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Sharia Law
Shiism is one of the two primary branches of Islam, along with Sunni Islam. The division between Shiite and Sunni Islam derives from centuries-old theological disagreements concerning the succession to the prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam. Although the majority of the population in Iraq is Shiite, the Baath Party was primarily Sunni. The exclusion of Shiites from Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi government contributed to Shiite discontent and to the emergence of sectarian conflict in the country.
Shiite Quotes in Frankenstein in Baghdad
The Frankenstein in Baghdad quotes below are all either spoken by Shiite or refer to Shiite. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 6
Quotes
But there were two fronts now, Mahmoud said to himself— the Americans and the government on one side, the terrorists and the various antigovernment militias on the other. In fact “terrorist” was the term used for everyone who was against the government and the Americans.
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Chapter 10
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The young madman thinks I’m the model citizen that the Iraqi State has failed to produce, at least since the days of King Faisal I.
Because I’m made up of body parts of people from diverse backgrounds—ethnicities, tribes, races, and social classes—I represent the impossible mix that never was achieved in the past. I’m the first true Iraqi citizen, he thinks.
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Chapter 11
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Yes, for a year or more he’s been carrying out the policy of the American ambassador to create an equilibrium of violence on the streets between the Sunni and Shiite militias, so there’ll be a balance later at the negotiating table to make new political arrangements in Iraq. The American army is unable or unwilling to stop the violence, so at least a balance or an equivalence of violence has to be created. Without it, there won’t be a successful political process.
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Shiite Term Timeline in Frankenstein in Baghdad
The timeline below shows where the term Shiite appears in Frankenstein in Baghdad. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 5: The Body
...after years. For example, one of Elishva’s neighbors returned after years in Iran, becoming a Shiite Muslim during years of prison there, a fact that his Christian family violently disapproved of....
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Chapter 10: The Whatsitsname
...fighting each other: the Iraqi National Guard, allied with the American military, against Sunni and Shiite militias. The Whatsitsname used holes in the houses to walk around the city without being...
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Chapter 11: The Investigation
...to follow the Americans’ strategy of creating an “equilibrium of violence” between the Sunni and Shiite factions. Violent tensions in the streets help Americans maintain enough military and political clout to...
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