What percentage of Iraqis are Sunni Muslims?
Shia–Sunni relations
Shia–Sunni discord in Iraq starts with disagreement over the relative population of the two groups. According to most sources, including the CIA's "World Factbook", the majority of Iraqis are Shia Arab Muslims (60%-70%), and Sunni Arab Muslims represent between 32% and 37% of the population. However, Sunni are split ethnically among Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen. Many Sunnis hotly dispute their minority status, including ex-Iraqi Ambassador Faruq Ziada, and many believe Shia majority is "a myth spread by America". One Sunni belief shared by Jordan's King Abdullah as well as his then Defense Minister Shaalan is that Shia numbers in Iraq were inflated by Iranian Shias crossing the border. Shia scholar Vali Nasr believes the election turnout in summer and December 2005 confirmed a strong Shia majority in Iraq.
Genocide of Shias by ISIL
Amnesty International has held ISIL responsible for the ethnic cleansing of ethnic and religious minority groups in northern Iraq (Christians and Izadis/Yazidis) on a "historic scale", putting entire communities "at risk of being wiped off the map of Iraq". In a special report released on 2 September 2014, it described how ISIL had "systematically targeted non-Sunni Muslim communities, killing or abducting hundreds, possibly thousands, of individuals and forcing more than tens of thousands of Shias, Sunni along with other minorities to flee the areas it has captured since 10 June 2014". The most targeted Shia groups in Nineveh were Shia Turkmens and Shabak, who have lived together for centuries in Nineveh province, large parts of which have come under ISIL's control.
Shia Muslims in the Arab world
Unlike other sects of Islam, the Shias of Iraq have been treated horrifically under the regime of Saddam Hussein, when many Iraqi Shī‘as of Persian descent were expelled from the country in the 1980s, despite being the majority of the country at 83%. Reports indicated that no neighborhood was left intact after the 1991 uprising in Karbala. In the vicinity of the shrines of Husayn ibn Ali and Abbas ibn Ali, most of the buildings surrounding the shrines were completely reduced to rubble. The shrines themselves were scarred from bullet marks and tank fire. They were, however, quickly restored by Shiite Donations.
Shia–Sunni relations
The present demographic breakdown between the two denominations is difficult to assess and varies by source, but a good approximation is that 85% of the world's Muslims are Sunni and 15% are Shia Muslims and with most Shias belonging to the Twelver tradition and the rest divided between many other groups. Sunnis are a majority in most Muslim communities: in Southeast Asia, China, South Asia, Africa, and a part of the Arab world. Shia make up the majority of the citizen population in Iraq, Bahrain, Lebanon, Iran and Azerbaijan, as well as being a politically significant minority in Pakistan, Syria and Yemen. Azerbaijan is also 95% Shia.
Along with a population in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia.
Demographics of the Arab League
In the northern regions of Iraq (15-20%) and Syria (10%) live a group called the Kurds, an Indo-European ethnic group who speak Kurdish, a language closely related to Persian and using Persian alphabet (In Turkey, Kurds use Latin alphabet). The majority of Kurds are Sunni Muslim, others are Alevi Muslim, with Christian and Yarsan minorities. The nationalist aspiration for self-rule or for a state of Kurdistan has created conflict between Kurdish minorities and their governments in Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey
Iraqis in Greece
Amongst the Kurds, Sunni Muslims form the majority with a Shia Feyli minority.
Turkmen are also Sunni Muslim, speak a dialect of Turkish and form a small percentage of Iraqis in Greece.
Nineveh Governorate
In religion, the majority are Sunni Muslim. 80% of Arabs are Sunni Muslim, the majority of Turkmens are Sunni Muslim, Kurds are mostly Sunni Muslim, and about 5-10% of the population is Christian and mostly followers of Yazidis, Shabaks and Mandeans follow their own religious beliefs: Yazidism, Shabakism, and Mandaeism.
Shia–Sunni relations
According to Shia rights watch, in 2014 ISIS forces killed over 1,700 Shia civilians at Camp Speicher in Tikrit Iraq, and 670 Shia prisoners at the detention facility on the outskirts of Mosul. In June 2014, the New York Times wrote that as ISIS has "seized vast territories" in western and northern Iraq, there have been "frequent accounts of fighters’ capturing groups of people and releasing the Sunnis while the Shiites are singled out for execution". The report listed questions ISIS uses to "tell whether a person is a Sunni or a Shiite"—What is your name? Where do you live? How do you pray? What kind of music do you listen to?
2010 Iraqi parliamentary election
The National Iraqi Alliance (NIA or INA) is a coalition of mainly Shi'a parties. It was first mooted in August 2009 and is made up of the principal remaining components of the United Iraqi Alliance: The Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) and affiliated Badr Organization, the Sadr Movement, Ex-Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari (who became the group's chairman) and his National Reform Trend (Islah), the Islamic Fadhila Party and an Islamic Dawa Party – Iraq Organisation (Tanzim al-Iraq) breakaway faction: the Islamic Dawa Party – Domestic Faction (Tanzim al-Dakhli) headed by Abdul Karim al-Anizi. ISCI was reported to have offered to split the coalition's seats four ways: 25% to ISCI and Badr, 25% to the Sadrists, 25% to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Islamic Dawa Party and 25% to minor parties and independents. However, Maliki demanded half the seats – reflecting the results of the Iraqi governorate elections of 2009, which were won by Maliki's State of Law Coalition – and a guarantee of another term as Prime Minister. He also wanted Sunni Arab parties like the Awakening movements to be included as primary members of the coalition to form what his spokesman termed ""a truly national alliance"". In September, the coalition was formally announced without the Islamic Dawa Party. Despite its religious Shi'a character, the alliance claims to represent all of Iraq and it also includes some secular parties such as former Oil Minister Ahmad Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress and Sunni parties such as Hamid Hayes' Tribes of Iraq Coalition, an al-Anbar Awakening Council splinter group.
Iraq
Indigenous Neo Aramaic-speaking Assyrians, most of whom are adherents of the Chaldean Catholic Church, Assyrian Church of the East, Ancient Church of the East, Assyrian Pentecostal Church, Syriac Orthodox Church and Syriac Catholic Church account for most of the Christian population. Estimates for the numbers of Christians suggest a decline from 8–12% in the mid-20th century to 5% in 2008 or 1.6 million. More than half of Iraqi Christians have fled to neighbouring countries since the start of the war, and many have not returned, although a number are migrating back to the traditional Assyrian homeland in the Kurdish Autonomous Region.
Freedom of religion in Kuwait
There are 1.2 million citizens and 2.6 million non-citizens. In 2001, there were 1125,000 Sunni Kuwaiti citizens, 130,000 Shia Kuwaiti citizens and 920,000 Kuwaiti citizens in total thus Sunnis formed 84% and Shias formed 13.5% of the Kuwaiti citizen population. In 2002, the US Department of State reported that Shia Kuwaitis formed 10%-15% of Kuwait's citizen population, noting there were 525,000 Sunni Kuwaiti citizens and 855,000 Kuwaiti citizens in total (87% Sunnis, 13% Shias). In 2004, there were 600,000 Sunni Kuwaitis citizens, 300,000-350,000 Shia Kuwaiti citizens and 913,000 Kuwaiti citizens in total. There is also a small number of Ahmadi Muslims in Kuwait.
Minorities in Iraq
There are about 60,000–400,000 Shabaks in Iraq. They are an ethnic and religious minority, retaining their own distinct Pre Islamic religion. They are an Indo-European (Aryan) people and speak an Indo-European language with elements of Turkish and Arabic infused. Despite having their own language and culture unique from other groups, Kurdish authorities have attempted to Kurdify the Shabaks by occupying Shabak villages and referring to them as "Kurdish Shabaks". In 2005, two Assyrians were killed and four Shabaks were wounded by the KDP during a demonstration organized by the Democratic Shabak Coalition, a group which wants separate representation for the Shabak community.
Ethnic groups in Syria
Most Syrians speak Arabic, most are Sunni Muslims, but there are no accurate numbers or percentages of the various "majority" and "minority" groups. Sunni Arab Syrians could be anywhere between 70% and 79% as non-Arabic-speaking groups (mostly Kurds) are usually estimated at about 4%, non-Sunni Muslim groups (mostly Alawis) at less than 10% and Arabic-speaking Christians are 10%, but these are only indicative percentages.
2010 Iraqi parliamentary election
Among the banned candidates 60% were Sunni Muslims and 40% were Shi'a however all of the banned candidates are members of secular and liberal parties and not a single member of a Sunni or Shi'a religious party was banned. According to Sheikh Abu Risha 7 of the banned candidates were members of his Anbar Salvation Council and 70 were members of the Iraq Unity list, a major Sunni list led by Abu Risha and Jawad al-Bolani.
Iraqi Turkmen
Today the Iraqi Turkmen form the third largest ethnic group in Iraq, after the Arabs and Kurds. According to the Iraqi Ministry of Planning, in 2013, the Iraqi Turkmen population numbered 3 million out of Iraq's 34.7 million inhabitants. The minority mainly reside in northern and central Iraq and share close cultural and linguistic ties with Turkey, particularly the Anatolian region.
2012–13 Iraqi protests
Iraqi Sunni minority traditionally held power in Iraq, but the Sunni-dominated Ba'ath party was overthrown by the United States Armed Forces during the 2003 invasion, and Shia majority gained power. The majority of Iraqis are Shiites.
Demographics of Iraq
The population is estimated to be as of , with most of the population being Arab (70%), followed by Kurds (15%), Turkmens (10%) and Assyrians (5%). Iraqis are 0.6–3% Christian (down from 6% before 2003), 3% Yazidis, 2% Shabaks with numerous other faiths Shi'a Muslims make up 65% and form the majority and the rest belong to other religious minorities.
Iraqi Turkmen
In 2004 Scott Taylor suggested that the Iraqi Turkmen population accounted for 2,080,000 of Iraq's 25 million inhabitants (forming 8.32% of the population) whilst Patrick Clawson has stated that the Iraqi Turkmen make up about 9% of the total population. Furthermore, international organizations such as the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization has stated that the Iraqi Turkmen community is 3 million or 9–13% of the Iraqi population. Iraqi Turkmen claim that their total population is over 3 million. On the other hand, some Kurdish groups claim that the Iraqi Turkmen make up 2–3% of the Iraqi population, or approximately 500,000–800,000.
2005 Erbil bombing
Ansar al-Sunna stands for Supporters of Islam. "They are an militant Islamic Kurdish separatist movement seeking to transform Iraq into an Islamic state". This group has a Salafist worldview, which means that they insist on a puritanical form of Islam and they seek to emulate the practices of Muhammad. This movement was founded in 2001 by Mullah Krekarand they got financial and logistical help from al-Qaeda and Osama Bin laden. Some of the members of this organization transport money from Germany to northern Iraq to help finance the group.  "This group targets secular Iraqi Kurds-particularly members of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK)".  Ansar was named a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the U.S. Department of State on March 22, 2004. They are considered an active terrorist group in northern and central Iraq today. Ansar al-Islam operates primarily in northern and central Iraq and claims the second largest number of Sunni jihadist attacks in Iraq after Al-Qaeda. This organization is also known to behead their captives. The goal of Ansar-al Sunna is to have an Islamic country where its people are strong. There are a maximum of two thousand "hard fighters" in Ansar-al-Sunna. This group is the main threat in Northern Iraq right now. This group will most likely continue to attack the Kurds until the country has reached a decision on the position of the Kurds.
Iraqi Americans
However, according to the 2000 Census, in which it states that just under 90,000 people born in Iraq are resident in the United States. It has also covered information on the residents ancestry or ethnic origin, which show 33,000 people claiming only "Iraqi" ancestry, nearly 38,000 if those who wrote in another reply as well as "Iraqi" are included. A further 82,000 people were reported as "Assyrians/Chaldean/Syriac," who are Christians. Nearly 206,000 others gave their ancestry as "Arabic" without specifying a country of origin, and many of them are likely to be from Iraq. Of those reporting Iraqi ancestry, 29 percent live in Michigan; 22% live in Texas and 20% in Illinois. Of those reporting Assyrian ancestry, 42 percent live in Michigan. California has nearly 20 percent of the Iraqi American population.
Iraqi-Assyrians
Assyrians in post-Saddam Iraq have faced a high rate of persecution by fundamentalist Islamists since the beginning of the Iraq War. By early August 2004 this persecution included church bombings, and fundamentalist groups' enforcement of Muslim codes of behavior upon Christians, e.g., banning alcohol, forcing women to wear hijab. The violence against the community has led to the exodus of perhaps as much as half of the community. While Assyrians only made up just over 5% of the total Iraqi population before the war, according to the United Nations, Assyrians are over-represented among the Iraqi refugees (as much as 13%) who are stranded in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey.
Iraqis in Lebanon
A survey recently released information that Muslim Shia are by far the majority of Iraqis in Lebanon at 51 percent, followed by Assyrian Chaldean Catholics which stand at 19 percent, while Sunni Muslims only amount to 12 percent of the population.
Shia–Sunni relations
The Shias openly revolted against Saddam following the Gulf War in 1991 and were encouraged by Saddam's defeat in Kuwait and by simultaneous Kurdish uprising in the north. However, Shia opposition to the government was brutally suppressed, resulting in some 50,000 to 100,000 casualties and successive repression by Saddam's forces. The governing regimes of Iraq were composed mainly of Sunnis for nearly a century until the 2003 Iraq War.
Sectarian democracy
Present day Iraq is a sectarian democracy where the Shiite controls the majority of the government. This is partly because Shiites in Iraq are the dominant religious group and partly because many Sunnis boycotted the elections. Despite the sectionality of the government it must be remembered that there are elected Sunnis and Kurds in power.
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
Amnesty International has held ISIL responsible for the ethnic cleansing of ethnic and religious minority groups in northern Iraq on a "historic scale", putting entire communities "at risk of being wiped off the map of Iraq". In a special report released on 2 September 2014, the organization described how ISIL had "systematically targeted non-Arab and non-Sunni Muslim communities, killing or abducting hundreds, possibly thousands, of individuals and forcing more than 830,000 others to flee the areas it has captured since 10 June 2014". Among these people were Assyrian Christians, Turkmen Shia, Shabak Shia, Kaka'i, Yazidis and Sabean Mandeans, who have lived together for centuries in Nineveh province, large parts of which have come under ISIL's control.
Women in Iraq
Female genital mutilation was prevalent in Iraqi Kurdistan and among Iraqis in central Iraq. In 2010, WADI published a study that 72% of all Kurdish women and girl were circumcised that year. Two years later, a similar study was conducted in the province of Kirkuk with findings of 38% FGM prevalence giving evidence to the assumption that FGM was not only practiced by the Kurdish population but also existed in central Iraq. According to the research, FGM is most common among Sunni Muslims, but is also practiced by Schi’ites and Kakeys, while Christians and Yezidi don’t seem to practice it in northern Iraq. In Erbil Governorate and Suleymaniya Type I FGM was common; while in Garmyan and New Kirkuk, Type II and III FGM were common. There was no law against FGM in Iraq, but in 2007 a draft legislation condemning the practice was submitted to the Regional Parliament, but was not passed. A field report by Iraqi group PANA Center, published in 2012, shows 38% of women in Kirkuk and its surrounding districts areas had undergone female circumcision. Of those circumcised, 65% were Kurds, 26% Arabs and rest Turkmen. On the level of religious and sectarian affiliation, 41% were Sunnis, 23% Shiites, rest Kaka’is, and none Christians or Chaldeans. A 2013 report finds FGM prevalence rate of 59% based on clinical examination of about 2000 Iraqi Kurdish women; FGM found were Type I, and 60% of the mutilation were performed to girls in 4–7 year age group.
Culture of Yemen
Religion in Yemen primarily consists of two principal religious groups of Islam; Sunni and Shi'a. About 65% of the Muslim population is Sunni, and 30% is Shi'a. Sunnis are primarily Shafi'i, but also include significant groups of Malikis and Hanbalis. Shi'as are primarily Zaidis, though they also have significant minorities of Twelver Shi'as and Musta'ali Western Isma'ili Shi'as (see: Shi'a Islam in Yemen).
The Sunnis are predominantly in the south and southeast. The Zaidis are predominantly in the north and northwest, while the Jafaris and Isma'ilis are mostly located in the main centers of Sana'a and Ma'rib. There are mixed communities in the larger cities.
Iraqi Islamic Party
The Iraqi Islamic Party is the largest Sunni Islamist political party in Iraq as well as the most prominent member of the Iraqi Accord Front political coalition. It was part of the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and is part of the current government of Haider al-Abadi since 2014. Osama Tawfiq al-Tikriti succeeded Vice-President Tariq al-Hashimi as the party's secretary-general on 24 May 2009, who was succeeded in July 2011 by Ayad al-Samarrai.
Iraqi Turkmen
The Iraqi Turkmen are the third largest ethnic group in Iraq. According to 2013 data from the Iraqi Ministry of Planning the Iraqi Turkmen have a population of about 3 million out of the total population of about 34.7 million (approximately 9% of the country's population).
Iraqi Turkmen
The Iraqi Turkmen are predominately Muslims. The Sunni Turkmen form the majority (about 60%-70%) but there is also a significant number of Turkmen practicing the Shia branch of Islam (about 30% to 40%). Nonetheless, the Turkmen are mainly secular, having internalized the secularist interpretation of state–religion affairs practiced in the Republic of Turkey since its foundation in 1923. Moreover, the fact that the Turkmen mainly live in urban areas, where they deal with trade and commerce, and their tendency to acquire higher education, the power of religious and tribal factors inherent in Iraq’s political culture does not significantly affect the Turkmen.
Humanitarian crises of the Iraq War
Although Christians represent less than 5% of the total Iraqi population, they make up 40% of the refugees now living in nearby countries, according to U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. UNHCR estimates that Christians comprise 24% of Iraqis currently seeking asylum in Syria. The census in 1987 counted 1.4 million Christians, however since the 2003 invasion radicalized Iraqi culture, the total number of Christians dropped to about 500,000, half of which live in Baghdad.
Iraq
According to the CIA World Factbook, citing a 1987 Iraqi government estimate, the population of Iraq is formed of 75-80% Arabs followed by 15% Kurds. In addition, the estimate claims that other minorities form 5% of the country's population, including the Turkmen/Turcoman, Yezidis, Shabak, Kaka'i, Bedouins, Roma, Assyrians, Circassians, Sabaean-Mandaean, and Persians. However, the International Crisis Group points out that figures from the 1987 census, as well as the 1967, 1977, and 1997 censuses, "are all considered highly problematic, due to suspicions of regime manipulation" because Iraqi citizens were only allowed to indicate belonging to either the Arab or Kurdish ethnic groups; consequently, this skewed the number of other ethnic minorities, such as Iraq's third largest ethnic group – the Turkmens/Turkomans.
Baghdad
Baghdad's population was estimated at 7.22 million in 2015. The city historically had a predominantly Sunni population, but by the early 21st century around 82% of the city's population were Iraqi Shia. At the beginning of the 21st century, some 1.5 million people migrated to Baghdad, most of them Shiites and a few Sunnis.Sunni muslims make up 30-35% of Iraq's population and they still majority in west and north Iraq.
Syria
Sunni Muslims make up between 69–74% of Syria's population and Sunni Arabs account for 59–60% of the population. Most Kurds (8.5%) and most Turkoman (3%) are Sunni and account for the difference between Sunnis and Sunni Arabs, while 13% of Syrians are Shia Muslims (particularly Alawite, Twelvers, and Ismailis but there are also Arabs, Kurds and Turkoman), 10% Christian (the majority are Antiochian Greek Orthodox, the rest are Syrian Orthodox, Greek Catholic and other Catholic Rites, Assyrian Church of the East, Armenian Orthodox, Protestants and other denominations), and 3% Druze. Druze number around 500,000, and concentrate mainly in the southern area of Jabal al-Druze.
Religious discrimination
Sunni Muslims have also fallen victim to persecution from the majority Shia population of Iraq, which may have led to the ISIS invasion.
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam () is the largest denomination of Islam, followed by nearly 90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word "sunnah", referring to the behaviour of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagreement over the succession to Muhammad and subsequently acquired broader political significance, as well as theological and juridical dimensions.
2010 Baghdad church massacre
After the Iraqi parliamentary elections of December 2005, which saw a high turnout of 80%, a broad coalition government was formed consisting of the four largest parties: the Shi'ite National Iraqi Alliance (or United Iraqi Alliance), the Kurdish Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan (DPAK), the Sunni Iraqi Accord Front (or Tawafuq), and the diverse Iraqi National List. This government was headed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shia Muslim sworn in on 20 May 2006.
Iraq
A report published by the European Parliamentary Research Service suggests that in 2015 there was 24 million Arabs (15 million Shia and 9 million Sunni); 4 million Sunni Kurds (plus 500,000 Shia Faili Kurds and 200,000 Kaka'i); 3 million Iraqi Turkmen/Turkoman; 1 million Black Iraqis; 500,000 Christians (including Assyrians and Armenians); 500,000 Yazidis; 250,000 Shabaks; 50,000 Roma; 3,000 Sabean-Mandaeans; 2,000 Circassians; 1,000 Baha'i; and a few dozen Jews.
Persecution of minority Muslim groups
Some of the worst Shia-Sunni sectarian strife has occurred after the American invasion of Iraq, steadily building up to present. According to one estimate, as of early 2008, 1,121 Muslim suicide bombers have blown themselves up in Iraq. Sunni suicide bombers have targeted not only thousands of civilians, but mosques, shrines, wedding and funeral processions, markets, hospitals, offices, and streets. On the Shia side, in early February 2006 militia-dominated government death squads were reportedly "tortur[ing] to death or summarily" executing "hundreds" of Sunnis "every month in Baghdad alone," many arrested at random.
Minorities in Iraq
Today, there are around 650,000 Yezidis in Iraq who come from northern Iraq. They speak Aramaic but they also speak Kurmanji. Yezidis have their own distinct religion which combines distinct aspects of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Mithraism, Mandaeans and Zoroastrianism, though its origins are not understood. Most speak Kurdish, but some speak Arabic. They live primarily in the Nineveh Province of Iraq, and in Armenia, Russia, United States and Germany.
Iraqi Accord Front
The Iraqi Accord Front or Iraqi Accordance Front (Arabic: جبهة التوافق العراقية "Jabhet Al-Tawafuq Al-'Iraqiyah") also known as Tawafuq is an Iraqi Sunni political coalition created on October 26, 2005 by the Iraqi Islamic Party to contest the December 2005 general election. As a large section of Iraq's Sunnis are composed by the populous Kurds, situated in northern Iraq and locally autonomous, the party's members are mostly Arab, and as such, its political efforts have largely been focused on protecting this community's interests as opposed to Iraq's non-Sunni population. In the 2005 election, its platform called for ending the US occupation of Iraq, revision of the new Iraqi constitution, repeal of the de-Ba'athification laws that had cost many Sunnis their government jobs and the restoration of the Iraqi Army, which was dissolved after the US overthrow of Saddam Hussein and which had a Sunni dominated officer corps. Despite this, the party has maintained that it is non-secular, even though the Ba'ath Party contained many prominent Sunnis.
Islam in Lebanon
The Lebanese Sunni Muslims constitute also about 27%–29% of the total population. Sunni notables traditionally held power in the Lebanese state together, and they are still the only ones eligible for the post of Prime Minister Sunnis are mostly concentrated in west Beirut, Tripoli, Sidon, Central and Western Beqaa, and Akkar in the north.
Karachi
Karachi is overwhelmingly Muslim, though the city is one of Pakistan's most secular cities. Approximately 65% of Karachi's Muslims are Sunnis, while 35% are Shi'ites. Sunnis primarily follow the Hanafi school of jurisprudence, with Sufism influencing religious practices by encouraging reverence for Sufi saints such as Abdullah Shah Ghazi and Mewa Shah. Shi'ites are predominantly Twelver, with a significant Ismaili minority which is further subdivided into Nizaris, Mustaalis, Dawoodi Bohras, and Sulaymanis.
Islam in Syria
In 1973 Professor Moshe Ma'oz said that the non-Arabic-speaking Sunni Muslim Kurds formed 8.3% of the population. By 1979 Dr. Nikolaos van Dam claimed that the Syrian Kurds (forming 8.5% of the population at the time) were almost exclusively Sunni Muslims. Dr Henry Munson said that Sunni Muslim Kurds formed 9% of the population in 1988, whilst Professor Alasdair Drysdale and Professor Raymond Hinnebusch said that they formed 8.5% in 1991. In recent decades, the population of other religious minorities (particularly Christians and Jews) has decreased, therefore, estimates on the proportion of Sunni Kurds has increased. For example, Dr. Pierre Beckouche has said that before 2011 the Sunni Muslim Kurds formed 9-10% of the country's total population.
2010 Iraqi parliamentary election
The Iraqi Accord Front, more commonly known as al-Tawafuq is a Sunni Islamist list which was the main Sunni coalition in 2005, winning 15% and 44 seats as an alliance between the Iraqi Islamic Party, the General Council for the People of Iraq (Iraqi People's Gathering) and the Iraqi National Dialogue Council. Since then the Iraqi National Dialogue Council left the alliance and after disappointing results in 2009, the Iraqi Islamic Party's leader Tariq al-Hashemi resigned from his position and left the party to create his own party and join al-Iraqiyya. The alliance still includes several independent candidates and the Sunni Islamist, Turkmen Justice Party. In 2009 Tawafuq was still the largest Sunni list with 32 seats however they received less than 25% of the votes they received in 2005 and lost in their main stronghold, the al-Anbar governorate. Meanwhile, the parties which would later form al-Iraqiyya won over 70 seats.
Sectarian violence among Muslims
Following the 2003 Invasion of Iraq and subsequent fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, the minority Sunni sect, which had previously enjoyed increased benefits under Saddam's rule, now found itself out of power as the Shia majority, suppressed under Saddam, sought to establish power. Such sectarian tensions resulted in a violent insurgency waged by different Sunni and Shia militant groups, such as al-Qaeda in Iraq and the Mahdi Army. Following the U.S. withdrawal in 2011, violence has increased to 2008 levels.
In February 2006, more than 100 people were killed across Iraq, when violence between the two Muslim rival sects erupted. It has left over a hundred people dead and dozens of mosques and homes destroyed.
The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Abdul-Aziz ibn Abdullah Al Shaykh, issued a fatwa on 12 September 2013 that suicide bombings are "great crimes" and bombers are "criminals who rush themselves to hell by their actions". Sheikh described suicide bombers as "robbed of their minds... who have been used (as tools) to destroy themselves and societies."
Sectarianism
Pakistan, one of the largest Muslim countries the world, has seen serious Shia-Sunni sectarian violence. Almost 80 - 85 
of Pakistan's Muslim population is Sunni, and another 10 - 20% are Shia. However, this Shia minority forms the second largest Shia population of any country, larger than the Shia majority in Iraq.
Iraqi Kurdistan
Iraqi Kurdistan has a religiously diverse population. The dominant religion is Islam, which is professed by the majority of Iraqi Kurdistan's inhabitants. These include Kurds, Iraqi Turkmen, and Arabs, belonging mostly to the Shafi'i school of Sunni Islam. There is also a small number of Shia Feyli Kurds, as well as adherents of Sufi Islam.
Iraqi Kurdistan
British lawmaker Robert Halfon sees Kurdistan as a more progressive Muslim region than the other Muslim countries in the Middle East. The region has populations of Assyrian Christians, Yazidi, Yarsan, Mandean and Shabak faiths.
Ahwazi Arabs
According to Library of Congress, Iranian Arabs constitute 1-2% of Iranian population. The majority are Shia Muslims, while a minority, concentrated in the coastal areas, are Sunni Muslims.
Christianity in Iraq
In Iraq, Christians numbered about 1,500,000 in 2003, representing just over 6% of the population of 26 million (down from 1.4 million or 8.5% of 16.5 million in 1987). Since then, it has been estimated that the number of Christians in Iraq have dropped to as low as 250,000 in 2018. However, due to a lack of an official census, the number is difficult to estimate. The most widely followed denomination among Iraq Christians is the Chaldean Catholic Church. However, the Assyrian Church of the East plays a bold role in the demographics.
Minorities in Iraq
The majority of Kurds are Sunni Muslims, with Shia and Alevi Muslim minorities. There are also a significant number of adherents to native Kurdish/Iranian religions like Yarsanism. Some Kurdish Communists and Socialists are Atheist.
Religion in Egypt
According to 2015 figures from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Sunni Muslims make up 90% of the population, with Christian making up the remaining 10%.. A significant number of Sunni Muslims follow native Sufi orders. There are reportedly close to fifty thousand Ahmadi Muslims in Egypt. Estimates of Egypt's Shia Twelvers and Ismaili community range from 800,000 to about two to three million members.
Demographics of Syria
According to Dr. Pierre Beckouche, before 2011, Sunni Muslims accounted for 74% of Syria's population, which included 500,000 Palestinan refugees and the non-Arab Sunni Muslims, namely the Kurds (9-10%) and the Turkmen/Turkoman (4%). Other Muslims included Shias and Alawites (11%-16%), whilst the Christians made up 10% of the population. There were also a few Jewish communities in Aleppo and Damascus.
Islam in Karachi
Nearly 97% of the population of Karachi is Muslim. There is also a small number of Ahmadi Muslims. The Sunnis follow Hanafi fiqh while Shi'ites are predominantly Ithnā‘Ashariyyah in fiqh, with significant minority groups who follow Ismaili Fiqh, which is composed of Nizari (Aga Khanis), Mustaali, Dawoodi Bohra and Sulaymani fiqhs. The Sunni Hanafis are divided into the Barelvi and Deobandi sects and both have their own mosques.
Iraqis in Greece
Males dominate the Iraqi population in Greece at 68 per cent, whereas females are only accountable for 32 per cent of the population. Amongst the Iraqi community, 70 per cent are young individuals in their twenties and thirties, with only some 10 per cent being over the age of 50.
Young single men form the majority of the Iraqi presence in Greece
However, there is a substantial population that are married at 65 per cent, most of which leave behind their wive and children behind, with the intention of bringing them once they have completed any formal documents. In which most of these marriages tend to be mixed, equally between Sunni, Shia, Assyrian, Armenian, Kurd and Turkomen.
Only a small percentage are widows and divorcees.
Ghazi Mashal Ajil al-Yawer
In the January 2005 Iraqi election for the Iraqi National Assembly, he was the leader of The Iraqis (Iraqioun), the largest secular list of candidates with a Sunni leader. His list won about 150,000 votes, 2% of the national vote. Al-Yawar, one of only a handful of Sunni leaders that did not boycott the elections and the only Sunni figure of national standing who appeared to have secured a place in the assembly, took five seats in Parliament.
Human rights in ISIL-controlled territory
Despite being the religious majority in Iraq, Shia Muslims who predominantly inhabit the country's south have been killed in large numbers by ISIL. By June 2014, ISIL had already claimed to have killed 1700 Shia Muslims. ISIL, attempting to create a Sunni Muslim caliphate, has labelled all Shia Muslims infidels. As a result, they have specifically targeted Shia communities. According to witnesses, after the militant group took the city of Mosul, they divided the Sunni prisoners from the Shia prisoners. 650 Shia prisoners were then taken to another location and executed. Kurdish officials in Erbil have reported similar incidents where Sunni and Shia prisoners were separated and Shia prisoners were killed.
Shia are sometimes burned alive.
Islam in the United Kingdom
An August 2017 survey by the Bertelsmann Stiftung foundation found that among British Muslims, 75% were Sunni and 8% were Shia.
A September 2017 survey by the Institute for Jewish Policy Research (JPR) found that among British Muslims, 77% were Sunni, 5% were Shia, 1% were Ahmadiyya, and 4% were members of other denominations. 14% of British Muslims said they didn't know or refused to answer the survey.
Demographics of Iraq
A report published by the European Parliamentary Research Service suggests that in 2015 there was 24 million Arabs (15 million Shia and 9 million Sunni); 4 million Sunni Kurds (plus 500,000 Shia Faili Kurds and 200,000 Kaka'i); 3 million Iraqi Turkmen/Turkoman; 1 million Black Iraqis; 500,000 Christians (including Assyrians and Armenians); 500,000 Yazidis; 250,000 Shabaks; 50,000 Roma; 3,000 Sabean-Mandaeans; 2,000 Circassians; 1,000 Baha’i; and a few dozen Jews.
Iraq
During 2013, Sunni militant groups stepped up attacks targeting the Iraq's Shia population in an attempt to undermine confidence in the Nouri al-Maliki-led government. In 2014, Sunni insurgents belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist group seized control of large swathes of land including several major Iraqi cities, like Tikrit, Fallujah and Mosul creating hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons amid reports of atrocities by ISIL fighters.
Iraq
Religions in Iraq are dominantly Abrahamic with "Muslim" (official) 99% (Shia 55-60%, Sunni 40%), "Christian" Shia and Sunni population. The CIA World Factbook estimates that around 65% of Muslims in Iraq are Shia, and around 35% are Sunni. A 2011 Pew Research Center estimates that 51% of Muslims in Iraq are Shia, 42% are Sunni, while 5% identify themselves as "Just a Muslim". The Sunni Muslims, 12-13 million in a population of 36 million, include Arabs, most Turkomen, and Kurds.
Religion in Iran
Sunni websites and organizations complain about the absence of any official records regarding their community and believe their number is much greater than what is usually estimated. Demographic changes have become an issue for both sides. Scholars on either side speak about the increase in the Sunni population and usually issue predictions regarding demographic changes in the country. One prediction, for example, claims that the Sunnis will be the majority in Iran by 2030.
January 2005 Iraqi parliamentary election
One challenge to the legitimacy of the election was the low Arab Sunni turnout, which was as low as 2% in Anbar province. Areas with mixed populations saw the vast majority of voters back Shi'ite or Kurdish parties. The largest Arab Sunni party, The Iraqis, won only 1.78% of the vote (for comparison, Arab Sunnis are thought to be 15-20% of the population).
Kurds in Iraq
Before the spread of Islam, many Kurds were followers of Zoroastrianism, Mithraism, or local pagan beliefs. Kurds were assimilating these religious practices into their cultural domain as early as 800 BCE. Arab conquests, however, began in the seventh century AD, eventually overpowering Kurdish resistance. Over time, Sunni Islam became the dominant religion of the Kurdish people, following the Shafi school. There is a minority Shia population, 99% of the Fayli Kurds and 99% of shabak kurds Muslim is shia, who live in central and south eastern Iraq. Though Islam is thought to be a religion of governance as well as spirituality, Kurds made sure to keep spiritual identity separate from national identity. Today, many Muslim Kurds do not consider themselves particularly religious when it comes to adhering to the call to prayer five times a day, but secondary practices of Islam have a stronghold in Kurdish culture. Following Islamic food restrictions, refraining from the consumption of alcohol, circumcising male newborns, and wearing a veil are all very popular customs among Kurds.
Mahmoudiyah, Iraq
Al-Mahmudiya has approximately 350,000 inhabitants, most of whom are Sunni Arabs, over 75% of Al-Mahmudiya are Sunni, as reported by the UNHCR IDPs list. While the control of rural areas around the area of Mahmudiyah is by Sunnis, such as the towns of Latifiyah and Yusufiyah, the Shiites remain in the center of Mahmoudiyah city.
Women in Iraq
Islam is the official religion of Iraq with about 97% of the population practice this religion.
On January 29, 2004, the interim Iraqi government, supported by the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq and despite the strong opposition of the American Administrator Paul Bremer, launched "Resolution 137" which introduced sharia law in the "law on personal civil status", which since 1958 established rights and freedoms for Iraqi women. This resolution permitted very different interpretations from the law of 1958 on the part of religious communities. It opened an additional breach in the civil law and risked exacerbating inter-religious tensions in Iraq. In a statement, OWFI affirmed :
British Pakistanis
The majority of Pakistanis in the UK (over 90%) are Muslims. The largest proportion of these belong to the Sunni branch of Islam, with a significant minority belonging to the Shia branch. Other notable sects include Ahmadiyya (whose spiritual leader, Mirza Masroor Ahmad, is based in London) and Sufism. Mosques, community centres and religious youth organisations play an integral part in British Pakistani social life. Pakistanis account for 38 per cent of all Muslims in England and Wales. This figure varies from a high of 71 per cent in Yorkshire and The Humber to a low of 21.5 per cent in Greater London. In England and Wales, there are around 17,000 Pakistani Christians, and slightly fewer Hindus, Sikhs, Zoroastrians (mainly Parsis) and others.
Minorities in Iraq
According to the 1957 Iraqi census the Turkmen/Turkoman had a population of 567,000, accounting for 9% of the total Iraqi population. By 2013, the Iraqi Ministry of Planning said that there was 3 million Turkmen/Turkoman, out of a population of 34.7 million, forming 8.65% of the population. The Turkmen/Turkoman minority mainly reside in northern and central Iraq, in the so-called Turkmeneli region – which is a political term used by the Turkmen/Turkoman to define the vast swath of territory in which they have historically had a dominant population. In particular, the Turkmen/Turkoman consider the capital of Turkmeneli to be Kirkuk and its boundaries also include Tel Afar, Mosul, Erbil, Mandali, and Tuz Khurmato. According to Liam Anderson and Gareth Stansfield, the Turkmen/Turkoman note that the term "Turcomania" – an Anglicized version of "Turkmeneli" – appears on a map of the region published by William Guthrie in 1785, however, there is no clear reference to Turkmeneli until the end of the twentieth century. According to Khalil Osman there has been "a raft of federalist schemes" proposed by various Turkmen/Turkoman political parties.
The Iraqi Turkmen/Turkoman share close cultural and linguistic ties with Turkey, particularly the Anatolian region. They are predominately Muslims, formed of a majority Sunni population (about 60%-70%) but there is also a significant number of Turkmen/Turkoman practicing the Shia branch of Islam (about 30% to 40%). Nonetheless, the Turkmen are mainly secular, having internalized the secularist interpretation practiced in the Republic of Turkey. The minority speak their own dialect of Turkish, which is often called "Turkmen". This dialect was influenced by Ottoman Turkish from 1534 onwards, but also by Persian during the brief capture of Baghdad in 1624; thereafter, in 1640, the Turkish varieties continued to be influenced by Ottoman Turkish, as well as other languages in the region, such as Arabic and Kurdish. Some linguists have suggested that the dialect spoken by Turkmen/Turkoman is similar to the South Azeri dialect used by the Turkish Yörük tribes in the Balkans and Anatolia. However, the Turkmen/Turkoman dialect is particularly close to the Turkish dialects of Diyarbakır and Urfa in south-eastern Turkey and Istanbul Turkish has long been the prestige dialect which has exerted a profound historical influence on their dialect. In addition, the Iraqi Turkmen/Turkoman grammar "differs sharply" from Irano-Turkic varieties, such as South Azeri and Afshar types. In 1997 the Turkmen/Turkoman adopted the Turkish alphabet as the formal written language and by 2005 the community leaders decided that the Turkish language would replace the Arabic script in Iraqi schools. The current prevalence of satellite television and media exposure from Turkey may have also led to the standardisation of Turkmeni towards Turkish, and the preferable language for adolescents associating with the Turkish culture.
Islam in Pakistan
According to the CIA World Factbook and Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, 95-97% of the total population of Pakistan is Muslim.
The majority of the Pakistani Muslims belong to the Sunni Hanafi Madhhab (school of jurisprudence). Estimates on the Sunni population in Pakistan range from 75% to 95%.
Iraqis
In addition to Islam, many Iraqi people are Christians belonging to various Christian denominations. Assyrians belong to the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Assyrian Church of the East and the Chaldean Catholic Church. Their numbers inside Iraq have dwindled considerably to around 300,000.
Demographics of Iraq
According to the CIA World Factbook, citing a 1987 Iraqi government estimate, the population of Iraq is formed of 75-80% Arabs followed by 15% Kurds. In addition, the estimate claims that other minorities form 5% of the country's population, including the Turkmen/Turcoman, Yezidis, Shabak, Kaka'i, Bedouins, Roma, Assyrians, Circassians, Sabaean-Mandaean, and Persians. However, the International Crisis Group points out that figures from the 1987 census, as well as the 1967, 1977, and 1997 censuses, "are all considered highly problematic, due to suspicions of regime manipulation" because Iraqi citizens were only allowed to indicate belonging to either the Arab or Kurdish ethnic groups; consequently, this skewed the number of other ethnic minorities, such as Iraq's third largest ethnic group – the Turkmens/Turkomans.
Iraqi Australians
Today the Iraq-born community in Australia is culturally diverse, with settlers from many ethnic and cultural backgrounds including Arabs, Assyrians, Kurds, Turkomans. Although Islam is the dominant religion in Iraq, only 29% of the Iraq-born immigrants living in Victoria are Muslim; 68% are Christian.
Tariq al-Hashimi
Hashimi was leader of the largest Sunni block, Iraqi Accord Front led by the Iraqi Islamic Party (IIP). The block entered the 2005 elections, but withdrew later. Hashimi opposes federalism, wants oil revenues distributed based on population, de-Baathification reversed and more Sunnis in the new military and police. In fact, Hashimi argued that the inhabitants of the provinces could take the decision whether or not to form federal regions.
Islam in Turkey
According to religiosity polls, 97.8% of the population identifies as Muslim, and only 2% is non-religious. Most Muslims in Turkey are Sunnis, forming about 78% of the overall Muslim denominations. The remaining Muslim sects forming about 20% of the overall Muslim population consist of Alevis, Ja'faris (representing 4%) and Alawites (with an estimated population of around 1 million) which is about 1% of the overall Muslim population in Turkey. 
Figures on NDM's or Non-denominational Muslims vary with estimates ranging from 2 percent of the population to 14 percent of the population.
British Iraqis
Although the majority of Iraqis are Muslim, there are also minorities including Chaldeans and Assyrian Christians, Jews, and followers of Mandeanism, Yazidism, Shabakism and Yarsan.
Culture of Iran
Today of the 98% of Muslims living in Iran, around 89% are Shi'a and only around 9% are Sunni.This is quite the opposite trend of the percentage distribution of Shi'a to Sunni Islam followers in the rest of the Muslim population from state to state (primarily in the Middle East) and throughout the rest of the world. This data is from the government of Iran and most likely contains false information. It is very likely that the percentage of Muslims living in Iran is highly exaggerated as Islam is forced under the Islamic Republic's sharia law.
Iraq
The Sunni population complains of facing discrimination in almost all aspects of life by the government. However, former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki denied that such discrimination occurs.
Christians have lived in the area for about 2,000 years, and many descend from the "pre-Arab" ancient Mesopotamians-Assyrians. They numbered over 1.4 million in 1987 or 8% of the estimated population of 16.3 million and 550,000 in 1947 or 12% of the population of 4.6 millions.
Shia Muslims in the Arab world
Islam is historically divided into two major sects, Sunni and Shia Islam, each with its own sub-sects. Significant minorities of Shia Arab Muslims live in some Arab countries including Lebanon, Iraq and the Gulf states of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, the UAE, and Qatar. Shia Muslims are a numerical majority in Iraq. In Bahrain while the Shia currently form a plurality of the country's citizens they are a minority in the total population. Nearly half of the Muslim population in Lebanon and a quarter in Yemen are Shia.
2010 Iraqi parliamentary election
When asking if people would vote or not two-thirds said they would vote. Among Shi'a Muslims 63% said they would vote, among Sunni Muslims this was 58%. 57% of the Arabs said they would vote while 67% of the Kurds said they would vote. Of those asked 47% supported the candidate ban, 38% opposed it and 15% had no opinion.
Xenophobia and racism in the Middle East
During 1987–1988, Iraqi forces carried out a genocide against the Iraqi Kurds that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
The UN reports that although Christians comprise less than 5% of Iraq's population, they make up nearly 40% of the refugees fleeing Iraq. More than 50% of Iraqi Christians have already left the country since 2003. Iraq's Christian community numbered 1.4 million in the early 1980s at the start of Iran–Iraq War. But as the 2003 invasion has radicalized Islamic sensibilities, Christians' total numbers slumped to about 500,000, of whom 250,000 live in Baghdad.
Iraqi Americans
Iraqi Americans are Americans who identify as being of Iraqi ancestry. They may be of varying ethnicities and religions, including Arabs, Assyrians, Armenians, Kurds, Iraqi Turkmens, Jews, Mandeans, Muslims, Christians, and Yazidis. As of 2015, the number of Iraqi Americans is around 145,279, according to the United States Census Bureau.
Sons of Iraq
The Sons of Iraq were virtually nonexistent by 2013 due to former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's unwillingness to integrate them into the security services. Sunnis formerly serving with the group were faced with options including becoming unemployed or joining the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.
Iraq
In October 2005, the new Constitution of Iraq was approved in a referendum with a 78% overall majority, although the percentage of support varying widely between the country's territories. The new constitution was backed by the Shia and Kurdish communities, but was rejected by Arab Sunnis. Under the terms of the constitution, the country conducted fresh nationwide parliamentary elections on 15 December 2005. All three major ethnic groups in Iraq voted along ethnic lines, as did Assyrian and Turcoman minorities.
Islam in Iran
Iran's population is about 82,000,000 people, and Islam is the religion of 99.4% of Iranians. Nearly 90% of Iranians are Shi'a and about 10% are Sunni. Most Sunnis in Iran are Kurds, Larestani people (from Larestan), Turkomen, and Baluchs, living in the northwest, northeast, south, and southeast. Almost all of Iranian Shi'as are Twelvers.
Baghdad
As early as 2003, about 20 percent of the population of the city was the result of mixed marriages between Shi'ites and Sunnis: they are often referred to as "Sushis". Following the sectarian violence in Iraq between the Sunni and Shia militia groups during the U.S. occupation of Iraq, the city's population became overwhelmingly Shia. Despite the government's promise to resettle Sunnis displaced by the violence, little has been done to bring this about. The Iraqi Civil War following ISIS' invasion in 2014 caused hundreds of thousands of Iraqi internally displaced people to flee to the city. The city currently has Sunni, Shia, Assyrian/Chaldean/Syriacs, Armenians and mixed neighborhoods.
Demographics of Yemen
Religion in Yemen consists primarily of two principal Islamic religious groups: 53% of the Muslim population is Sunni and over 45% is Shia, according to the UNHCR. Other put the numbers of Shias at 30%. Sunnis primarily adhere to the Shafi'i school, and there are also significant followers of the Maliki and Hanbali schools. Shias are primarily Zaidi and also have significant minorities of Twelver and Ismaili Shias.
British Iraqis
According to the International Organization for Migration, ethnic Kurds are the most numerous ethnic group amongst Iraqis in the UK. There are also sizeable numbers of Arabs,Chaldeans, Assyrians as well as Iraqi Turkmen, Armenians, Mandeans and other ethnic groups, such as Iraqi Jews, Yezidi, Shabakis and Kawliya. In the UK, about 65-70% of people originating from Iraq are Kurdish (and 70% of those from Turkey and 15% of those from Iran are Kurds). According to the 2011 Census, Iraqi-born England and Wales residents most commonly give their ethnicity as Arab (39%), Any Other ethnic group (28%) and Asian (17%).
Tajiks
According to a 2009 U.S. State Department release, the population of Tajikistan is 98% Muslim, (approximately 85% Sunni and 5% Shia). In Afghanistan, the great number of Tajiks adhere to Sunni Islam. The smaller number of Tajiks who may follow Twelver Shia Islam are locally called Farsiwan. The community of Bukharian Jews in Central Asia speak a dialect of Persian. The Bukharian Jewish community in Uzbekistan is the largest remaining community of Central Asian Jews and resides primarily in Bukhara and Samarkand, while the Bukharaian Jews of Tajikistan live in Dushanbe and number only a few hundred. From the 1970s to the 1990s the majority of these Tajik-speaking Jews emigrated to the United States and to Israel in accordance with Aliyah. Recently, the Protestant community of Tajiks descent has experienced significant growth, a 2015 study estimates some 2,600 Muslim Tajik converted to Christianity.
Islam
A comprehensive 2015 demographic study of 232 countries and territories reported that 24% of the global population, or 1.8 billion people, are Muslims. Of those, it is estimated that over 75–90% are Sunni and 10–20% are Shia with a small minority belonging to other sects. Approximately 57 countries are Muslim-majority, and Arabs account for around 20% of all Muslims worldwide. The number of Muslims worldwide increased from 200 million in 1900 to 551 million in 1970, and tripled to 1.8 billion by 2015.
Iraqi Scholars and Intellectuals Group
The Iraqi Scholars and Intellectuals Group (List 455) is an Iraqi political coalition formed in 2007. It is predominantly formed from the minority Sunni sect and calls for ""employing a moderate religious approach to reinforce national unity"". In the Iraqi governorate elections, 2009 they took 6% of the vote and 3 seats in Salah ad Din, 3.2% but no seats in Anbar and 1.3% but no seats in Diyala.
Mahmudiya District
Mahmudiya District has approximately 550,000 inhabitants, about over 88 percent of them Shia and the rest Sunni. This ratio is the result of the Iraqi Civil War of 2006-2007, when the Shias of Yusufiya and Iskandariya moved to Mahmudiya, and the Sunnis of Mahmudiya sought refuge in the other two cities. Most of the inhabitants live in rural areas.
Shia Islam in Iraq
Shia (; ) Muslims make up the majority of the Iraqi population, with 64 to 69 percent of Iraqis identifying as Shia. Shia Islam has a long history in Iraq; the fourth caliph of Sunni Islam and the first Imam of Shia Islam, Ali ibn Abi Talib, moved the capital of the empire from Medina to Kufa (or Najaf) two decades after the death of Muhammad.
Islam in Sweden
Most Muslims in Sweden are either immigrants or descendants of immigrants. The majority are from the Middle East, in particular Iraq and Iran. However, 5 out of 6 Iranians in Sweden consider themselves secular rather than Muslim and are in strong opposition to the Islamic Republic regime in their ancestral home. Most Iranians and Iraqis fled as refugees to Sweden during the Iran–Iraq War from 1980 to 1988. The second-largest Muslim group consists of immigrants or refugees from Eastern Europe, particularly from former Yugoslavian countries, most of them being Bosniaks, who number 12,000. There is also a sizeable community of Somalis, who numbered 40,165 in 2011.
Iraqis in Jordan
The majority of refugees are Sunni Muslims accounting for 60 percent of the Iraqi community in Jordan while, 18 percent are Shia Muslims, and 15 percent are Christian. Most Iraqis residing in Amman, originally come from war torn Baghdad. The majority of the Iraqis who fled to Jordan are the wealthy and well educated, but only 22 per cent of Iraqi adults work legally.
Jordan
Sunni Islam is the dominant religion in Jordan. Muslims make up about 95% of the country's population; in turn, 93% of those self-identify as Sunnis. There are also a small number of Ahmadi Muslims, and some Shiites. Many Shia are Iraqi and Lebanese refugees. Muslims who convert to another religion as well as missionaries from other religions face societal and legal discrimination.
Sectarian violence in Iraq
Between October 2003 and March 2005 alone, 36% of the 700,000 Iraqis who fled to Syria were Assyrians and other Iraqi Christians, judging from a sample of those registering for asylum on political or religious grounds. Furthermore, the small Mandaean and Yazidi communities are at the risk of elimination due to ethnic cleansing by Islamist extremists.
Freedom of religion in Syria
Syria's eighteen million population is a mosaic of ethnically, culturally, and religiously distinct communities. Ninety percent of the Syrians adhere to an Arab identity; another roughly nine percent is Kurdish, Armenian, Circassian, and Turkomans filling out the mix. It is estimated that Sunni Muslims make up seventy-four percent of Syria's overall population. As such, Sunnis provide the central symbolic and cultural orientation. Of these, a minority are of the Yazidi faith, reducing the core Sunni Arab majority to roughly two-thirds of the populace. Approximately another sixteen percent of the population, while Arab in ethnicity, consists of a few Twelver Shi`a, and various offshoots of Shi'a Islam – Alawite, Druze, and Isma'ilis. The 'Alawis are by far the largest community in the category of non-Sunni Muslims. Their number is estimated at eleven percent of the overall population. Christians, of various Eastern Orthodox and Uniate traditions and the Latin Rite, along with a smattering of Protestants, make up ten percent of the population. Syria's Arab Jewish community has, to a great extent, disappeared as a result of emigration in the early 1990s. In 1993, it was reported that there were 3,655 individuals of the Jewish faith comprising 584 families distributed throughout the various Syrian governantes.
Qaraqosh Protection Committee
Assyrians in post-Saddam Iraq have faced a high rate of persecution by Fundamentalist Islamists since the beginning of the Iraq War. By early August 2004, this persecution included church bombings, and fundamentalist groups' enforcement of Muslim codes of behavior upon Assyrian Christians, e.g., banning alcohol, forcing women to wear hijab. The violence against the community has led to the exodus of perhaps as much as half of the community. While Assyrians only made 5% of the total Iraqi population before the war, according to the United Nations, Assyrians comprise as much as 40% of the growing Iraqi refugees who are stranded in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Turkey.
Muslims
Over 75–90% of Muslims are Sunni. The second and third largest sects, Shia and Ahmadiyya, make up 10–20%, and 1% respectively.
Shia Islam in Nigeria
Although the majority of the Nigerian Muslim population is Sunni, there is a significant Shia minority, particularly in the northern states of Kano and Sokoto. However, there are no actual statistics that reflect a Shia population in Nigeria, and a figure of even 5% of the total Nigerian Muslim population is thought to be too high “because of the routine conflation of Shi’a with Sunnis who express solidarity with the Iranian revolutionary program, such as those of Zakzaki’s Ikhwani.”