The Shi’is of Iraq

by Yitzhak Nakash

Nakash really breaks new ground in our knowledge of how the modern Shi’is of Iraq were formed. He shows us that they were formed by essentially a process of settlement by the nomadic tribes of Iraq of the 19th century. They were Sunni Arab tribes largely, but as they settled in the south of the country they adopted Shi’ism. It is the reason why today we find tribes in Iraq that have both Shi’i members and Sunni members and it shows you the very close organic development between these two communities which are often portrayed as so different.