The Organization of al-Imam al-Muntadhar (1986) A Case Study of a Dissident Organization in Kufa

الملخص

Kufa is an Iraqi city that was, for centuries, a major center of Arab and Islamic culture and learning.  Among the components of Arab and Islamic civilization, which are associated with Kufa are: one of the two major methods of Arabic grammar, several methods of Qur’anic recitation, and a major School of Islamic jurisprudence, in addition to its distinguished poets and scholars of philology, history, literary criticism, and belles lettres.  Many of Prophet Muhammad’s companions resided in Kufa, most prominent of whom was his cousin and son-in-law, Ali ibn Abi Talib, the first Imam of the Shi‘a.  He made Kufa the capital of the Muslim state during his five-year caliphate (AD 656-661).  Kufa was founded in AD 638 as a garrison town for the fighting forces that were engaged in expanding the Muslim state in Iraq and the lands of the falling Persian Empire.  It is situated on the Euphrates River, some 100 miles south west of Baghdad.

Contemporary Kufa is one of the major towns of the Najaf Province, second only to its capital, Najaf, which was established later around the burial place of Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib.  The Ba‘thist regime gave special attention to Kufa because of its significance and symbolism for the Shi‘a, who believe that it will become the capital of the Twelfth Imam, al-Mahdi (disappeared in AD 874), when he reappears to restore justice on earth and create the promised virtuous Shi‘a state before the end of time, as the Shia doctrine maintains.  The importance of the city for the memory and identity of the Shi‘a was ably matched by Ba‘thist brutality throughout the 1970s, 80s, and 90s.  Religious rituals were banned, residents of the city were arrested, tortured and executed; and the community remained subject to the strictest level of surveillance all the time.  Yet, Kufa remained adamantly defiant and was never tamed by all the regime’s instrumentalities of oppression.

This case study sheds light on one of the episodes of resistance, whose key players were ordinary residents of the town – students, low-ranking military personnel, and a few modest state employees.  Although the regime tried to link them to large opposition organizations and foreign enemies, there is no hard evidence in the documents that support this claim.  The main source for this study came from my two years of archival work at the Hoover Institution, where millions of documents belonging to the Ba’ath Party’s Central Bureau are held.