Saddam Husayn and Islam, 1968-2003: Ba`thi Iraq from Secularism to Faith

by Amatzia Baram

Overview

Saddam Hussein and Islam, 1968–2003, offers an intellectual history of the Bathi Party from the 1940s through 2003. Amatzia Baram focuses on the transition from its early insistence on "unity, freedom, and socialism" to its Islamization by the time it was toppled by U.S. forces in 2003, a change largely impelled by the need to rally Iraqis against Iran during their war of 1980–88. Baram reveals signs that Saddam Hussein himself became some sort of born-again Muslim, though these signs are inconclusive.

Sources include open source material but also internal secret files and highly classified audiotapes of Saddam Hussein that were made available to researchers at the Conflict Records Research Center at National Defense University and some documents at the Hoover Institution.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421415826
Publisher:	Woodrow Wilson Center Press / Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	11/10/2014
Pages:	496
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.40(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Amatzia Baram is professor emeritus for Middle East history and director of the Center for Iraq Studies, University of Haifa.

Table of Contents

Preface xiii

Acknowledgments xix

List of Abbreviations xxiii

Ethnographic Map of Iraq, 2003 xxvi

Introduction 1

The Limits of Ba'thi Dictatorship 4

The Changing Ideology of a Totalitarian Regime 7

Ba'th Original Secularism and Its Collapse 9

The Ba'th Conversion and the Arab Spring 10

Methodology 11

Interview Sources 13

Notes on Arabic-English Transliteration and Usage 14

1 A Radical Nationalist Movement Is Born 15

The Historical Setting 15

A Radical Nationalist Movement Is Born 18

The Foundation of Party Ideology: The Holy Trinity (Unity, Freedom, Socialism) and Beyond 22

The Foundation of Party Ideology: Secularism and What Lies Beneath 26

The Ba'th Genesis, the Shi'a, and Pan-Arabism 43

2 The Bath in Power, 1968-80: Fortress Secularism 47

The Ba'th Ruling Regime between Secularism and Islam 47

Secularizing the Constitution: The First Two Constitutions, 1968 and 1970 48

Two Examples of the Treatment of the Forbidden 51

Women's Legal Status 51

Culture and Identity: A Fascination with Pagan Civilizations 60

The Status of Islamic Studies in School Curricula, Textbooks, and Children's Magazines 66

A Whiff of Atheism 70

Religious Holidays as a Balancing Act 73

3 The Other Islam: Regime-Shi'i Relations, 1968-79 81

The Sunni-Shi'i Divide: Structural or Intentional? 81

Shi'i-Regime Alienation and Saddams Rise to Power 87

The Demographic Foundation of Shi'i-Regime Alienation 87

Root Causes of the Ba'th-Shi'i Estrangement 89

Regime Strategies for Winning Shi'i Hearts and Minds 94

A Shi'i Counterstrategy: Baqir al-Sadr's Ecumenical Endeavor 111

Regime-Shi'i Confrontations, 1969-79: A Pattern Is Set 116

Saddam Responds to Religious Shi'i Riots: Declaring the Shari'a passer de mode 129

Medieval Islamic Historiography in Defense of Ba'th Rule, Arabism, and the Sunna 133

4 The Impact of War, 1980-88 139

The Islamic Revolution in Iran and the Iraqi Shi'a, 1979-80 139

To Fight or Not to Fight? Two Secret Leadership Meetings on the Eve of the Invasion of Iran 145

The Last Stand of Fortress Secularism: The Ninth Ba'th Party Congress, 1982 156

Regime-Shi'i Relations in the War 161

The Islamization of Rhetoric, 1980-88 172

Military Symbols in the War 183

Islamic Institutions in the War 187

The First Major Breach in the Wall of Fortress Secularism: The July 1986 Secret Meeting of the Pan-Arab Leadership 190

5 From War to War, 1988-93 209

The Disintegration of the Soviet Bloc, and Islamization 209

The Kuwait Crisis and Saddam's Direct Line to God 210

The Kuwait Crisis and Saddam as a Mahdi 218

The March 1991 Shi'i Revolt 221

The Aftershocks 229

6 Saddam's Faith Campaign, 1993-2003: Imagining Islam and Jumping on Its Bandwagon 251

Voluntary Islamization and the Devastation of the Middle Class 251

Launching the Faith Campaign: Qur'an and Ecumenism 253

Quran Study and the Party Elite 258

Nepotism and the Prophet's Legacy 261

Limitations on Entertainment and Spirits 261

Mosques or Butter? 262

Other Islamic Institutions 264

The Faith Campaign and Barbaric Penalties 265

The Treatment of Sunni ?Ulama and Activists 267

The Shi'i Shrines, Rituals, and 'Ulama 270

Regime-Shi'a Confrontations, 1998-2003 279

Islamic Education in School Textbooks 281

A Parry Revolt: Is Baghdad Becoming Riyadh? 288

Islamization and Foreign Policy 292

7 What Kind of Islam? 295

The Renewal of Faith: A Quasi-Ecumenical Arab Sunni-Shi'i Islam 295

The Ulama 296

Shari'a "Lite" 297

Gender Issues: Islamist Inspiration, Ba'thi Practice 301

Pagan Cultures: No to the Taliban 305

Sufi Islam in Iraq 308

The Effect of the Faith Campaign on the Shi'i and Sunni Communities 314

Was the Islamic Faith Campaign Antireligious? 318

Did Saddam Become a Born-Again Muslim? 328

8 Conclusion and Postscript 339

Religiosity Out of Hardships and the Revealed Power of Islam 339

Party Dictatorship and Its Limitations 342

The Effect of the Faith Campaign on Post-Ba'thi Iraq 346

Appendix: Ba'th Party Membership and Organization 349

Membership 349

A Pyramidal Organization 350

Notes 355

Glossary 413

Bibliography 423

Index 441

What People are Saying About This

Phebe Marr

This is a major work that will change our interpretation of Iraq’s recent history.

From the Publisher

This is a major work that will change our interpretation of Iraq’s recent history.
—Phebe Marr, Middle East Institute

Documentation is meticulous, and the comparisons that Iraqis make with their counterparts in Syria and Iran are riveting. Many books have been written on Iraq, but none to date offers such a persuasive account of the Bath régime's inner logic.
—Dale Eickelman, Dartmouth College

Dale Eickelman

Documentation is meticulous, and the comparisons that Iraqis make with their counterparts in Syria and Iran are riveting. Many books have been written on Iraq, but none to date offers such a persuasive account of the Bàth régime’s inner logic.

Editorial Reviews

Amatzia Baram, a distinguished historian of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, provides novel insights regarding Saddam Hussein’s use of Islam in this intelligent new study . . . The author is a master storyteller. The book, though lengthy and scholarly, is a page-turner . . . Essential reading for scholars of modern Iraqi history and of Islam and politics.
—H-Net Reviews

From the Publisher

Amatzia Baram, a distinguished historian of Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, provides novel insights regarding Saddam Hussein’s use of Islam in this intelligent new study . . . The author is a master storyteller. The book, though lengthy and scholarly, is a page-turner . . . Essential reading for scholars of modern Iraqi history and of Islam and politics.

H-Net Reviews