"In fact, that sentence just made me wonder, what the heck religion are the Kurds anyway???"
That, as it turns out, it a fairly interesting question. I always assumed the Kurds practised some variant of Islam. But it appears to be more complex than that.
Muhammad Kamal: Yes, in fact the history of religion in Kurdistan can be divided into two parts, we say pre-Islamic and post-Islamic.
In the pre-Islamic period the Kurds followed various religions. For instance, the Kurds were Ezidis and Zoroastrians, and Judaism, Christianity also were very popular among the Kurds. But when the Kurds were converted in 637, that is during the reign of the second Caliph of Islam, Caliph 'Umar, who was the second successor to the prophet Muhammad, then most of the Kurds became Muslims. But these Ezidis have remained as it is, they were not converted, and they kept their faith very secret. But then Kurds generally became Sunni Muslims and still we have some Kurds who practice, or let’s say who are Shi'a Muslims, or 'Alawis in Kurdistan. But the mainstream of Islam in Kurdistan is Sunni.
abc.net.au
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Since developed in Kurdistan and since being the principal religion of the whole Kurdish nation, it is only logical that all the religious literature, prayers and teaching were conducted in the Kurdish language. As a particular and important case, the two Holy Books – Zend Avesta and Meshef Roj – are composed in Kurdish. Afterwards, starting from 636-641 AD, the movement of Islam and their Arab propagators reached the soil of Kurdistan. As a result of Arab invasion, the Kurdish people were deprived of their freedom; their religion, language and culture were subjected to unprecedented robbery and destruction. It is right to claim that this policy of annihilation of the Kurds in general and the Yezidi Kurds in particular has been continuing for centuries as initiated from Islamic centers of power identified with the Arabs, Persians and Turks. Since the Yezidis have always been the bearers of their Kurdish identity, they would constantly become the main victims of the oppressing forces.
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