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of just a few countries where the Shiite population is larger than
the Sunni population. (Other Middle Eastern countries with more
Shiites than Sunnis include Iran, Lebanon, and Bahrain.)
According to recent figures, between 60 and 65 percent of Iraq’s
population are Shiites, while 32 to 37 percent are Sunnis. Despite
the Shiites’ majority status, since the time of the Ottoman Empire
Sunni Muslims have traditionally held the power in Iraq.
In addition to the Qur’an, Muslims believe that the
hadiths
(say-
ings of the Prophet) are very important. The
hadiths
and stories
about Muhammad are collected in the
Sunna
(traditions of the
Prophet). Over the years, the Qur’an and the
Sunna
have given rise
to a number of religious laws and codes of conduct; Islamic law is
known as
Sharia
. In many Muslim countries of the Middle East,
Sharia
forms the basis not just for the justice system but also for
legislation. While Iraq during the rule of Saddam Hussein had some
special religious courts whose decisions were based on
Sharia
, the
Baath Party was a secular organization, and Islam was not the
foundation of the country’s laws or justice system. (Unfortunately,
legislation and the justice system were all too often simply tools for
Saddam’s regime to maintain its grip on power.)
O
THER
R
ELIGIONS IN
I
RAQ
Although the overwhelming majority of Iraqis—both Arabs and
Kurds—follow Islam, Iraq also has a small Christian community.
Ancestors of these people have lived in Iraq for nearly 2,000 years.
The Assyrians live in the northern part of Iraq, near the Kurdish
enclaves that were protected by the northern no-fly zone between
1991 and 2003. Assyrians are a separate ethnic group from Kurds
and Arabs. They still speak a version of Aramaic, the ancient lan-
guage of the Middle East that was supplanted by Arabic during the
spread of Islam in the seventh and eighth centuries. Historically,
the Assyrians have been subject to repression by Iraqi rulers, and
R
ELIGION
, P
OLITICS
,
AND THE
E
CONOMY
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