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Mar 6, 2003, 9:23pm

Yes, Islam is the national religion (although Iraq has nominal freedom
of religion), though there are various shapes of it, mainly Shia and
Sunni Muslims.

If there are any people of other religions, their number is absolutely
insignificant, like I said, literally a handful only - with the
exception of Christs in Iraq - their number is below 5%, but they used
to gain some advantages from political reasons.

See also:

[http://atheism.about.com/library/irf/irf02/blirf_iraq.htm]
While a precise statistical breakdown is impossible to ascertain because
of likely inaccuracies in the latest census (conducted in 1997),
according to best estimates, 97 percent of the population of 22 million
persons are Muslim. Shi'a Muslims--predominantly Arab, but also
including Turkomen, Faili Kurds, and other groups--constitute a 60 to 65
percent majority. Sunni Muslims make up 32 to 37 percent of the
population (approximately 18 to 20 percent are Sunni Kurds, 12 to 15
percent Sunni Arabs, and the remainder Sunni Turkomen). The remaining
approximately 3 percent of the overall population consist of Christians
(Assyrians, Chaldeans, Roman Catholics, and Armenians), Yazidis,
Mandaeans, and a small number of Jews.
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and for Afghanistan:

[http://www.afghanistans.com/Information/People/Religion.htm]
The overwhelming majority of Afghans (about 99 percent) are Muslims.
About 84 percent of Afghan Muslims are Sunnites and about 15 percent are
Shiites (mostly the Hazaras and Tajiks). Small groups of Hindus, Sikhs,
Parsis, and Jews are scattered in the towns.
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