A Formidable Muslim Bloc Emerges
The war in Iraq has produced an unintended consequence -- a formidable Shiite Muslim geographical bloc that will dominate politics in the Middle East for many years. This development is also creating political and spiritual leaders of unparalleled international influence.
It is easy to see the Shiite lineup. Iran and Iraq have a Shiite majority, and so does Bahrain. In Lebanon, Shiites are a significant plurality. In Syria, although they are a minority, they are the dominant power in government. They are the majority in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia and have a significant presence in Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
The U.S. is used to thinking of the world in terms of individual nation-states. But the Shiites are a transnational force. The U.S. has unwittingly supplied the key linkage for this bloc by destroying the secular government of Saddam Hussein. That brought that country's Shiite majority to the fore, creating a solid line of Shiite-dominated nations from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea.
This force is magnified because devout Shiite followers have a primary loyalty to spiritual leaders rather than secular officials. Shiite leaders are organized, well funded and set up to provide charitable aid, health care and social welfare, a notable weakness in the organization of U.S. occupation forces thus far.
On May 19, more than 1,000 Shiite protesters marched in Baghdad to protest the American presence in Iraq. The crowd cried "No, no for America! Yes, yes for Al Hawza!" The Hawza is the influential council of Islamic clerics, in the city of Najaf.
The strength of the Shiite community lies in its independent and dynamic leadership. There are about 1.5 billion Muslims in the world, 112 million of whom are Shiites.
The Shiite community split from the Sunni community over the Shiite belief that the Prophet's son-in-law Ali was his rightful successor. The Iraqi city of Najaf, where Ali is buried, is rapidly becoming the Vatican of the Shiite world.
There are also differences between Shiite and Sunni in ritual, legal and political organization. Sunni Muslims have four established schools of interpretation of Islamic law. Shiites by contrast have no absolute fixed legal interpretations. In place of a fixed code, each believer chooses a spiritual leader -- a "person worthy of emulation" -- usually an ayatollah, who serves as a legal and spiritual guide.
