Muqdadiyah (Arabic: المقدادية) (also transliterated Al-Muqdadiyah, Muqdadia, Miqdadiyah) is a city in the Diyala Governorate of Iraq. The city is located at , about 80 km northeast of Baghdad and 30 km northeast of Baquba, the capital of Diyala. It has a population of about 298,000 inhabitants[1],
The alternative name of the town is Shareban (kurdish: Şareban or شارهبان), mentioned as such in the works of the classical writers such as Ptolemy and Strabo. Sharaban stands for a satrap. This name is still used locally by the Kurds. As of late, however, the term Muqdadiyah has largely replaced the old name.
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The most reliable and most widely accepted etymology for the name is that it is a Persian language compound made of two elements: Mugh/Muγ "Magi" + dād "given", translating to "Magi-given" or "Magi's gift". Magi were Zoroastrian priests. The city of Baghdad nearby presents the same construction, albeit, the term Bagh/Baγ (Old Persian for God]) replaces mugh/muγ, to render the meaning of the name of the city of Baghdad as "Godi-given", "God's gift." (q.v.).
The city has a mixed population, with Arabs (both Shia and Sunni) forming a simple majority. Other inhabitants are the Kurds and Turkomans. Before their mass expulsion in the course of the 1960s and 1970s, the Shia Faili Kurds constituted the majority of the town's population, followed by the Shia Turkomans. The Kurdish population is now estimated as about 3%.
About the name: