'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎222r] (448/862)

PEOPLE
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which gives a man the title of Haji, but also voluntary pilgrimage to
local and national shrines. In Iraq the making of pilgrimages both to
the Shia and the Sunni shrines is very popular, and many men spend
a great part of their lives as pilgrims. The taboo against the flesh of
the pig and alcoholic drink is generally strong in Iraq; a dog, particu
larly a wet dog, is also regarded as unclean.
Moslem clergy consist of the Mullas, who are the village priests
and who hold the village schools, and of the clergy of the town
mosques of whom the more senior are called Imams (not to be
confused with the Shia Imams, below). Qadis are teachers or theo
logians who act as judges of the religious law or Sharia. They refer
disputed points to the authority of a Mufti, who is the leading Imam
of a principal mosque. The senior theologians are known collectively
as the Ulema, or Wise Men.
Shias. The historical origins of Jhe Shia sect have been already
described (p. 240). No analogy with the divisions of Christianity can
make clear the distinction between Shia and Sunni because Islam is
not a sacramental religion, except perhaps that just as the Catholic is
distinguished in one way by the greater attention which he pays to
Our Lady and the Saints, so the Shia is distinguished by his extreme
devotion to the Twelve Imams, particularly Ali and Husain, who
tend to overshadow the Prophet Mohammed in the Shia system.
Devotion to the Imams is for the ordinary Shia the essence of his
religious life. The theological basis of this devotion is the belief that
the Imams, the direct descendants of Mohammed and Ali, inherited
the superhuman powers of Mohammed and could interpret the will
of God and tell future events; their mouthpieces since the disappear
ance of the Twelfth Imam have been the Mujtahids or superior
clergy, who give authoritative decisions on religious matters. Thus
the Shias add to the Mohammedan creed the words ‘and Ali is the
vicegerent of God’. Other differences are mainly in religious prac
tice. Shias stress more than do Sunnis the prescriptions of ritual
purity, which is regarded as the main duty of the faithful. Attendance
at public worship—the Friday prayers—is not obligatory, because
there is no legitimate Imam to direct the prayers of the faithful.
Their clergy are trained at the seminaries (madrasa) of Karbala and
Najaf, and the most highly respected of them gain the title of Mujtahid
by tacit consent; the title of Imam Mujtahid is given to the presidents
of the chief mosques of the leading towns. The Mujtahids of Karbala
and Najaf, sometimes known collectively as Ataha, or the Threshold,
instead of Ulema, have authority throughout the entire Shia world.