A study of the nature of Iraqi society

Author's name: Ali Al-Wardi

Archaeologists agree that it was the cradle of one of the oldest civilizations in the world. Egypt shared this distinction, although some scholars disagreed over which civilization was earlier. This is not important, but rather the knowledge that Iraq has embraced a flourishing civilization since the beginning of human history. Civilization continued to haunt Iraq from time to time. During a period, during the founding of the Abbasid state, Iraq became the center of global civilization, until its capital, Baghdad, became a vast social crucible in which the essence of humanity's cultural heritage melted. On the other hand, researchers find Iraq situated on the verge of a bountiful source of Bedouinism: the source of the Arabian Peninsula. From the beginning of its history to the present day, Iraq has been the recipient of one Bedouin wave after another. Some of these waves arrived through military conquest, while others arrived gradually. Each of these waves inevitably influenced Iraqi society, to a greater or lesser extent, spreading Bedouin values ​​and attempting to infiltrate its various groups and classes. Here, the researcher finds the Iraqi people caught between two contradictory social value systems: Bedouin values ​​brought to them from the neighboring desert, and civilizational values ​​emanating from their ancient cultural heritage. In such a situation, it is expected that the people will suffer a social and psychological struggle across generations. On the one hand, they cannot rest assured of their urban values ​​for long, because the desert periodically sends waves that block out their social reassurance. On the other hand, they cannot be Bedouins like a son of the desert, because the civilization emanating from the abundance of its water and the fertility of its soil forces them to modify the incoming Bedouin values ​​to suit their particular circumstances. The Iraqi people may be described as a confused people; two opposing paths have opened before them, and they are forced to take both simultaneously. They walk this path at times and then return to the other path at another. This is how Dr. Ali Al-Wardi finds Iraqi society through his study. He found that it represents a social phenomenon that he noticed everywhere he went in its various aspects across time and place, which he called the phenomenon of the conflict between nomadism and civilization. Dr. Al-Wardi continues this study of Iraqi society with its social phenomena, customs, and traditions in this book, which he attempted to make a general introduction to other books that would come after it, and to explain the hypothesis he adopted in studying Iraqi society, through which he aims to reach rewarding results.