This study explores the rise of “economic theology” in Iraq through an examination of the Shi’i Al-Kafeel network and its expanding institutional presence. It addresses the central question of how religious authority, when disengaged from state structures, constructs a parallel economy grounded in theological legitimacy and moral purpose. The analysis, adopting a theoretical framework shaped by Max Weber, Werner Sombart, and contemporary reflections on religious economies, approaches Al-Kafeel not merely as an administrative apparatus but as a symbolic formation that converts ritual authority into organizational capacity and economic power. The study argues that Al-Kafeel exemplifies a distinctive mode of socio-economic action in post-2003 Iraq, one in which religious legitimacy, managerial rationality, and communal trust converge to produce an alternative model of institutional endurance and social influence.
* This review was published in the 20th issue of AlMuntaqa, a peer-reviewed academic journal for the social sciences and humanities. You can read the full paper here.
