Beginning in the 1950s with a clandestine call to Islam and continuing today with a more revolutionary approach, Iraq's Islamic reformers are altering what used to be the traditional Shi'i position of noninvolvement in politics. This work details the contemporary Islamic movement that has united Iraqi Shi'as and Sunnis alike and describes the philosophy of governing through Islamic law, a philosophy aimed largely at eliminating corruption and Western influence. In the process, the author sheds light on the social bases for the activists' reforms, their political ideology and the strategies of the movement.