Activism in a Structural Crisis: An Analysis of the Relationship between the Authority of Sayyid Muhammad Sadr and the Ba'athist Regime in Iraq (۱۹۹۱–۱۹۹۹)

The relationship between Shia religious authority (marja’iyya) and the modern political structure in Iraq, particularly during the rule of the Ba'ath Party, is one of the key issues in the study of contemporary Iraqi political history. The ۱۹۹۰s—following Iraq's defeat in the Kuwait War (۱۹۹۱) and the imposition of extensive international sanctions—marked a period of deep economic, social, and legitimacy crises for the Ba'athist state. Under these conditions, a distinctive model of religious and social activism emerged from Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Muhammad-Al-Sadr al-Sani (the Second Sadr) within Iraq's Shia community, drawing the attention of many researchers. The central question of this study is: How did Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Sadr, within an authoritarian yet crisis-ridden political structure, manage to organize his religious and social activism and expand it across society? In the existing literature on Shia religious authority in Iraq, two main models have typically been emphasized: the model of explicit political activism, analyzed in relation to Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad-Baqir al-Sadr, and the model of caution and preservation of the marja’iyya institution, prominent in the activism of Ayatollah Sayyid Abul-Qasim al-Khoei. However, the activism of Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad Sadr in the ۱۹۹۰s has rarely been analyzed independently and within a theoretical framework. This study, employing the theoretical framework of "structure–agency" and using a historical-analytical method along with library-based data, examines the relationship between the structural conditions of Iraq in the ۱۹۹۰s and the activism of Ayatollah Sadr. The findings indicate that the crisis-ridden conditions of Iraq's political structure during this period created grounds for the emergence of new forms of religious and social activism. Ayatollah Sadr played an active role in organizing this activism by utilizing tools such as reviving Friday prayers, expanding direct communication with the masses, and strengthening the social function of the marja’iyya.

کلیدواژه ها:

Sayyid Muhammad Sadr ، Ba'athist regime ، structure–agency ، religious authority (marja’iyya) ، political activism ، speaking seminary (Ḥawza Nāṭiqa) ، structural crisis ، al-Hamlah al-Imaniyya (The Faith Campaign)