Iranians in Iraq

Iranians in Iraq (Persian: ایرانیان در عراق, Arabic: الإيرانيون في العراق), are Iraqi citizens of Iranian background. Iranians have had a long presence in Iraq, going back to the Fall of Babylon.

Iranians in Iraq
پارس‌های عراق/ايرانيان عراق (Persian)
فرس العراق / إيرانيو العراق (Arabic)

Regions with significant populations
Karbalā', Najaf, Baghdad, Suleymaniyah, Maysan, Basra
Iraq	486,000
Iran	400,000[1]
Languages
Persian, Mesopotamian Arabic, Kurdish
Religion
Twelver Shiʿa Islam[2] (minority Sunni Islam)
Related ethnic groups
Iranian diaspora (Iranians of UAE • Ajam of Bahrain • Ajam of Qatar • Ajam of Iraq • 'Ajam of Kuwait • Iranians of Canada • Iranians of America • Iranians of UK • Iranians of Germany • Iranians of Israel • Iranians in Turkey) Iranian Peoples (Lurs, Achomis, Baluchs, Kurds, Iranian Azeris), Turkic peoples (Qashqai, Azerbaijanis), Huwala

Demographics

Iranic peoples:

• There is a noticeable “Feylie tribe” (Lurs or Kurds) in Iraq, situated on the Iran–Iraq border.^[3]

History

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, many Iranians took refuge in Ottoman Iraq and lived in exile in cities such as Najaf, Karbala and Baghdad.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Saddam Hussein exiled between 350,000^[4][5][3] to 650,000 Iraqi citizens of Iranian ancestry.^[1] Most of them went to Iran. Most could prove their Iranian ancestry in Iranian courts and therefore received Iranian citizenships (400,000). Following Saddam's fall, some returned to Iraq.^[1] The population of Iraqis of Iranian descent is currently 486,000^{[citation needed]} (not including Iranian residents in Iraq).

Culture

Most Feiyli Iraqis belong to Twelver Shīʿa Islam, the same religious sect that most Iraqis and Iranians belong to.^[3]

While the Iraq side of Kurds on the other hand follow mostly Sunni Islam.

Notable people

• Kazim Rashti (1793-1843), Shaykhi scholar
• Ali Muhammad Khan Nizam ud-Daula (1807-1853) son of Hajji Mohammad Hossein Isfahani, scholar who fled Iran, lived, died and buried in exile in Najaf.
• Princess Shams ud-Daula Qajar, daughter of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar and wife of Ali Muhammad Khan Nizam ud-Daula.
• Abulqasim Khan Qarai (died before 1916), son of Muhammad Khan Qarai, wealthy land owner who fled Mashhad in 1887 and lived in exile in Karbala. He feared for his life when his properties were unlawfully seized by Abdul Wahab Khan Asaf ud-Daula Shirazi.
• Ali al-Sistani (1930-), Shia religious leader born in Mashhad and ancestry from Sistan.

See also

• Iranian diaspora
• Moaved
• Medes
• Achaemenid Assyria
• Asuristan
• Parthian Empire
• Baghdad province (Safavid Empire)
• Feyli (tribe)