Sufficient Defense Fatwa and Its Impact on Confronting Extremism and Terrorism in Iraq Post 2014

Abstract

Iraq has been preoccupied since 2005 (i.e., the constitution's approval) and before with defining an operational design for its battle against terrorism—a battle that carried numerous social descriptions that made it understand as if it were a historical burden that the new Iraqi political system has carried and continues to carry. Terrorism and extremism, although contradictory, have one goal, which Iraqis have been unable to understand despite the planning, measures, and sacrifices they have made, attributing their security to mental representations that are difficult to escape from at a time when those representations, even for a short time, were part of assumptions that could be addressed by creating structures to treat security institutions .

     Therefore, what befell Iraqi national security in 2014 is due to that sin, as addressing the danger of ISIS organization pushed the Iraqi people to acknowledge in its treatment, especially after the religious authority issued the Sufficient Defense fatwa in June 2014, which was considered a milestone in modern Iraqi history. It played a pivotal role in confronting the terrorist ISIS organization after its control over scattered and vast areas of Iraq through several means, most notably establishing the Sacred Popular Mobilization Forces, raising morale by restoring the Iraqi people's confidence in security forces and achieving balance between security forces that were suffering from collapse, as well as establishing the idea of popular security by making the citizen a partner in security production. Thus, the Sufficient Defense fatwa formed more than just a religious call, but rather a strategic movement built on a sense of national and legitimate responsibility that helped Iraq in its most difficult times and established the position of the authority as a safety valve for the homeland.