Entries from Islam's Advance tagged with 'Iraq'
A Moderate Muslim Flees Iraq
Yesterday, the first Iraqi families were granted asylum to the UK as part of a British government program to resettle translators whose lives had been endangered after working for Coalition forces in southern Iraq. Among them were Haider Samad and his family. Those of you have followed this blog for the past few months will know Haider’s story. But although yesterday signals an end to Haider’s ordeal, it also marks a victory for a narrow Islamist rhetoric over more moderate voices in Iraq. More in this video.
Un-Employing Extremism
How can a dusty, partly-abandoned ceramics factory on the edge of Ramadi help stem the tide of al-Qaeda in Iraq?
This is one of the conundrums that the U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Team faces in this gritty Western Iraqi city. Ramadi was overrun by al-Qaeda and other Islamic extremist groups for much of the past five years, until Iraqi tribal leaders finally succeeded, earlier this year, in routing them out of the city.
In the past few months reconstruction has begun – or at least what passes for reconstruction in Iraq since the invasion. That is, tearing down bomb-damaged buildings (in Ramadi’s case that amounts to a large swathe of downtown), patching up the rest, and clearing away the rubble. So far over $200 million has been spent on the cleanup. I’ve witnessed this process before, right after the war, and again following U.S. offensives in Fallujah. But what happens next? That’s the big question facing Ramadi, and really the rest of the country. Once you’ve cleared out al-Qaeda, how do you bolster civic society and local governance to stop extremists from returning?
Extremists Out, Capitalists In
How can a dusty, partly-abandoned ceramics factory on the edge of Ramadi help stem the tide of al-Qaeda in Iraq?
This is one of the conundrums that the U.S. Provincial Reconstruction Team faces in this gritty Western Iraqi city. Ramadi was overrun by al-Qaeda and other Islamic extremist groups for much of the past five years, until Iraqi tribal leaders finally succeeded, earlier this year, in routing them out of the city.
In the past few months reconstruction has begun – or at least what passes for reconstruction in Iraq since the invasion. That is, tearing down bomb-damaged buildings (in Ramadi’s case that amounts to a large swathe of downtown), patching up the rest, and clearing away the rubble. So far over $200 million has been spent on the cleanup. I’ve witnessed this process before, right after the war, and again following U.S. offensives in Fallujah. But what happens next? That’s the big question facing Ramadi, and really the rest of the country. Once you’ve cleared out al-Qaeda, how do you bolster civic society and local governance to stop extremists from returning?
Iraq's Tribal Threat
I have often argued in this blog that the adaptation of Islamic beliefs to tribal customs is one of the main problems facing Islam’s efforts to modernize. Whether manifested in so-called “honor” crimes in Jordan, or in Afghanistan’s makeshift legal system in places like the border town of Khost, tribalism asserts itself where government has broken down, providing some form of law and hierarchy at the price of allowing socially regressive practices and corruption. I sometimes like to measure tribal leaders by what I call the “Godfather factor” – just how little they have to say to make themselves understood.
Love Blooms in Baghdad
Love has been one of the more unusual casualties of war here in Iraq. Young men and women have kept to their homes, and families have turned to older tribal marriage customs as a bulwark against the insecurity. But as a tenuous calm has returned to Baghdad, there’s been a brief blossoming of so-called “love matches.” Newlyweds and groups of young single men and women spend weekend afternoons strolling through the Baghdad Zoo, featured in this video.
There aren’t many ways to find love in Iraq. There are few such public spaces in Baghdad where couples can meet, even if little more happens than a platonic holding of hands. The majority of marriages are still arranged within families, often between cousins, reflecting the conservative view of marriage as a strategic union that keeps wealth inside the family, and guarantees the good reputation of the bride.
Sami, the subject of this video, says he couldn’t have married Sejwa if the security situation hadn’t improved in recent months. For starters, he found a job with a government office last year, his first since the U.S. invasion, which allowed him to save up the US$5000 needed for the marriage. An Iraqi bridegroom are expected to provide an apartment for his bride with all the modern conveniences:¬ refrigerators, televisions, kitchenware, beds, air-conditioning units. That makes for some of the most detailed pre-nuptial agreements in the world, and means many families take a businesslike view of marriage.
Competing Visions for Iraq: Clerics or Commerce?
“We¹re going to build a city to rival Dubai,” says governor Assad Abu Galal as he unrolls sheaths of architectural plans in his offices on the outskirts of the southern Iraqi city of Najaf. The 64-year old former exile, who usually cultivates an air of quiet, grandfatherly detachment, becomes suddenly animated as he traces the lines of new roads, housing projects, tourist complexes, and five-star hotels.
The centerpiece of his plan is the renovation and expansion of the Imam Ali Shrine, the golden-domed tomb that houses the body of the Prophet Mohammed’s grandson and draws millions of pilgrims each year. In one of Galal’s blueprints, a large swath of the old city has been cleared away to make way for shopping boutiques, underground parking and a sweeping piazza.
Sure, his audacity is surprising; he’s dreaming up schemes so out of touch with the realities of this dust-blown Iraqi city, where pools of sewage collect in the streets and there are only a few hours of electricity a day. But what struck me even more about the governor’s vision was that it represents a transformation in how the world of Iraqi Shi’a Islam sees itself.
Dying to Escape Iraq
The last time I wrote about Haider, he had just arrived in Amman, Jordan after fleeing for his life from southern Iraq. The story of his narrow escape from the Mahdi Army’s death squads is worth repeating, not least because Haider’s struggle represents the continuing plight of thousands of Iraqis who are desperately trying to leave.
Haider worked as a translator for British forces in Basra, but the list of those targeted includes doctors, nurses, teachers and engineers. Their aggressors are, more often than not, poor, uneducated Shi’a from the slums of southern Iraq. Many were themselves victimized by Saddam Hussein’s regime; they found in the Mahdi Army’s leader, Moqtada al-Sadr, an angry voice that echoed their own. The fact that Sadr clothes his message in Islamic rhetoric gives them an additional sense of legitimacy, and a brutal, reductive vision of Islam to enforce.
