Iraq has one of the youngest populations in the world, with about 60 percent under the age of 25. Since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, the country has been mired in instability, war, corruption and economic stagnation - a situation that has left many young people with little hope for their futures and or sense of purpose in their lives.
The latest movement to latch on to this sense of despair, shocking the country and prompting a fierce state crackdown, is a religious group that practices a system of lottery-based suicide. The Allahiyah movement, also known as the Qurban ("sacrifice") group, is thought to have formed in Basra and Dhi Qar in early 2020 and has as many as 2,500 adherents.
According to local media, the head of the movement is a cleric named Abdul Ali Munim al-Hasani, currently residing in the city of Mashhad in Iran. Their initial activities sparked little attention, seemingly consisting of rituals and practices at least superficially akin to other Shia Islamic movements in the country.
Gatherings, posted on social media, show large groups of men dancing to loud electronic music and chanting slogans of sacrifice to Ali bin Abi Talib, cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
That began to change in 2021, when the first reports emerged of young men associated with the group hanging themselves in Husseiniyahs, buildings designed for Shia religious, spiritual and social gatherings.
The movement reportedly splintered from the followers of Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr, an influential Shia cleric whose son Muqtada al-Sadr is one of the most powerful figures in Iraq. Muqtada al-Sadr has, however, publicly disavowed the Allahiyah movement as "extremists" and warned against young people being attracted to it.
Adherents believe that Ali is a mystical, divine figure, akin to Jesus in Christianity.
Disaffected youths
The word Allahiyah, an amalgamation of the word Ali and divine in Arabic, stems from the same root as the Alawite and Alevi sects in Syria and Turkey due to a similar mystical veneration of Ali; neither of the other two sects, however, practice ritual suicide.
"We believe that Imam Ali bin Abi Talib, peace be upon him, is God incarnate on Earth, and that sacrifices must be offered to him in order to gain his satisfaction and forgiveness," a member of the Qurban group told HuffPost Iraq in June.
The member of the group, who did not reveal their name, said that mainstream Islamic scholars taught a "distortion" of Ali's true teachings. "We hold a draw among the members of the group, and whoever’s name comes up has the honor of offering himself as a sacrifice to Imam Ali, which is the highest goal of existence," they said, adding they had plans to spread their message to "young people in schools and universities" and even outside the country.
They also denied rumors that they carried out murders. However, on June 16 security forces arrested an official of the movement in Dhi Qar Governorate while he was in the eastern Hamza district on his way to Karbala governorate. After being interrogated he confessed to having killed two family members as "sacrifices".
Campaigners have warned that a group like Allahiyah can count on legions of disaffected youths to rally to its cause and that it is vital that the government move to change the conditions that allow its growth.
Shia clerics have condemned the Allahiyah cult. Below is seen a more mainstream Shia observance...
Thousands of Shiite Muslims gather in Iraq's holy city of Karbala to mourn Imam Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Mohammed, by beating themselves during the Arba'in observance.
— Zoom News (@zoomnewskrd)
: AA pic.twitter.com/aaIYYVebhF
“Some young people, when they feel hopeless and have no work to occupy themselves with or family to follow them, they might join such groups like 'Al-Qurban'" said Fatima al-Bahadly, head of the Firdaws Society NGO, which tackles issues faced by young people such as radicalisation and addiction, speaking to Middle East Eye.
She compared them to the Islamic State, the militant group that attracted followers with the promise of instant redemption through sacrifice. "They believe that after suicide, they will meet Imam Ali - as meeting Imam Ali is of great importance to them."
Government crackdown
The spread of the phenomenon has alarmed the authorities and Iraqi society as a whole. In May, four different Allahiyah followers were involved in suicide incidents across Dhi Qar, including a 15-year-old boy who reportedly died after hanging himself with electrical wire.
According to Al Sumaria News, in recent months Iraqi authorities have recorded at least 25 suicide cases among the ranks of the Qurban group. An operation has been launched to suppress the group's activities, leading to the arrest of many of its members.
Following the killings in Dhi Qar, the governorate's police arrested a further six members of the group, who they said had convinced three of their followers to kill themselves. Tahseen al-Khafaji, head of the Iraqi security media cell, told Middle East Eye that all those arrested had been "referred to the judicial authorities".
He said a number of group members had been arrested for attempting to "disrupt" the Arbaeen pilgrimage, the enormously popular gathering that marks one of the most important dates in Shia Islam.
"There is no exact information about their numbers so far," he added. Members of the group have been arrested across the country, including in Muthanna governorate, Dhi Qar and Diwaniyah. At least 39 people were arrested in a raid on July 20, while on Thursday, police also announced the arrest of 10 members of the group in Maysan province.
The Iraqi National Security Service said those arrested in July openly admitted that they belonged to the "deviant" movement and that they were planning to draw "lots for the sacrifice, according to which the person who would hang himself to death would be chosen".
Despite the crackdown, the Allahiyah member who spoke to HuffPost said that they had found "some security and police personnel sympathize with us and would like to join us". 'Social challenges' Politicians and religious figures have been keen to stress that Allahiyah is a "deviant" group, claiming its ideology violates the Iraqi constitution.
But the group's activities are part of a wider picture of a society that is unable to provide a future for many of its young people. The youth unemployment rate in Iraq stood at 32.23 percent in 2023, while the clientelist system that has existed since 2003 excludes those without connections in government, political parties or religious institutions.
Mahdi al-Tamimi, Basra chief of the government-funded Iraq High Commission For Human Rights, said it was too simple to blame "intellectually deviant" movements for the suicide rate in Iraq.
"They stem from various factors, including poverty, the social challenges faced by many young people, such as unemployment, and the government’s neglect of their needs, and the absence of a clear strategic plan by successive governments for youth integration, rehabilitation, and addressing their issues," he told MEE.
Tamimi said the issue required "decisive governmental intervention" and said he and his colleagues had urged the provincial council to formulate a plan to combat and investigate the issue.