Further reading: Hamid Algar, trans., Islam and Revo-
lution: Writings and Declarations of Imam Khomeini
(Berkeley, Calif.: Mizan Press, 1981); Said A. Arjomand,
The Shadow of God and the Hidden Imam: Religion,
Political Order and Societal Change in Shiite Iran from
the Beginning to 1990 (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1984); Juan R. Cole and Nikki R. Keddie, eds.,
Shiism and Social Protest (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Uni-
versity Press, 1986); John L. Esposito, ed., The Iranian
Revolution: Its Global Impact (Gainesville: University
Presses of Florida, 1990); Nikki Keddie, Modern Iran:
Roots and Results of Revolution (New Haven, Conn.: Yale
University Press, 2003); Roy Mottahedeh, The Mantle
of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran (New York:
Simon & Schuster, 1985); Abdulaziz A. Sachedina, The
Just Ruler in Shiite Islam: The Comprehensive Authority
of the Jurist in Imamite Jurisprudence (New York: Oxford
University Press, 1988).
Iraq (Official Name: Republic of Iraq)
Located in the heart of the Middle East, Iraq
covers an area of nearly 169,000 square miles,
comparable in size to the state of California. This
area consists of mountain ranges to the east and
north and vast desert plains to the south and west,
with the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers traversing it
diagonally from northwest to southeast. The con-
fluence of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in the
southeastern part of the country forms the Shatt
al-Arab, a 120-mile long river that drains into the
Persian Gulf. Iraq shares its longest border with
iran (formerly known as Persia) to the east, fol-
lowed by saUdi arabia to the south, tUrkey to the
north, syria to the west, Kuwait to the southeast,
and Jordan to the west. It has the fourth-largest
proven oil reserves in the world (2006), with
fields located in the southeast near the Shatt al-
Arab and the Kuwaiti border, and in the north.
The capital of Iraq is baghdad, located in the
central part of the country. The government oper-
ated as a dictatorial one-party political system
until 2003, when it was overthrown by a U.S.-led
invasion. The current government has a constitu-
tion and is technically classified as a parliamen-
tary democracy consisting of a multiparty national
assembly, or parliament. Iraq’s head of state is the
prime minister. It also has a president, but this is
mainly a ceremonial office.
Iraq’s population is estimated to be about 28.2
million (2008), nearly equally divided between
males and females. Arabs make up about 75
percent and Kurds 15 percent to 20 percent,
with the remainder being small minorities such
as Turkomans, Assyrians, and Persians. Most of
the Kurds, Turkomans, and Assyrians live in the
northern part of Iraq. The main languages spoken
in Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish (closely related
to Persian). A small minority speaks Turkoman,
a Turkic language. Many educated Iraqis speak
English as a second language. The majority of the
population are adherents of tWelve-imam shiism
(60 to 65 percent), who follow either the UsUli
(rationalist) or Akhbari (traditionalist) schools
of Shii jurisprudence. Most of Iraq’s Shiis live
south of Baghdad. The rest are mainly Sunnis (32
to 37 percent), most of whom follow the Hanafi
School of Sunni jurisprudence. The largest Sunni
populations are in the central and northern parts
of the country, including the Kurdish areas. There
are several small religious communities, includ-
ing Christians (3 percent) as well as Mandeans
and Yazidis, who adhere to ancient pre-Islamic
religions. The Sunnis include both Arabs and
Kurds, while the Shia are mainly Arabs. Christians
follow either the Assyrian Orthodox Church or
the Chaldean Church, which is in communion
with the Roman Catholic Church. Historically, the
country’s cultural coherence has been challenged
not only by its ethnic and religious diversity but
by internal tribal divisions and the pull of greater
Syria to the west, Turkey to the north, Iran to the
east, and the Arabian Peninsula to the south.ANCIENT IrAQ
Iraq has been called the “cradle of civiliza-
tion” because it is one of the first places whereIraq 367 J