Muqdadiyah
Muqdadiyah (Arabic: المقدادية) (also transliterated Al-Muqdadiyah, Muqdadia, Miqdadiyah) is a city in the Diyala Governorate of Iraq occupied Kurdistan. The city is located at 33°58′43″N 44°56′13″E / 33.97861°N 44.93694°E, 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 city name is Shaharban, Şareban in Kurdish, it was named during Sassanide Empire after the princess Shaher Bano daughter of Yazdgerd III (also spelled Yazdiger or Yazdigerd, Persian: یزدگرد سوم, "made by God" was the twenty-ninth and last king of the Sassanid dynasty), later after Islam Empire overcame Sassanide Empire, Imam Hussein, grand son of the Prophet Mohammed was married with princess Shaher Bano.
The original 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. the Muqdadiya name is came from the name of Miqdad ibn Aswad Al-Kindi (Arabic: مقداد بن الاسود الكندي) was one of the Sahabah of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. Miqdad is venerated by Shi'a Muslims as one of the Four Companions, early Muslims who were followers of Ali ibn Abi Talib. Miqdad ibn Aswad is among Shi'as regarded as one of the most respected Sahaba. He is mentioned in one Hadith regarding the perfect Shia, he was one of the Muhajirun and he is also among the List of Sahabah not giving Bay'ah to Abu Bakr.
Ethnography
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%.
References
Sources
About the name:
- محمدی ملایری، محمد: فرهنگ ایران در دوران انتقال از عصر ساسانی به عصر اسلامی، جلد دوم: دل ایرانشهر، تهران، انتشارات توس 1375.: Mohammadi Malayeri, M.: Del-e Iranshahr, vol. II, Tehran 1375 Hs.)
