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The author examines the role of religion in Kurdish national aspirations, with particular reference to the manner in which it affects the relationship between Kurds living in Iraq and attempts to integrate Iraqi Kurds into the Iraqi state.
Key Words: Iraq; Kurds; Kurdish Islam; Sunni; Shiite; Alavi; Sufi; Kurdish Jews; Indigenous Kurdish religious sects.
(ProQuest: Foreign text omitted.)
"Thou, God, must not allow the Kurds to unify; their unification would cause the destruction of the world"
(Prophet Mohammad's saying reported by the medieval Turkish historian Khuja Sadaddin.)
The Kurds are an ancient people, and the Kurdish language, which is of Indo-European origin, is the fourth largest language of the Middle East after Arabic, Iranian and Turkish. With an estimated population of around 30 million, the Kurds are possibly the world's largest nation without statehood, their homeland, Kurdistan, being today divided between Iraq, Turkey, Iran and Syria. Approximately 80-90% of Kurds are Muslim, of which 70-75% are Sunnis, belonging to a plethora of different Sufi orders, and 30-25% Shiite or Alavi. The remaining 10-20% of Kurds adhere to different religions and sects, including Judaism, Christianity, and a number of indigenous Kurdish religions such as Yazidis, Yarsani, Sarlis and Shabaks. Thus, Kurds exhibit a unique religious cultural pluralism and Kurdish Islam has national characteristics which distinctively it from mainstream Islam and are another cultural factor that prompts Kurds to seek independence, or at least a reasonable measure of self-determination if forced to remain within the Arab-dominated state of Iraq.
This article investigates the role that Islam can play in the process of Kurdish integration into the Iraqi state. First, it highlights arguments for considering Sunni Islam as an overarching identity that reshaped Kurdish concepts of self-identity. The article then reports on how Kurdistan was annexed to Iraq, the role of religious leaders in Kurdistan, and the Iraqi attempt to use Islam as a method of integrating Kurds into Iraq. However, in contradistinction to the theory that the Kurds and the Iraqi Arabs are part of a common religious community, this paper argues that Islam is itself a reason for the failure of, rather than a factor promoting, Kurdish integration into Iraq. This is due to the unique nature of Kurdish Islam, which is different from, if...