Long repressed by Saddam Hussein, Iraq’s dominant Shiites are now free to express their faith. Hundreds of thousands are converging on the holy city of Karbala to mark the death of the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. Leaders have expressed their gratitude to the Americans, but now call for the U.S. to get out.

Dr. Mahmoud Ayoub, Professor of Islamic Studies at Temple University, thinks that the best way to avoid religious and ethnic conflicts within Iraq is to create a federated Iraq. Otherwise, he predicts, potential internal conflicts may lead to a division of Iraq along ethnic-religious lines.

Click the “Listen” link above to hear more about the role Iraq’s religious parties will play in the establishment of the new state of Iraq.

Guests:

Benjamin Lowy, photographer for Time Magazine

Dr. Mahmoud Ayoub, Professor of Islamic Studies at Temple University

Juan Cole, Professor of History at the University of Michigan and author of “Sacred Space And Holy War: The Politics, Culture and History of Shi’ite Islam”