Sikhism in Iraq does not have a permanent population, but has a historical presence because of travels by Guru Nanak and Sikh soldiers stationed in Iraq during World War I and World War II.

Guru Nanak traveled vast distances in four major journeys with his Muslim Minstrel, Bhai Mardana. During one of those journeys, he traveled across the muslim world and at one point stayed outside of Baghdad. According to historical sources he held a dialogue with Sheikh Bahlool Dana, a Sufi saint. At some point a shrine to Guru Nanak was built alongside Bahlool Dana's tomb. In the chaos following the 2003 Invasion of Iraq looters or vandals stripped the monument of religious texts and a plaque commemorating the meeting.

During both world wars Sikh soldiers in the British Army were posted in Iraq. During World War I the shrine to Guru Nanak was rediscovered by a Sikh captain, Dr Kirpal Singh, after being forgotten for centuries. In the early 1930s Sikh soldiers repaired the shrine and during WWII continued its upkeep.

Iraq (/ɪˈræk/ or ⁱ/ɪˈrɑːk/; Arabic: العراق‎ al-‘Irāq); officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic:  جمهورية العراق (help·info) Jumhūriyyat al-‘Irāq), is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.

Iraq borders Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, Jordan to the southwest and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south. Iraq has a narrow section of coastline measuring 58 km (36 mi) on the northern Persian Gulf. The capital city, Baghdad is in the center-east of the country.

Two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run through the center of Iraq, flowing from northwest to southeast. These provide Iraq with agriculturally capable land and contrast with the steppe and desert landscape that covers most of Western Asia.

Historically, Iraq was the center of the Abbasid Arabic Islamic Empire. Iraq has been known to the west by the Greek toponym 'Mesopotamia' (Land between the rivers) and has been home to continuous successive civilizations since the 6th millennium BC. The region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is often referred to as the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of writing, law and the wheel. At different periods in its history, Iraq was the center of the indigenous Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Babylonian, and Abbasid empires. It was also part of the Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires, and under British control as a League of Nations mandate.

Guru Nanak (Punjabi: ਗੁਰੂ ਨਾਨਕ; Hindi: गुरु नानक, Urdu: گرونانک [ˈɡʊɾu ˈnɑnək] Gurū Nānak) (15 April 1469 – 22 September 1539 at Talwandi (present-day Pakistan)) was the founder of the religion of Sikhism and the first of the ten Sikh Gurus.

The Sikhs believe that all subsequent Gurus possessed Guru Nanak’s divinity and religious authority, and were named "Nanak" in the line of succession.

Guru Nanak was born on 15 April 1469, now celebrated as Prakash Divas of Guru Nanak Dev, into a Hindu Khatri family in the village of Rāi Bhōi dī Talwandī, now called Nankana Sahib, near Lahore, Pakistan. Today, his birthplace is marked by Gurdwara Janam Asthan. Some are of the opinion that 20 October is his enlightenment day rather than his birthday. His father, Kalyan Chand Das Bedi, popularly shortened to Kalu Mehta, was the patwari (accountant) of crop revenue for the village of Talwandi in the employment of a Muslim landlord of that area, Rai Bular Bhatti. Guru Nanak’s mother was Tripta Devi and he had one elder sister, Bibi Nanaki who became a spiritual figure in her own right.

Pakistani people or Pakistanis (Urdu: پاکستانی قوم) (Pakistani Qaum) are a nationality and pan-ethnic group who are the native citizens and residents of Pakistan. Pakistan's estimated population in 2011 is over 187 million making it the world's sixth most-populous country. Pakistan is in essence a multi-ethnic and multilingual nation that is home to people of diverse regional ethnicities and nationalities, reflecting the rich and complex demographics and history of Pakistan. As a result, Pakistanis do not consider their nationality as an ethnicity but as a citizenship of a Muslim state with various ethnicities comprising the "Pakistani people".

Pakistan has one of the world's fastest growing populations. Being a land mass that is transitionally localed both in South Asian, the Greater Middle East and Central Asia, the Pakistani people are a mixture of various ethnic groups. Furthermore, various ethnic groups, invading armies and the migrations to the region by people passing through on their way to and from South Asia have left their imprint on the population.

World War I (WWI), which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939 (World War II), and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. It involved all the world's great powers, which were assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies (based on the Triple Entente of the United Kingdom, France and Russia) and the Central Powers (originally centred around the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy; but, as Austria–Hungary had taken the offensive against the agreement, Italy did not enter into the war). These alliances both reorganised (Italy fought for the Allies), and expanded as more nations entered the war. Ultimately more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history. More than 9 million combatants were killed, largely because of enormous increases in lethality of weapons, thanks to new technology, without corresponding improvements in protection or mobility. It was the sixth-deadliest conflict in world history, subsequently paving the way for various political changes such as revolutions in the nations involved.