunni-dominated Iraq. The first comprehensive work on the Shi'is of Iraq, this book challenges the widely held belief that their culture and politics are a reflection of Iranian Shi'ism. In examining the years between the rise of the Shi'i strongholds Najaf and Karbala in the mid-eighteenth century and the collapse of the Iraqi monarchy in 1958, Nakash shows that the growth of Iraqi Shi'ism was closely related to socioeconomic and political developments in the nineteenth century. Iraqi Shi'is, the country's majority group, are nevertheless politically disinherited, as was vividly demonstrated in the aftermath of the Gulf War. Here Yitzhak Nakash provides a rich historical background for understanding their place in today's Sunni-dominated Iraq. The first comprehensive work on the Shi'is of Iraq, this book challenges the widely held belief that their culture and politics are a reflection of Iranian Shi'ism. In examining the years between the rise of the Shi'i strongholds Najaf and Karbala in the mid-eighteenth century and the collapse of the Iraqi monarchy in 1958, Nakash shows that the growth of Iraqi Shi'ism was closely related to socioeconomic and political developments in the nineteenth century.
The Shi'Is of Iraq
The Shi'Is of Iraq,Yitzhak Nakash,Princeton University Press,0691034311,General,History,History - General History,History: World,Iraq,Islam - Shi'ism,Middle East - General,Political History,Religious life and customs,Shiites,Shåi°ah
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