Islam in Iraq has a rich complicated history that has come to be over almost 1,400 years, since the Prophet Muhammad lived and died in 632 CE.
[3] Baghdad, which was once the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate and a center of Islamic scholarship, is one of the most important religious cities in Iraq.
[6] The tomb of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the first Shia Imam and the fourth caliph, is in Najaf, which is another important city.
Another important place of worship is the al-Askari Mosque in Samarra, which is home to the tombs of the tenth and eleventh Shia Imams.
The city is now a great center of pilgrimage from throughout the Shi'a Islamic world and it is estimated that only Mecca and Medina receive more Muslim pilgrims.
The city of Kufa was home to the famed scholar Abu Hanifah, whose school of thought is followed by many Sunni Muslims internationally.