ABSTRACT
The Iraqi vilayets of Baghdad and Basra were home to a substantial population of Arabic-speaking Shi’i Muslims. The precise number of these Shi’i Muslims is not known, as the Ottoman government compiled no statistics on the matter. Nonetheless, it is clear that they constituted an absolute majority of the population in the two provinces.1 In 1920, Shi’is were estimated to be 56 percent of the whole population of Iraq (including Mosul).2
