Patriotic Ayatollahs

Patriotic Ayatollahs explores the contributions of senior clerics in state and nation-building after the 2003 Iraq war. Caroleen Sayej suggests that the four so-called Grand Ayatollahs, the highest-ranking clerics of Iraqi Shiism, took on a new and unexpected political role after the fall of Saddam Hussein.

Drawing on previously unexamined Arabic-language fatwas, speeches, and communiqués of Iraq's four grand ayatollahs, this book analyzes how their new pronouncements and narratives shaped public debates after 2003. Sayej argues that, contrary to standard narratives about religious actors, the Grand Ayatollahs were among the most progressive voices in the new Iraqi nation. She traces the transformative position of Ayatollah Sistani as the "guardian of democracy" after 2003. Sistani was, in particular, instrumental in derailing American plans that would have excluded Iraqis from the state-building process—a remarkable story in which an octogenarian cleric takes on the United States over the meaning of democracy.

Patriotic Ayatollahs' counter-conventional argument about the ayatollahs' vision of a nonsectarian nation is neatly realized. Through her deep knowledge and long-term engagement with Iraqi politics, Sayej advances our understanding of how the post-Saddam Iraqi nation was built.

Caroleen Marji Sayej teaches government and international relations at Connecticut College. She is co-editor of The Iraq Papers.

Caroleen Marji Sayej has provided a timely analysis of the political role of Iraq's Shi'i clerics in post-Ba'thist Iraq... Sayej successfully challenges the oft-invoked binary descriptions of secular versus religious in Middle Eastern politics.

Sayej meticulously chronicles Sistani's influence in [Iraq] and his steady transformation from an unseasoned politician to a figure with a deep understanding of institutions.... Well-researched and persuasively argued.

The author provides a descriptive picture of Shi'ite Islam and superb characterization of the post-2003 political situation in Iraq. This deeply sourced narrative is a comprehensive, comparative political study of the internal political dynamics in Iraq and to a lesser extent the influence from neighboring Iran. This is a clear contribution to an understanding of contemporary politics in Iraq.