The problem of Iraqi Shiites in Sultan Abd al-Hamid II's era

The expansion of Shiite activities in Iraq and its development through Sunni nomads is one of the main issues involved Ottoman governors in the second half of the nineteenth century, during the reign of Abd al-Hamid II. (1876-1909). Numerous real or unreal reports about the political and cultural risks of these activities were sent by officials of Baghdad to Bab-i Âli in Istanbul, forced the central government to take precautionary policies. Iraq’s adjacency to Iran, as the only Shiite political competing power against Ottoman Empire with its strategic geopolitical importance, made the problems of Iraqi Shiites more complicated. Islamic Union, as Abd al-Hamid’s main internal and foreign policy, and also the presence of a variety of religious minorities like Shiites living within the borders of Ottoman Empire, were other factors that increased these complexities. The dimensions of Shiite activities development and the nature of Ottoman policies and their results are going to be analyzed in this paper, based on historical documentary sources, especially on the Ottoman archive.