The great Islamic revolution of 1920 led by the `Ulama’ in Iraq became known as the `Revolution of 1920' as it took place on the 30th of June 1920, and as most of those who wrote of it dated their articles and the events of the revolution according to the Christian calendar.

That was the revolution which taught Great Britain, the arrogant superpower of the time, a lesson which made it waver in its decision to stay in Iraq and continue its invasion. However, circumstances which paved the way for the invading forces, the revolution's encountering various difficulties, and the success of the English in winning over certain personalities ‑ all these factors encouraged them to continue attacking the revolutionaries, make further advances, and remain in Iraq.

These factors must be reviewed in order to show the firmness and the true nature of the great revolution, and to show how the `Ulama’ were its vanguard and its leaders, fulfilling their mission to make the people serve Allah, the Exalted, and serve the Islamic Shari'ah. They were working to safeguard the political, social, and economic frame­work of the country. The legal ruling (fatwa) of Shaykh Mahdi al­-Khalisi, may Allah have mercy on him, regarding the necessity of jihad against the English when they entered Basrah in 1904 was only one of the courageous stands taken by the freedom fighting `Ulama’. There were many similar legal rulings (fatawa), such as the one in Iran forbid­ding the use of tobacco when Nasir al‑Din Shah, the Qajar ruler, granted the tobacco concession to the English. Ayatullah Shaykh Muhammad Hasan al‑Shirazi issued his famous fatwa which foiled the conspiracy and annulled the agreement.

We cannot, at the moment, carry out a detailed discussion on the revolution which humiliated the invading British forces, while being extremely difficult circumstances itself, particularly as regards suffices forces, supplies and weapons. The present discussion will be direct towards the following issues:

1. The roots and the beginning of the revolution.

2. Glimpses of the course of the revolution.

a.       Its factors.

b.      The events that occurred in it.

c.       Its military outcome.

3. Its effects and results.