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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Iraq
Index
Although members of the ruling Baath Party generally are
ideologically committed to secularism, about 95 percent of Iraqis
are Muslim and Islam is the officially recognized state religion.
Islam came to the region with the victory of the Muslim armies
under Caliph Umar over the Sassanians in A.D. 637 at the battle
of Al Qadisiyah. The majority of inhabitants soon became Muslim,
including the Kurds, although small communities of Christians and
Jews remained intact in the area of present-day Iraq. Iraq has
been the scene of many important events in the early history of
Islam, including the schism over the rightful successor to the
Prophet Muhammad.
Data as of May 1988
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