Kurdish Muslims

Kurds who follow Islam

Kurdish Muslims
موسڵمانی کورد, Musilmanên KurdTotal population

Almost 90% of Kurds
(75% Sunni & 15% Shia)
Regions with significant populations
Kurdistan and Kurdish diaspora
Religions

* Sunni Islam (Shafi'ism)
* Shia Islam (Twelver)
* Kurdish Alevism
* Sufism

Scriptures
Quran and (for Sunnis) hadith
Languages

* Kurdish
* Zaza–Gorani

Part of a series on

Kurdish history and Kurdish culture

People

* List of Kurds

Population

* Homeland

* Kurdistan
* Turkey (Northern Kurdistan)
* Iran (Eastern Kurdistan)
* Iraq (Southern Kurdistan)
* Syria (Western Kurdistan)

* Diaspora

* Belgium
* Canada
* Caucasia (Armenia) (Azerbaijan) (Georgia)
* Denmark
* Finland
* France
* Germany
* Greece
* Iraq
* Iran
* Israel
* Japan
* Jordan
* Kazakhstan
* Lebanon
* Netherlands
* Norway
* Palestine
* Pakistan
* Russia (Chechnya)
* Syria
* Sweden
* Sudan
* Turkmenistan
* Turkey
* Ukraine
* United Kingdom
* United States

History

* Timeline of Kurdish uprisings

Ancient

Karduchian dynasties

Corduene
Zabdicene
Cyrtians
Moxoene

* Kayusids

Medieval

* Shahrizor
* Mir Jafar Dasni
* Aishanids
* Daisam
* Shaddadids
* Hasanwayhids
* Annazids
* Marwanids
* Hadhabani
* Hazaraspids
* Ayyubids
* Badlis
* Ardalan
* Badinan
* Soran
* Mokryan
* Baban

Modern

* Kurdistansky Uyezd
* Kurdish rebellions during World War I
* Simko Shikak revolt
* Koçgiri Rebellion
* Ararat rebellion
* Dersim Rebellion
* Kingdom of Kurdistan
* Kurdish Republic of Ararat
* Republic of Mahabad
* Al-Anfal campaign
* Kurdish Republic of Lachin
* Iraqi Kurdistan (Kurdistan Region)
* Iranian Kurdistan
* Turkish Kurdistan
* Syrian Kurdistan

Culture

* Clothing
* Cuisine
* Celebrations
* Dance
* Flag
* Folklore
* Historical sites
* Literature
* Music
* Organisations
* Philosophers

Languages

* Kurmanji
* Sorani
* Xwarin
* Zaza
* Laki
* Gorani

Religion

* Islam
* Spread
* Christianity
* Judaism
* Shabakism
* Yarsanism
* Yazdânism
* Yazidism
* Zoroastrianism

* v
* t
* e

Kurdish Muslims (Kurdish: موسڵمانی کورد, romanized: Musilmanên Kurd) are Kurds who follow Islam, which is the largest religion among Kurds and has been for centuries.[1] Kurds largely became Muslims in the 7th century.[2][3]

## History

[edit]

Before Islam, the majority of Kurds followed western Iranic Paganism which originates from Indo-Iranian traditions.[4][5][6] Kurds made first contact with Islam in the 7th century during the Early Muslim conquests.[2] Kurds were a nation divided between the Byzantine and Persian Empires, before being united under the Rashidun Caliphate. Jaban al-Kurdi and his son Meymun al-Kurdi were the first Kurds who converted to Islam, and they also were Muslim missionaries who helped introduce Islam to many other Kurds. Khalil al-Kurdi al-Semmani was one of the first Kurdish tabi'uns.[7][8][9][10] Mass conversion of Kurds to Islam didn't happen until the reign of Umar ibn Al-Khattab, second caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate between 634 and 644.[11][12] The Kurds first came into contact with the Muslim armies during the Muslim conquest of Persia in 637. The Kurdish tribes had been an important element in the Sasanian Empire, and initially gave strong support to the Sasanians as they tried to fight the Muslim armies, between 639 and 644. Although once it was clear that the Sassanids would soon fall, the Kurdish chiefs one by one submitted to the Muslim armies and agreed to accept Islam, leading to their tribe members doing the same.[13]

Despite the Muslims establishing control over all of Kurdistan, and the majority of Kurds converting to Islam, small communities of Kurds remained in the impenetrable mountains and did not accept Islam. By the 13th century, some of them remained, occasionally attacking Muslim settlements. Bar Hebraeus wrote that it "in the year six hundred and two of the Arabs [1205 AD], a race of the Kurds who were in the mountains of Madai (Media), and who are called Tirahaye, came down from the mountains, and wrought great destruction in those countries. And troops of the Persians were gathered together, and they met them in battle and many of them were killed. Now these mountaineers had not entered the Faith of the Muslims, but they had adopted the primitive paganism and Magianism. When a Muslim fell into their hands they put him to death with cruel tortures."[14] By the 8th century, the most of them had already converted to Islam without Arabization. The Kurds resisted Arabs for social reasons rather than reluctance to accept Islam.[15]

Today, the majority of Kurds are Sunni Muslims, and there are Shia, Sufi, and Alevi minorities. Sunni Muslim Kurds are mostly Shafi'is.[16] There was a small minority of Zaydi Kurds before the decline of Zaydism.[17] Approximately 75% of Kurds are Sunni Muslims, and approximately 15% are Shia Muslims, with the remaining 10% being many other religions.[18]

## Contemporary Kurdish Muslims

[edit]

Islam has gained strong support from Kurds and has historically acted as the back-bone of the Kurdish Movement.[19]

After the secularization of Turkey, Turkish Kurdistan became the last stronghold of Islam, where Islamic schools were preserved, and many Turkish Muslim scholars went to Kurdistan in order to get the proper Islamic education.[19] The first ever mosque in modern-day Turkey was Menüçehr Mosque, built in 1072 by the Kurdish Muslim dynasty Shaddadids.[20]

After the rise of the Kurdish Islamism (a Kurdish nationalist and Islamist ideology) in the 1980s, the Kurdish Islamists used their Kurdish identity and Islam to defend themself against their main enemies, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and Syria.[21][22]

## See also

[edit]

* A Modern History of the Kurds by David McDowall
* Spread of Islam among Kurds

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Ali, Othman (1997-10-01). "Southern Kurdistan during the last phase of Ottoman control: 1839–1914". Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs. 17 (2): 283–291\. doi:10.1080/13602009708716377. ISSN 1360-2004.
2. ^ a b Kennedy, Hugh (2004). The Prophet and the age of the Caliphates : the Islamic Near East from the sixth to the eleventh century (2nd ed.). Harlow, England: Pearson/Longman. ISBN 0-582-40525-4. OCLC 55792252.
3. ^ Cigerxwin, Tarixa Kurdistan, I (Stockholm: Weşanên Roja Nû, 1985), p. 17.
4. ^ Kreyenbroek, Philip G. (1995). Yezidism : its background, observances and textual tradition. E. Mellen. ISBN 0-7734-9004-3. OCLC 464136140.
5. ^ Turgut, Lokman. Ancient rites and old religions in Kurdistan. OCLC 879288867.
6. ^ Foltz, Richard (2017-06-01). "The "Original" Kurdish Religion? Kurdish Nationalism and the False Conflation of the Yezidi and Zoroastrian Traditions". Journal of Persianate Studies. 10 (1): 87–106\. doi:10.1163/18747167-12341309. ISSN 1874-7094.
7. ^ Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, El İsabe fi Temyizi's Sahabe
8. ^ "Kürt sahabeler". Archived from the original on 8 December 2015.
9. ^ Mahmud al-Alusi, Ruhu'l Meani
10. ^ Hazal, Kadri (2014-01-27). "Kürtler ve İslamiyet". Risale Haber (in Turkish). Retrieved 2020-12-13.
11. ^ Biçer, Bekir (2014). İslam Coğrafyacılarının Eserinde Kürtler Hakkındaki Rivayetler. Tarih Okulu Dergisi.
12. ^ Tan, Altan. Kürt Sorunu. Timaş Yayınları. p. 67.
13. ^ McDowall, David (1997). A Modern History Of The Kurds. London: I.B Tauris. p. 21\. ISBN 978-1-85043-416-0.
14. ^ The Kurdish National Movement: Its Origins and Development, Wadie Jwaideh, 2006, pp. 19, ISBN 9780815630937
15. ^ The Mosul Incident of 1909: Its Sociopolitical, Judicial and Military Consequences, Nurkan Sever, 2023, pp. 346, ISBN 9783110796001
16. ^ Bois, Thomas. Kurds and Kurdistan. p. 148.
17. ^ كتاب دائرة المعارف: من سليكون الى صلاح الدينية. ١٠, Volume 10, Buṭrus al- Bustānī, 1898, pp. 614
18. ^ McDowall, David (1997). A Modern History of the Kurds. Bloomsbury, London: I.B. Tauris. p. 10.
19. ^ a b Van Bruinessen, M. (1991) "Religion in Kurdistan." Kurdish Times. New York, vol.4, nos 1-2. pp.5-27.
20. ^ "Shaddadids – Encyclopaedia Iranica". iranicaonline.org. Retrieved 2020-12-13.
21. ^ "Islamists of Kurdistan: Contradictions Between Identity and Freedom". The Washington Institute.
22. ^ Övet, Kerem; Hewitt, James; Abbas, Tahir (February 23, 2022). "Understanding PKK, Kurdish Hezbollah and ISIS Recruitment in Southeastern Turkey". Studies in Conflict & Terrorism: 1–21\. doi:10.1080/1057610X.2022.2042897. hdl:1887/3618301. S2CID 247117013 – via Taylor and Francis+NEJM.

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