What religious groups live in Iraq?
What religious groups live in Iraq?
Islam is the official religion of Iraq, and the majority of the population is Muslim (97%). There are also small communities of Christians, Yazidis and Mandeans. Religion is deeply intertwined with daily life, government and politics of Iraq.
What is the religion of the Yazidi?
Religion. Yazidism is a monotheistic faith based on belief in one God, who created the world and entrusted it into the care of a Heptad of seven Holy Beings, often known as Angels or heft sirr (the Seven Mysteries).
What is the largest religious group in Iraq?
Muslim
Today, the country is overwhelmingly Muslim, who are split into two distinct sects, Shia and Sunni. According to the CIA World Factbook, 95% to 98% of the population are Muslims. The remainder follow Christianity, Yazidism religious syncretism, Mandaeism, Shabakism, and Yarsanism.
How many tribes are there in Iraq?
Many Arabs in Iraq identify strongly with a tribe (العشيرة ‘ashira). 30 of the 150 or so identifiable tribes of Iraq are the most influential. Tribes are grouped into federations (qabila).
What are the main tribes in Iraq?
List of major tribes (‘ashira)
- Al-Sadr.
- Shammar.
- Al-Dulaimi.
- Al-Jubouri.
- Al-Aniza.
- Al-Asadi.
- Al-Ali.
- Al-Duraji.
How many Christians are there in Iraq today?
The Persecution of Christians in Iraq By: Mark Leon Goldberg on June 10, 2019 In 2003, before the US invasion of Iraq, there were an estimated 1.2 million Christians living there. Today, that number is less than 250,000 — an eighty percent drop in less than two decades.
Can a Muslim convert to Christianity in Iraq?
However, there have been cases in which Muslims have secretly adopted the Christian faith, becoming practising Christians, but are legally Muslims; thus, the statistics of Iraqi Christians does not include Muslim converts to Christianity. In Northern Iraq, Christians are allowed to proselytise.
Who are the non-Syriac Iraqi Christians?
Non-Syriac Iraqi Christians are largely Arab Christians and Armenians, and a very small minority of Kurdish and Iraqi Turkmen Christians. Syriac Christianity was first established in Mesopotamia, and the Church of the East and its successor churches were established in central-southern Iraq.
Are Iraq’s Christians facing extinction after 1 400 years of persecution?
In an impassioned address in London, the Rt Rev Bashar Warda said Iraq’s Christians now faced extinction after 1,400 years of persecution. Since the US-led invasion toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in 2003, he said, the Christian community had dwindled by 83%, from around 1.5 million to just 250,000.
