page_title: Middle East
section_title: Religions
hierarchical_section_title: Middle East / Demographics / Religions
caption_attribution_description: English: Muslims praying towards Mecca; Umayyad Mosque, Damascus. Português: Damasco (Síria) - Homens voltados para a Cidade de Meca se reúnem para rezar, na hora do almoço, na Mesquita Umayyad, a mais importante da Síria. (Foto Antonio Milena/Agência Brasil - hor - 08)
context_page_description: The Middle East is a transcontinental region that generally includes Western Asia, all of Egypt, Iran, and Turkey. Soviet Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan are generally excluded. The term has come into wider usage as a replacement of the term Near East beginning in the early 20th century. The broader concept of the "Greater Middle East" also includes the Maghreb, Sudan, Djibouti, Somalia, the Comoros, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and sometimes Transcaucasia and Central Asia into the region. The term "Middle East" has led to some confusion over its changing definitions.
  Most Middle Eastern countries are part of the Arab world. The most populous countries in the region are Egypt, Iran, and Turkey, while Saudi Arabia is the largest Middle Eastern country by area. The history of the Middle East dates back to ancient times, with the geopolitical importance of the region being recognized for millennia. Several major religions have their origins in the Middle East, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Arabs constitute the majority ethnic group in the region, followed by Turks, Persians, Kurds, Azeris, Copts, Jews, Assyrians, Iraqi Turkmen, and Greek Cypriots.
context_section_description: The Middle East is very diverse when it comes to religions, many of which originated there. Islam is the largest religion in the Middle East, but other faiths that originated there, such as Judaism and Christianity, are also well represented. Christians represent 40.5% of Lebanon, where the Lebanese president, half of the cabinet, and half of the parliament follow one of the various Lebanese Christian rites. There are also important minority religions like the Bahá'í Faith, Yarsanism, Yazidism, Zoroastrianism, Mandaeism, Druze, and Shabakism, and in ancient times the region was home to Mesopotamian religions, Canaanite religions, Manichaeism, Mithraism and various monotheist gnostic sects.
caption: Islam is the largest religion in the Middle East. Here, Muslim men are prostrating during prayer in a mosque.
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