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Modern Iraq is 80% Arab; the rest are Assyrians, Kurds, Chaldeans, Turkomen, etc. Of course, the only reason the Arabs got there is by conquest. They were not native to the region that is now Iraq.

Ah, you were going by what people call themselves, sorry, I meant to say what their ethnic roots really ARE. Most of those calling themselves "Arabs" are really Assyrian/Mesopotamian or Irani. Ditto for Egypt and especially true for places like Algeria which used to discriminate against Berbers which was very strange since the people doing the discrimination WERE Berbers

The reason for this masquerading of people as Arabs is due to Islam. Islam basically is Arab (peoples of the Hejaz region in Saudi Arabia around Mecca and Medina) nationalism. Islam holds the Arabs as the superior people and Arabic as the superior language. That is why people from as far away as Afghanistan and Indonesia take up Arabic names and Arabic dress to "become Arab" as they believe that is the high order a human beign can reach -- higher than that is to be part of the prophet's tribe, higher than THAT is to be of the prophet's family

That is why you have Sunnis and Shias: because various people fought to become the leader of Islam after the prophet -- hardly any theological differences, all just leadership differences.

Anyway, so they say the prophet's family is the most superior and that's why you have people like the Ismailis who follow the Aga Khan (a descendent of Muhammad).