by Kim Ghattas
He wore a bulletproof vest: Private correspondence with Hayder al-Khoei.
“I have never felt so safe”: Clover, “Warm Homecoming for Exiled Clergyman.”
Moqtada’s black turban had barely settled: H. Al-Amin, “Moqtada Sadr: Leader of Orphans,” Al-Ahram Weekly, May 27–June 2, 2004.
Those were his men shouting: Although it was initially unclear whether this was a planned assassination and who had carried it out, later investigations revealed the Sadr movement’s involvement and an arrest warrant was issued for Moqtada al-Sadr and a dozen of his lieutenants. See also H. Al-Khoei, “Moqtada al-Sadr Should Not Be Above the Law,” Guardian, January 6, 2011.
A window was smashed: P. Cockburn, “Death in the Temple,” Independent, May 8, 2003.
“Don’t let them sit”: Ibid.
One man killed by religious violence: Author interview with Jawad al-Khoei, Najaf, March 2018.
call on Iraqis to rise up: Reuters, “War in the Gulf: Bush Statement,” New York Times, February 16, 1991.
the Saudis invited exiled Iraqi politicians: E. Sciolino, “Saudis Gather Ousted Iraqi Officials,” New York Times, February 22, 1991.
an estimated ten thousand Shias: P. Koring, “Iraqi Opposition Anti-Hussein Factions Fragmented, Repressed,” Globe and Mail, March 8, 1991.
founding commander Hadi al-Amiri: Original footage available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQY4NqUJ4vg.
an Iraqi tank commander: “Flashback: The 1991 Iraqi Revolt,” BBC News, August 21, 2007.
“Iran help us”: Original footage filmed by Iraqis available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7wZL_MqPGg.
“In the following weeks”: N. Schwarzkopf, It Doesn’t Take a Hero: The Autobiography of General H. Norman Schwarzkopf (New York: Bantam Books, 1993), 566.
“We’ll give our lives”: K. Sim (director), “Pilgrimage to Karbala” [television series episode], in Wide Angle, PBS, March 26, 2007.
Ayatollah al-Hakim, leader of SCIRI: Description of his return and killing come from P. J. McDonnell and T. Wilkinson, “Blast Kills Scores at Iraq Mosque,” Los Angeles Times, August 30, 2003; and P. J. McDonnell, “Mosque Blast Suspects Arrested,” Los Angeles Times, August 31, 2003.
The sky rained blood: B. Ghosh, “Twelve Years On, Remembering the Bomb That Started the Middle East’s Sectarian War,” Quartz, August 28, 2015.
“The Sayyed is dead”: Ibid.
Their leader stood out: This section is a summary from ibid., with additional details provided to author by Ghosh in email correspondence.
“Don’t you see?”: Ghosh, “Twelve Years On.”
start-up money from al-Qaeda: J. Warrick, Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS (New York: Doubleday, 2015), 67.
“Iraq today harbors a deadly”: Transcript of Powell’s UN Presentation, CNN, February 6, 2003.
young men lined up: Firsthand reporting by author from Damascus during the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.
to smuggle Wahhabi religious propaganda: S. Helfont, “Compulsion in Religion: The Authoritarian Roots of Saddam Hussein’s Islam,” PhD diss., Princeton University, 2015, 143.
to counter the spread of Wahhabism: Author interview in March 2018 in Baghdad with Abdullatif al-Humayyem, appointed by Saddam Hussein to oversee Faith Campaign.
More than half a million Iraqis: P. Bump, “15 Years After the Iraq War Began, the Death Toll Is Still Murky,” Washington Post, March 20, 2018.
half the foreign fighters: N. Parker, “The Conflict in Iraq: Saudi Role in Insurgency,” Los Angeles Times, July 15, 2007.
a resurgence of fundamentalism: “Saudis Warn US over Iraq War,” BBC News, February 17, 2003.
The pious father taught Quranic recitation: W. McCants, The Believer: How an Introvert with a Passion for Religion and Soccer Became Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, Leader of the Islamic State (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2015).
one of three women in a newsroom: M. Welsh, “Atwar Bahjat: A Believer in Iraq,” Al-Jazeera, February 27, 2006.
“We want the correspondent”: Reuters, “Journalists Killed in Iraq Attack,” Al-Jazeera, February 23, 2006.
twenty-seven Sunni mosques: R. F. Worth, “Blast at Shiite Shrine Sets Off Sectarian Fury in Iraq,” New York Times, February 23, 2006.
14: Fracture
Nasrallah said he offered: Partial speech, translated by the author from video titled “Nasrallah victory speech, Bint Jbeil, Lebanon, 26 May 2000,” available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YnH7qhENDQ.
Hezbollah was only gaining in stature: This section is based on personal reporting; anonymous interviews with Shias; and H. Saghiyeh and B. El Cheikh, “Nabatiyeh Is Hezbollah’s Fortress–Part I,” NOW Media, June 14, 2013.
a cultural bastion of Jabal Amel: Saghiyeh and El Cheikh, “Nabatiyeh Is Hezbollah’s Fortress–Part I.”
“break Lebanon over [Hariri’s] head”: R. Bergman, “The Hezbollah Connection,” New York Times Magazine, February 10, 2015.
in the company of visitors: Private conversation between author and Rafiq Hariri in January 2005 at his private office in Qoraytem.
“to cut off the head of the snake”: R. Colvin, “‘Cut Off Head of Snake’ Saudis Told U.S. on Iran,” Reuters, November 29, 2010.
Several members of parliament: “Pro-Zarqawi MPs Anger Jordan,” Al-Jazeera, June 12, 2006.
a thousand more Zarqawis: “Al-Zarqawi Relatives See a Martyr for Islam,” NBC News, June 8, 2006.
a man in a black suit: Video of the execution titled “Saddam Execution Full Video!” (uploaded December 31, 2006), available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IljDpUxPmi8. Additional details from M. Bazzi, “How Saddam Hussein’s Execution Contributed to the Rise of Sectarianism in the Middle East,” Nation, January 15, 2016.
“We have become Saddam”: Author interview with Jawad al-Khoei in Najaf, March 2018.
15: Surrender
“I am a slave of the Prophet”: S. Masood and C. Gall, “Killing of Governor Deepens Crisis in Pakistan,” New York Times, January 4, 2011. Descriptions of events of that day are also taken from Pakistani TV footage.
Aamna Taseer was now a widow: Description of events and reactions of Aamna Taseer are based on interview with the author, Lahore, October 2017.
Bibi’s story began: A. Bibi and A. Tollet, “Sentenced to Death for a Sip of Water,” New York Post, August 25, 2013.
its victims were minorities: M. Qadri, “Pakistan’s Deadly Blasphemy-Seeking Vigilantes,” Guardian, February 3, 2011.
From 1927 to 1985: Agence France Presse, “The History of the Blasphemy Law,” Express Tribune, January 5, 2011.
More than thirteen hundred Pakistanis were formally: “What Are Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws?,” BBC News, November 6, 2014.
he saw it as an existential threat: Author interview with Aamna Taseer, October 2017.
“liberal, modern-minded president”: “Pakistan’s President Will Pardon Christian Woman, Official Says,” CNN, November 23, 2010.
even burning Taseer’s effigy: Masood and Gall, “Killing of Governor Deepens Crisis in Pakistan.”
Taseer quoted Faiz’s most beloved: “The Day Salmaan Taseer Fell Silent,” Dawn, January 4, 2011.
saluted “the bravery and valor”: S. Shah, “Pakistani Religious Groups Cheer Killing of Governor,” McClatchy Newspapers, January 5, 2011.
Munawar Hasan, the head: Ibid.
a garland of flowers: C. Galljan, “Assassination Deepens Divide in Pakistan,” New York Times, January 5, 2011.
scattered pamphlets on the scene: D. Walsh, “Pakistan Minister Shahbaz Bhatti Shot Dead in Islamabad,” Guardian, March 2, 2011.
was heading to work: S. Taseer, “How I Survived Four and a Half Years in Captivity,” New York Times, May 17, 2016.
Thousands more traveled: J. Boone, “Thousands at Funeral of Pakistani Executed for Murdering Governor,” Guardian, March 1, 2016.
The minister of religious affairs: Ibid.
cost almost a
million dollars: A. Hashim, “In Pakistan, a Shrine to Murder for ‘Blasphemy,’” Al-Jazeera, February 10, 2017.
Barelvis had long promoted themselves: S. Hashmi, “The State of Barelvi Islam Today,” Daily Times, June 15, 2018.
Saudi organizations were still paying: “Saudi Arabia, UAE Financing Extremism in South Punjab,” Dawn, May 21, 2011.
The Ahl-e Hadith movement had grown: Summarized from M. Abou Zahab, “Salafism in Pakistan: The Ahl-e Hadith Movement,” in Roel Meijer, ed., Global Salafism: Islam’s New Religious Movement (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), 126–42.
The Saudi ambassador requested that: K. Ghattas, “The Saudi Cold War with Iran Heats Up,” Foreign Policy, July 15, 2015.
“Servility to rich Arabs”: P. Hoodbhoy, “The Saudi-isation of Pakistan,” Newsline, January 2009.
In 1994, she’d established: The details about the Al-Huda Foundation, its funding, and its graduates are from Dorsey, “Pakistan’s Lurch Towards Ultra-Conservativism Abetted by Saudi-Inspired Pyramid Scheme”; and F. Mushtaq, “A Controversial Role Model for Pakistani Women,” South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal 4 (2010).
Mehtab walked into the Regent Plaza: Author interview with Rashdi, Karachi, October 2017.
one in two Pakistanis: H. Murtaza, “Who Gets to Be a Muslim in Pakistan?,” Dawn, August 15, 2012.
Shias were still more fortunate: J. Bell, “The World’s Muslims: Unity and Diversity,” Pew Research Center, Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, August 9, 2012, available online at https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2012/08/the-worlds-muslims-full-report.pdf.
sent an open letter to the Shia community: B. Peer, “The Shiite Murders: Pakistan’s Army of Jhangvi,” New Yorker, March 9, 2013.
even officers were shot: Ibid.
Shia professionals left the country: Ibid.
16: Counterrevolution
more alive than ever: Author interview with Ebtehal Younes, Cairo, October 2017.
three hundred channels to choose from: M. El-Sayed, “Religious Islamic Satellite Channels: A Screen That Leads You to Heaven,” Reuters Institute Fellow’s Paper, University of Oxford, 2009, 7, available online at https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/our-research/religious-islamic-satellite-channels-screen-leads-you-heaven.
the channels were split almost equally between: “‘An qorb: watha’iqi athir alkarahiyya ‘anel tahreed alta’ifi fil e’lam” [A documentary about hatred of sectarian incitement in the media], BBC Arabic, available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUJfzv6oXKI.
Lewis saw everything as a clash of civilizations: D. Martin, “Bernard Lewis, Influential Scholar of Islam, Is Dead at 101,” New York Times,” May 21, 2018.
his personal ordeal paled: “Nasr hamed abu zayd dayf barnamaj albayt baytak takdeem mahmood saad” [Nasr Hamed Abu Zayd, guest of the program al-Bayt Baytak, presented by Mahmoud Saad], video uploaded August 29, 2016, retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YugMjBi773k&t=1s. No longer available.
though he cared little about religion: Interview with author, Cairo, October 2017.
painted the walls with verses: M. Abdalla, “Ahmed Fouad Negm: Writing a Revolution,” Al-Jazeera, March 15, 2014.
same fate as the shah: S. Tisdall, “Egypt Revolt Has Iran in a Spin,” Guardian, February 1, 2011.
publicly mourned him: “Al-ikhwan wal khilafatu al-khomeini” [The Brotherhood and Khomeini’s caliphate], Al-Majallah, February 16, 2013.
spreading the Shiite sect”: Associated Press, “Egyptian cleric upbraids Iranian leader on string of issues,” video, available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6wO-d6EgVg.
“This is not what we agreed”: “Dispute between Ahmadinejad and Al-Azhar University in the press conference,” video, available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kblv0MhjOD4.
Ebtehal and her late husband: Author interview with Ebtehal Younes, Cairo, October 2017.
calling on him to draw: “Iranian Elites, Scholars Urge Morsi to Foster Unity, Implement Islamic Law,” BBC Monitoring Middle East, February 15, 2013.
Egyptian newspapers quickly repeated: “Iranian Letter to Egypt’s Morsi Draws Fire from Islamist Critics,” Al-Ahram Gate, February 21, 2013; D. El-Bey, “A Martyr Every So Often,” Al-Ahram Weekly, February 19, 2013.
“infiltrate” Al-Azhar: All leaked Saudi diplomatic cables can be found online at WikiLeaks, The Saudi Cables, https://wikileaks.org/saudi-cables/db/.
The Saudi intelligence services: Ibid.
publicly and forcefully spoken about the dangers: W. Abdul Rahman, “Shayhku lazhari yastankiru muhawalati nashri almazhhabi al-shi’iyyi bijiwari ma’azhini “qal’atu ahli alsunnati” [Al-Azhar’s sheikh condemns the attempt to spread the Shiite doctrine near Ahl al-Sunna’s muezzin], Asharq al-Awsat, September 30, 2011.
Al-Azhar launched a campaign: WikiLeaks, The Saudi Cables.
anti-Shia posters went up: Description of the incident from: MBC, “Shahidu ‘ayanin ‘ala qatli abu al-nimras yabki ‘alal hawa’I” [Eyewitness to the killing of Shiites in Abu Al-Nimras cries on air], video, available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arJYv8303NU.
one hundred twenty religious stations: “‘An qorb: watha’iqi athir alkarahiyya ‘anel tahreed alta’ifi fil e’lam,” BBC Arabic.
“to expose the Safavid enterprise”: Y. Feldner, “Fitna TV: The Shi’ite-Bashing Campaign on Salafi TV Channels and Social Media,” Middle East Research Institute, November 30, 2015.
“I’m very happy he died”: Wesal TV, “Tahta al-majhari halakatu 75 ‘ala maktali hassan shahata wa thana’ al-maliki ‘ala al’ilhadi,” video, available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsHrFdFezuw.
“This is not our fight”: Author interview with Younes, October 2017.
the largest killing of demonstrators: Human Rights Watch, “Egypt: Rab’a Killings Likely Crimes Against Humanity,” August 12, 2014.
“Cairo’s not what you’d expect”: A. Naji, Using Life (Austin: Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Texas at Austin, 2017), 44.
of shivering cold and sweats: J. Guyer, “Inside the Strange Saga of a Cairo Novelist Imprisoned for Obscenity,” Rolling Stone, February 24, 2017. Other parts of Ahmed’s story are also summarized from the Rolling Stone article.
Former officials spoke in his favor: Author interview with Ahmed Naji, Cairo, October 2017.
perhaps he wouldn’t even have been exiled: Ibid.
Some journalists did knock on the Saudi mission’s door: H. Bahgat, “Wikileaks: Egyptian Media and Journalists Go to Saudi for Financing,” Mada Masr, July 5, 2015.
paying him $200,000: Ibid.
17: Between ISIS and IRGC
in August 2011, Abu Bakr … sent a scouting mission: This passage relies on reporting done in Warrick, Black Flags, 251.
traveled west from Iraq: Ibid.
hundreds of Lebanese and Syrian men: This passage relies on reporting done in B. Daragahi, “Inside Iran’s Mission to Dominate the Middle East,” BuzzFeed, July 30, 2017.
operatives had been tried in The Hague: A. Fielding-Smith, “Hizbollah Man Named Over Hariri Murder,” Financial Times, July 29, 2011.
its top fighters into Syria: N. Blanford, “The Battle for Qusayr: How the Syrian Regime and Hizb Allah Tipped the Balance,” Combating Terrorism Center Sentinel 6, no. 8 (August 2013): 18–22.
Suleimani declared: D. Filkins, “The Shadow Commander,” New Yorker, September 30, 2013.
to help their Syrian brothers, by all means: A. Zelin, “The Saudi Foreign Fighter Presence in Syria,” Combating Terrorism Center Sentinel 7, no. 4 (April 2014): 10–14.
They berated women who didn’t veil: R. Spencer and D. Rose, “Under the Black Flag of al-Qaeda, the Syrian City Ruled by Gangs of Extremists,” Telegraph, May 12, 2013.
A huge new structure was rising: Information from this passage comes from M. Ababsa, “Les Mausolées Invisibles: Raqqa, Ville de Pèlerinage Chiite ou Pôle Étatique en Jazîra Sy
rienne?” [Invisible mausoleums: Raqqa, city of Shiite pilgrimage or a pole for the state in Syrian Jazira?], Annales de Géographie 110, no. 622 (November–December 2001): 647–64; M. Ababsa, “Significations Territoriales et Appropriations Conflictuelles des Mausolées Chiites de Raqqa (Syrie)” [Territorial significances and conflictual appropriations of Raqqa’s Shiite mausoleums (Syria)], in S. Chiffoleau and A. Madoeuf, eds., Les Pèlerinages au Maghreb et au Moyen-Orient: Espaces Publics, Espaces du Public (Damascus: Presses de l’Ifpo, 2005); and a detailed picture and video essay on Flickr curated by the scholar Martin Kramer, “The Shiite Crescent Eclipsed,” available online at https://www.flickr.com/photos/martin_kramer/galleries/72157630819437940/with/2343449697/.
Jamal looked at ISIS and he saw Wahhabism untamed: Author interview with Jamal Khashoggi, Washington, DC, August 2017.
in the footsteps of Ibn Abdelwahhab: C. Bunzel, “The Kingdom and the Caliphate: Duel of the Islamic States,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, February 18, 2016, available online at https://carnegieendowment.org/2016/02/18/kingdom-and-caliphate-duel-of-islamic-states-pub-62810.
a few months later in a newspaper: R. Ghazzawi, “Yassin Haj Saleh on Samira Khalil” (translation), August 11, 2014, available online at https://douma4.wordpress.com/2014/08/11/yassin-haj-saleh-on-samira-khalil-translation/.
18: Achilles’ Heel
Masih Alinejad had long since removed her veil: All sections about Masih Alinejad are based on two interviews with the author in Washington, DC, and New York in March 2018 and follow-up email exchanges. I also relied extensively on her memoir, The Wind in My Hair: My Fight for Freedom in Modern Iran (Boston: Little, Brown, 2018).
“You’re provoking the regime”: M. Alinejad (@AlinejadMasih), “Brave woman risk arrest in order to make awareness about anti compulsory hijab movement in Tehran’ public bus,” Twitter, May 16, 2018, https://twitter.com/AlinejadMasih/status/996694870302523392.
six hundred American soldiers: J. Schogol, “Report: Iran Killed 600 U.S. Soldiers in the Iraq War,” National Interest, April 3, 2019.
Suleimani arrived in Baghdad to lead the counterattack: M. Chulov, “Qassem Suleimani: Can This Man Bring About the Downfall of Isis?,” Guardian, December 7, 2014.
