Associate Professor, Department of Politics, Academy of Islamic Regimes, Research Center of Islamic Culture and Thought, Tehran, Iran
10.22081/jips.2024.76145
Abstract
The present study aims at investigating Najaf seminary center and the challenges of the civil state in Iraq. The research method is descriptive-analytical and we used interview as the tool for gathering data. To do so, we had a dialogue with a considerable number of religious authorities, mujtahids and educators of seminary about the most important components of civil state. The results showed that many of the clerics in Najaf seminary acknowledge the hegemony of the thought of the great Sheikh’s pupils over that seminary and analyze the present seminary in Najaf as the extension to that thought. In this way, they maintain that this seminary’s opposition to establishment of a Shiite government in Iraq is a foundational opposition. Most of them favored a civil state or parliament system based on constitutional law and considered Ayatollah Sistani’s defense of it as the last word in that seminary. Of course, the scholars and clerics in Najaf refrained from using the term ‘secular state’, and it seems they consider it inconsistent with the religious doctrines. Accordingly, they used the very term of ‘civil state’. The clerics in Najaf insisted on the concept of ‘citizenship’ – containing the legal rights and obligations – as the most important common factor among the ethnic and religious group in Iraq. The Najaf clerics’ answer regarding the causes for encouraging the Shiites to take part – along with other inhabitants of Iraq – in establishing a government has less religious motivation. In answering the question on why the clerics in Najaf do not demand a Shiite government, most of them prefer to use the phrase ‘not necessary’.
Abu Gilal, B. (2021). Ayatollah Sistani’s School and the New State of Iraq. Najaf: Dar al-‘Ilm Ayat al-‘Ilm Ayatollah Khouie (personal interview: Abdul-Wahhab Forati). [In Arabic]
Bahr al-Olum, S. M. A. (2021). Scholars of Najaf and Evolutions of the State in Contemporary Iraq. Najaf: Ma‘had al-‘Ilmayn (personal interview: Abdul-Wahhab Forati). [In Arabic]
Al-Hussein, R. (2021). Scholars of Najaf and Politicizing in New Iraq. Najaf: his majesty’s house (personal interview: Abdul-Wahhab Forati). [In Arabic]
Hakim, S. M. H. (2021). Jurisprudence and Religious Government. Najaf: Maktab Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Saeed Hakim (personal interview: Abdul-Wahhab Forati). [In Arabic]
Kharsan, S. S. (2021). Najaf Seminary and Government in Iraq. Najaf: his majesty’s house (personal interview: Abdul-Wahhab Forati). [In Arabic]
Khouie, S. J. (2021). Clerics and Islamic State in Iraq. Najaf: Dar al-‘Ilm Ayatollah Khouie (personal interview: Abdul-Wahhab Forati). [In Arabic]
Sanad Bahraini, M. (2021). Najaf Seminary and the Islamic State. Najaf: his majesty’s office (personal interview: Abdul-Wahhab Forati). [In Arabic]
Javaheri, H. (2021). Jurisprudence and the Theory of Islamic State in Iraq. Najaf: Kashef al-Ghitaʾ Mosque (personal interview: Abdul-Wahhab Forati). [In Arabic]
Al-Hamud, A. T. (2018). The Hot Star of Government, Experience of the Shiites’ State-Making in Post-Saddam Iraq (Trans. Markabi, H.). Tehran: Arma Publications. [In Arabic]
Ya‘qubi, M. (2019). The Second Sadr and the Theory of Religious State. Najaf: Hay al-Zahra (personal interview: Abdul-Wahhab Forati). [In Arabic]
Forati, A. (2024). Najaf Seminary and the Challenges of Civil State in Iraq. Journal of Islamic Political Studies, 6(1), 141-173. doi: 10.22081/jips.2024.76145
MLA
Abdul-Wahhab Forati. "Najaf Seminary and the Challenges of Civil State in Iraq". Journal of Islamic Political Studies, 6, 1, 2024, 141-173. doi: 10.22081/jips.2024.76145
HARVARD
Forati, A. (2024). 'Najaf Seminary and the Challenges of Civil State in Iraq', Journal of Islamic Political Studies, 6(1), pp. 141-173. doi: 10.22081/jips.2024.76145
VANCOUVER
Forati, A. Najaf Seminary and the Challenges of Civil State in Iraq. Journal of Islamic Political Studies, 2024; 6(1): 141-173. doi: 10.22081/jips.2024.76145