ABSTRACT
Chapter 1 provides the historical background against which the later Sufi revival under the Baʿth regime must be measured and presents a comprehensive overview with new insights about Sufism in Iraq. First of all, it argues for a broader Sufi culture in Iraq that encompasses not only charismatic Sufi shaykhs and their orders but also a whole architectural Sufi landscape, Sufi tribal genealogies, the Syndicate of Prophetic Descendants, and religious schools. Beginning with the Sufis’ golden days during the Ottoman era, it sketches the gradual decline of this Sufi culture and its institutions with the emergence of the modern nation state and republican regimes in Iraq. It was this decline of status, popularity, and institutions due to profound social and political transformations throughout the twentieth century that forced Iraqi Sufis to seek new areas of influence in a changing modern society. Such new areas have gradually emerged under the Baʿth rule from the 1980s onwards.
