Editing Levant (section)

=== Religious and ethnic groups ===
{{Historical populations
|title=Historical population of the Levant
|align=right
|14|4300000|164|4800000|500|4127000|900|3120000|1200|2700000|1700|2028000|1897|3231874|1914|3448356|1922|3198951|footnote = Source:<ref>{{cite web|last=Mutlu|first=Servet|title=Late Ottoman population and its ethnic distribution|url=https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/213586|pages=29–31}} Corrected population M8.</ref><ref>Frier, Bruce W. "Demography", in Alan K. Bowman, Peter Garnsey, and Dominic Rathbone, eds., ''The Cambridge Ancient History XI: The High Empire, A.D. 70–192'', (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 827–54.</ref><ref>{{Setton-A History of the Crusades|last=Russell|first=Josiah C.|chapter=The Population of the Crusader States|pages=295–314|volume=5}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Syria Population - Our World in Data |url=https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/population?time=0..latest&country=~SYR |website=www.ourworldindata.org |language=en}}</ref>
}}
The vast majority of Levantines are [[Muslim]]s. After the [[Muslim conquest of the Levant]] in the 7th century,<ref>{{cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Hugh N. |author-link=Hugh N. Kennedy |date=2007 |title=The Great Arab Conquests: How the Spread of Islam Changed the World We Live In |url=https://archive.org/details/greatarabconques00kenn_0 |url-access=registration |publisher=Da Capo Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/greatarabconques00kenn_0/page/376 376] |isbn=978-0-306-81728-1}}</ref> [[Islam]] was first introduced into the region. However, a Muslim majority in the Levant is presumed to have been reached by the 13th century.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lapidus |first=Ira M. |author-link=Ira M. Lapidus |date=13 October 2014 |orig-year=1988 |title=A History of Islamic Societies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kFJNBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA70 |edition=3rd |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=70 |isbn=978-0-521-51430-9}}</ref> The majority of Levantine Muslims are [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]]s adhering to the four [[madhhab]]s ([[Hanafi school|Hanafi]], [[Shafi'i school|Shafi'i]], [[Hanbali school|Hanbali]] and [[Maliki school|Maliki]]). Islamic minorities include the [[Alawites|Alawite]]s and [[Nizari Isma'ilism|Nizari Ismaili]]s in Syria, and [[Lebanese Shia Muslims|Twelver Shiites]] in [[Lebanon]].

Levantine Christian groups include [[Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch|Greek Orthodox]] ([[Antiochian Greek Christians|Antiochian Greek]]), [[Syriac Orthodox]], [[Eastern Catholic Churches|Eastern Catholic]] ([[Syriac Catholic Church|Syriac Catholic]], [[Melkite Greek Catholic Church|Melkite]] and [[Maronite Church|Maronite]]), [[Roman Catholic]] ([[Latin Church|Latin]]), [[Church of the East|Nestorian]], and [[Protestantism|Protestant]]. [[Armenians]] mostly belong to the [[Armenian Apostolic Church]]. There are also [[Levantines (Latin Christians)|Levantines or Franco-Levantines]] who adhere to [[Roman Catholicism]]. There are also [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]]s belonging to the [[Assyrian Church of the East]] and the [[Chaldean Catholic Church]].<ref name=gulf2014>{{cite web |title=Christian Population of Middle East in 2014 |date=2017 |publisher=The Gulf/2000 Project, School of International and Public Affairs of Columbia University |url=http://gulf2000.columbia.edu/images/maps/Christians_Middle_East_2014_lg.png |access-date=2018-08-31}}</ref>

Other religious groups in the Levant include [[Jews]], [[Samaritans]], [[Yazidi]]s and [[Druze]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SPBfnT_E1mgC&pg=PA16 |title=Ethnic Groups of Africa and the Middle East: An Encyclopedia|access-date=26 May 2014|isbn=978-1-59884-362-0|last1=Shoup|first1=John A|date=2011-10-31|publisher=Abc-Clio }}</ref>