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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 ...
The great mosque in Mardin. The majority of Kurdish people are Muslim by religion. [1] [2] [3] While the relationship between religion and nationalism has usually been strained and ambivalent with the strong hold of the Islamic leaders in Kurdish society, it has generally been the conservative Muslim Kurds who formed the backbone of the Kurdish movements.
The Kurdish people have different religions depending on their ethnic connections and the country in which they live. The most common religion among Kurds is Sunni Islam, practiced by 98% of Kurds living in Iraqi Kurdistan. The Kurds of Turkey are 30% Alevi out of a population of approximately 15–22 million Kurds and 68% follow Sunni Islam. [12]
Kurds comprise anywhere from 18 to 25% of the population in Turkey, [1] [57] 15 to 20% in Iraq; [1] 10% in Iran; [1] and 9% in Syria. [ 1 ] [ 58 ] Kurds form regional majorities in all four of these countries, viz. in Turkish Kurdistan , Iraqi Kurdistan , Iranian Kurdistan and Syrian Kurdistan .
Their origin is uncertain and they are considered Kurds by some scholars. [6] [7] [8] They speak Shabaki and live in a religious community (ta'ifa) in the Nineveh Plains. The ancestors of Shabaks were followers of the Safaviyya order, which was founded by the Kurdish mystic Safi-ad-din Ardabili in the early 14th century. [9]
Kurdish Alevism [1] (Kurdish: Rêya Heqî, lit. 'The Path of God/Truth' [2] or Elewîtî) [3] refers to the unique rituals, sacred place practices, mythological discourses and socio-religious organizations among Kurds who adhere to Alevism. [4]
The two major religions among Kurds in Iran are Islam and Yarsanism, while fewer Kurds adhere to BaháΚΌí Faith and Judaism. [14] There is disagreement on which is the largest denomination among Kurds; experts such as Richard N. Frye and Martin van Bruinessen argue that Sunni Islam (the Shafi'i branch [3]) is the majority religion, [15] [16] while researcher Anu Leinonen believes it is the ...
The largest minority group in Iraq is the Kurds, with Turkmen following shortly after. Prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Assyrians constituted a sizeable population of 1.5 million, and belonged to various different churches such as the Assyrian Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, and the Syriac Orthodox/Catholic Churches.