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[11] [12] Collectively, most Iraqi Turkmen are secular, having internalized the secularist interpretation of state–religion affairs practiced in the Republic of Turkey. [11] The religious and tribal factors and tensions inherent in Iraq's political culture do not significantly affect the Iraqi Turkmen Sunnis and Shias.
There are the two main types of Islam in Iraq: Shia Islam, which is practiced by about 55-60% of Muslims, and Sunni Islam, which is practiced by about 35-40%. [3] Baghdad, which was once the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate and a center of Islamic scholarship, is one of the most important religious cities in Iraq. [4]
In 2015, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) granted official recognition to the Zoroastrian religion and also proceeded with the opening of three new Zoroastrian temples. The KRI's Zoroastrian community has claimed that thousands of people residing in the autonomous territory have recently converted from Islam to Zoroastrianism.
Of the total Muslim population, 87–90% are Sunni and 10–13% are Shi'a. Most Shi'as (between 68% and 80%) live in mainly four countries: Iran, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, and Iraq. [31] Furthermore, there are concentrated Shi'a populations in Lebanon, Russia, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and 10 sub-Saharan African countries. [32]
Secularism in modern Iraq dates back to the 14 July Revolution of 1958 which overthrew the Kingdom of Iraq's Hashemite dynasty and established the Iraqi Republic. [1] Islam is the official state religion of Iraq, but the constitution, guarantees freedom of religious belief and practices for Muslims, Christians, Yazidis and Sabean-Mandaeans.
Christianity accounted for 1%, and the rest (1-4%) practiced Yazidism, Mandaeism, and other religions. [196] An older 2011 Pew Research Center estimated that 51% of Muslims in Iraq see themselves as Shia, 42% as Sunni, while 5% as "just a Muslim". [197] Iraq is also home to two of the holiest places among the Shi'as – Najaf and Karbala. [198]
The list of religious populations article provides a comprehensive overview of the distribution and size of religious groups around the world. This article aims to present statistical information on the number of adherents to various religions, including major faiths such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and others, as well as smaller religious communities.
According to the most recent government statistics, 97% of the population of Iraq was Muslim in 2010 (60% Shia and 40% Sunni); the constitution states that Islam is the official religion of the country. [1] In 2023, Iraq was scored 1 out of 4 for religious freedom. [2] In the same year, it was ranked as the 18th worst place in the world to be a ...