[10] Arab myths[citation needed] agree that the Cushitic king Nimrod crossed from beyond the waters of East Africa in the earliest times with an army, and established a civilization.
It is stated in the book of Genesis that Nimrod was a mighty hunter of great renown and the first to build cities over the face of the world.
Because of the legendary Nimrod's Cushitic origin (often identified with the historical Kingdom of Kush in what is today southern Egypt and northern Sudan), many believe that Afro-Iraqis now living in areas are his literal descendents.
However Black Iraqis are the descendants of East African coastal Bantu peoples, likely the Swahili people, who were enslaved and brought to Iraq in the 9th century during the Arab slave trade to slavery in the Abbasid Caliphate to work on agricultural fields or as laborers.
Although some African migrants came to Iraq as sailors and laborers the majority were brought as slaves in the 9th century.
Today, many Afro-Iraqis activists report that they are denied job opportunities on the basis of their skin colour and ethnic background.
[15] Although the vast majority of Afro-Iraqis are Muslim, a shrinking minority still practices these traditions.