The Call to a Free, Glorious Iraq: Iraqi Shia Political Theology, 1958-1979

This paper is an analysis of the political theology articulated by Shia clerics and the political parties they were affiliated with between 1958-1979 with specific attention paid to Ayatollah Muhammad Baqir Al-Sadr and the Islamic Da’wa Party. It begins by tracing the development of Shia clerical political activism under the Kingdom of Iraq and proceeds with an analysis of the rhetoric of the political parties that were developed under the Republic. In their formulations of their political theology, Shia clerics debated and negotiated with other contemporary social movements, wrestling with ideas such as pan-Arabism, ecumenism and social justice. I thus argue that in developing their political theology, Shia clerics borrowed consciously from their ideological surroundings to create a theological base for their political program that could resolve the contradictions of those other political movements