The New Shi’a Mahdawi Movements in Iraq: Religious Discontent or Political Protest?

Mahdawi ‘protest’ movements have played a significant role throughout Islamic history. As salvation movements, they often incorporated religious principles with social and economic demands to protest against authorities in order to bring about political change. Historically, Iraq has always been, and still is, the centre of Mahdawi movements in the Islamic world. Immediately after 2003, a host of new Shi’a Mahdawi movements emerged. These movements nonetheless were active underground since the late 1980s. They demonstrated an evident negative stance towards both Baghdad’s government and Shi’a religious authorities. I will pose the following questions that I intend to answer using primary source data from selected political actors: How did these movements emerge? What are the religious and social factors behind their existence? What are the political ideas and views advocated by these movements? What are the reasons that render these Shi’a movements at conflict with the Iraqi state on the one hand, and the authority of Shi’a ‘ulama in Najaf on the other hand?