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Shia Islam in Iraq (Arabic: الشيعة في العراق) has a history going back to the times of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the first imam of Shia Islam and fourth caliph of Sunni Islam who moved the capital of the early caliphate from Medina to Kufa (or Najaf) two decades after the death of Muhammad.
Iraq is home to many religious cities important for both Shia and Sunni Muslims. [13] Baghdad was a hub of Islamic learning and scholarship for centuries and served as the capital of the Abbasids. [14] Baghdad also is home to two prominent Shia Imams in what is known as Kadhimiya, Iraq.
Shia–Sunni discord in Iraq starts with disagreement over the relative population of the two groups. The governing regimes of Iraq were composed mainly of Sunnis for nearly a century until the 2003 Iraq War, but according to most sources, the majority of the population is Shia.
Both Sunni and Shiite Muslims gathered together to participate in the provincial elections in Baghdad Imam Husayn Shrine in Karbala. Iraq's Muslims follow two distinct traditions, Shia and Sunni Islam. According to the CIA World Factbook, Iraq is approximately 95% to 98% Muslim, with approximately 55% Shia and 40% Sunni. [5]
In the early Islamic period, Iraq was a key center of the Abbasid Caliphate, with the city of Baghdad serving as its capital from the 8th to the 13th century. Sunni Arabs played a significant role in the administration (including the ruling Abbasid dynasty) and cultural life of the caliphate, and many important figures of Islamic scholarship and literature emerged from Iraq during this time ...
At the same time, the Sunni Arab community, which had dominated the country under Saddam Hussein, was removed from power whereas the Shi'ite Arabs and Kurds rose to power. The new Iraqi Governing Council (ICG) came to be made up according to the country's demographics: 13 Shi'i, 5 Sunni Arabs, 5 Kurds, 1 Christian and 1 Turkman. [50]
It became commonplace in reports on the US-led Multi-National Force – Iraq's efforts to control the region. The lack of economic diversity within the region is a deterrent to Sunni separatism in Iraq as most of the oil reserves are in Kurdish and Shia regions, and the port cities of Basra and Umm Qasr are far away from the triangle. [2]
Islam is divided into two major sects, Sunni and Shia Islam, each with its own sub-sects. Large numbers of Shia Arab Muslims live in some Arab countries including Lebanon, Yemen, Bahrain, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, the UAE, and Qatar. Shia Muslims are a numerical majority in Iraq and Bahrain.