forces to coerce and brutalize their real or imag-
ined opponents and to monopolize power in their
respective countries. This led to the massacre of
thousands of members of the mUslim brother-
hood in Syria during the 1980s. In Iraq, tens of
thousands of communists, Kurds, Shiis, and oth-
ers considered disloyal by the Baathists fell victim
to the state terror apparatus during Husayn’s long
rule. At the same time, the party leadership pro-
moted the modernization of schools, agriculture,
industries, health care, and the national infra-
structure through investment of public funds and
limited privatization. Syria’s involvement in the
arab-israeli conFlicts and Iraq’s involvement in
wars with Iran, Kuwait, and Western powers in
the 1980s and 1990s had disastrous consequences
for both countries, especially Iraq. Although the
Iraqi branch of the party was officially disbanded
after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, it is thought
that many former Baath members, together with
former Iraqi soldiers, have played a leading role in
the Iraqi insurgency against American forces and
any Iraqis who cooperate with them. They have
formed a loose alliance with Muslim guerrilla
forces in this context.
Further reading: Eberhard Kienle, Baath v. Baath: The
Conflict between Syria and Iraq, 1968–1989 (London: I.B.
Tauris & Co., 1990); Kanan Makiya (Samir al-Khalil),
Republic of Fear: The Inside Story of Saddam’s Iraq (New
York: Pantheon Books, 1990); Marion Farouq-Sluglett
and Peter Sluglett, Iraq since 1958: From Revolution to
Dictatorship (London: I.B. Tauris & Co., 2001).
Babism
Babism was a 19th-century Shii messianic move-
ment based in iraq and iran that announced the
immanent return of the Hidden Imam, a redeemer
sent by God, and thereby challenged the legitimacy
of powerful religious and political authorities at the
time. As a result, it was violently suppressed, but
it gave birth to a new movement, which became
the bahai Faith. The name Babism (Babiyya) was
based on the Arabic word bab, “gate” or “door,”
indicating a living man inspired by God who pro-
vides access to the Hidden Imam.
Ali Muhammad (1819–50), a young mer-
chant from Shiraz, Iran, launched the movement.
As a student pilgrim at the Shii holy cities of
karbala and Najaf in Iraq, he was attracted to
the Shaykhis, a Shii sect that had arisen earlier in
the century. After returning to Shiraz, he gained a
following of disciples, and in 1844, he proclaimed
that he was the bab, offering as proof an inspired
interpretation of a chapter in the qUran (Q 12).
He sent his followers throughout Iran and Iraq
to win converts, one of whom was Mirza Husayn
Ali Nuri (1817–92), who would later be known
as Baha Ullah, the founder of the Bahai Faith. Ali
Muhammad’s growing popularity and criticism of
the aUthority of the traditional Shii Ulama soon
caused them to look at him with disfavor, and
he was imprisoned in a remote mountain fortress
in Azerbaijan in 1847. He wrote many religious
tracts in his prison cell, the most famous of which
was the Bayan (exposition), which claimed to be a
holy book with a new universal law that replaced
other religious laws, including the sharia. Some
followers regarded him as a new prophet, and at
the end of his life, before being executed for apos-
tasy in 1850, he proclaimed that he was the Qaim
(one who will arise)—the Hidden Imam himself.
Babi leaders, including an influential woman
named Qurrat al-Ayn (d. 1852), decided to break
the movement’s ties with the Islamic religion and
lead a revolt against authorities in northern Iran.
Thousands of Babis were reported to have died at
the hands of government troops, especially after a
failed assassination attempt against Nasir al-Din
Shah (d. 1896), the ruler of Iran, in 1852. Most
of the movement’s survivors turned to the religion
of Baha Ullah (the Bahai Faith) in 1863, but oth-
ers stayed loyal to Ali Muhammad’s designated
heir, Mirza Yahya (or Subh-i Azal, d. 1912), and
this group of Babis became known as Azalis. Azali
Babism survived a period of exile in Iraq and Tur-
key, and its adherents participated in the IranianK 82 Babism