Adhamiyah

Al-Adhamiyah District
قضاء الأعظمية
District
View of Al-Adhamiyah District in 2000
Etymology: Named after Imam Abū Ḥanīfah an-Nuʿmān (al-Imām al-Aʿẓam)
Nickname: 
The Shrine District
Al-Adhamiyah District
Location in Iraq
Coordinates (Abu Hanifa Mosque): 33°23′23″N 44°22′19″E / 33.38972°N 44.37194°E / 33.38972; 44.37194
Country Iraq
GovernorateBaghdad Governorate
CityBaghdad
First settledAbbasid Period
Administrative centerAl-Adhamiyah
Government
  TypeDistrict Council
  BodyBaghdad Mayoralty
Area
  Total
36 km2 (14 sq mi)
 Approximate size
Population
 (Est. pre-2003)
  Total
~900,000
 Majority Sunni
DemonymAdhamiyawi (الأعظمي)
Time zoneUTC+3 (AST)
Postal code
100XX
Area code+964
ISO 3166 codeIQ-BG
Home of the Abu Hanifa Mosque

Al-Adhamiyah (Arabic: الأعظمية, romanized: al-ʾaʿẓamiyya; ALA-LC: al-A‘ẓamīyah), also Azamiya, is a neighborhood and east-central district of the city of Baghdad, Iraq. It is one of nine administrative districts in Baghdad.

Adhamiyah neighborhood, or the shrine district, is located north-west of the city center and is an upscale area. This is not to be confused with a much larger Adhamiyah district of Baghdad, which is nearly 9 times larger and has as many times the inhabitants. The shrine area, Adhamyiah proper, has about 100,000 inhabitants. This area was 95% Sunni, 5% Shi'ite before 2003 and the Iraqi invasion. After the Iraqi civil war (2006–2008), it is now nearly totally Sunni in its religious composition.

The base of the population consists of people with a high intellectual background, whether it be politicians, artists, scholars and even sports figures. The name is a reference to Abū Ḥanīfah an-Nuʿmān, known as al-Imām al-Aʿẓam (Arabic: الإِمَـام الأَعـظَـم, "The Great Imam"), a renowned scholar and founder of the prominent Sunni Hanafī school of Islamic religious jurisprudence. Abu Hanifa Mosque is a prominent landmark, built around the tomb of Abū Ḥanīfah an-Nuʿmān.