WI: Saddam Hussein was a Islamic fundamentalist

After Iraq's defeat in the Gulf War, the Ba'athist government changed it's perspective on Islamism and began to change their image to appear more Islamic.

The sale and public consumption of alcohol was made illegal and punishable with imprisonment. The study of the Qur'an became a core subject in the national educational curriculum, and a greater emphasis was put on the more general studying of Islam. Along with these efforts, the government refocused resources into the construction and maintenance of mosques.

The government also made use of stricter punishments for crimes, most notably in the increased usage of amputation as a punishment, which was used for crimes such as desertion and certain forms of corruption and thievery. Also, the national flag was slightly altered to depict the takbir (Allahu Ackbar).

This was by no means, the government trying to be more religious. It is more likely a attempt by the government to stave off more aggressive forms of Islamism.

However, that being said, what if, long before becoming President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein became a genuine Islamic fundamentalist and instead of joining the Ba'ath Party, joined a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and somehow led that branch to take over Iraq around the same time as in our timeline?
 
In the OTL Iraq needed the USSR to supply the weapons it wanted. I don't know if the two nations would have gotten along so well had Iraq been an Islamic fundamentalist state. Of course, Iraq imported some systems like the F-1 from France but I believe only the USSR would've and could've armed it as heavily as Saddam wanted.
 
If Saddam Hussein was an Islamic fundamentalist Iraq would have gotten all the weapons it wanted from the United States. And he would still be in power.
 
If Saddam Hussein was an Islamic fundamentalist Iraq would have gotten all the weapons it wanted from the United States. And he would still be in power.


That would have been possible only if Saddam stayed "in his own box." If, as an Islamic fundamentalist, he sought to create a caliphate the US attitude would've been the same.
 
Basically civil war between Shia and Sunni and you get the Iranians and Sunnis Arabs fighting over the Middle East 2 decades earlier
 
However, that being said, what if, long before becoming President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein became a genuine Islamic fundamentalist and instead of joining the Ba'ath Party, joined a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and somehow led that branch to take over Iraq around the same time as in our timeline?

That "somehow" is a big somehow, because the Moslem Brotherhood are Sunni, and Iraq is majority Shia. Hard-line Sunni Moslems don't get on with, who have a sheaf of doctrines and practices that hard-line Sunnis (i.e. Salafist amd Wahhabis) consider heretical or blasphemous.

Saddam was Sunni, but as a Ba'athist was effectively non-religious. Iraq was dominated by its Sunni Arab minority, but most of them were non-religious.

So it would be a huge uphill struggle for the MB to take over Iraq, whether led by Saddam Hussein or anyone else.
 
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