The Role Of Muhammad Baqir AlSadr In Shia Politial Activism In Iraq From 1958 to 1980 [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Chapter
Two - The Rise of Sadr

In
1958, a military coup d'etat began a period of great turmoil in
Iraq that changed its political system and social fabric. The kingdom that
had been engineered by British occupation forces in 1921, was replaced by
a "republic" under the rule of a military junta; the royal family and
the ruling class were executed. The head of the military junta, General
Qasim, who had led the revolt gained popular support unprecedented in
modern Iraqi history, in part because of his policy of dissociating Iraq
from Britain, which included withdrawing from the CENTO alliance known as
the "Baghdad Pact" and closing British military bases in the
country.(3)

The
Communist Party

With
the coup in place, a variety of political groups sought a place in
the new regime, and in the process created anarchy. Some, of which the
Communist Party was the best organized, were given a voice in the new
regime. To increase his power base in the country, Qasim used the
Communists to eliminate his colleagues in the ruling junta who were loyal
to the Arab nationalist movements. In the bloody street fighting that
followed, especially in the northern cities of Mosul and Kirkuk where the
nationalist officers attempted a military coup against Qasim, the
Communists emerged as the major political force.

(4)

The
Shi'ia religious establishment, acquiescent since its last revolt
against the British in 1920, found itself challenged by atheist political
forces who, if left unchecked, might wipe Islam from the lives of the
people,

(5)

for the nation
seemed to be welcoming the secularism and antireligious sentiments of the
new regime and to accept Communist propaganda, which denounced the
religious establishment as reactionary and religion as an obstacle to
modernization and the progress of the people. The Communist forces then
began to penetrate the religious establishment itself in the holy cities
of Najaf, Karbala, and Kadhimiyah, even recruiting members of religious
families, but the religious leadership (marja'iyya) under the
Grand Mujtahid Muhsin al-Hakim took steps to overcome these challenges.