The Religions of the Near and the Middle East

The Near and the Middle East is the homeland of such great religions as Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It is here that the events of the holy history described in the Old and the New Testaments of the Bible, as well as in Koran, took place. The modern population of the region mainly professes Islam in its Sunnite or Shiite form (the Arabs, Turks, Afghans are Sunnite-Muslims; Persians, partially the Arabs of Yemen, of the Arabian Peninsula, of Lebanon, the citizens of Afghanistan from Herat province belong to Shiite-Muslims) or are representatives of the specific ethno-confessional groups, connected with Islam (these are Nusairites-Alawites in Turkey and Syria, the Druze people of Lebanon, Syria, Israel and others). Islam is the state religion in the majority of countries of the region.

Significantly more scarce are those, who profess Christianity of various types (the Arabs-Christians of Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Jordan, the Sinai Peninsula, Iraq, Iran. Here also belong the Copts, the Greek-Cypriots, the Greek, Armenians, Georgians, and others) and Judaism too (The Jews of Israel, Iraq, Iran and some other countries of the region). The ancient Iranian religion Zoroastrianism was kept by the Hebres - a small ethno-confessional group within the Iranian population.

The View of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.   Israel, Jerusalem (Palestine). The end of the 19th century.		The Pilgrimage around Kaaba.    Saudi Arabia, Mecca. 1967.