Written by Ezgi Cakirgoz
The Kurdish people today are mostly Muslims and belong to the Shafi'i school. So, how did the religious change process of the Kurds, who used to belong to Zoroastrianism, begin? (1)
Zoroastrianism is the world's oldest monotheistic revelation religion, built by Zoroaster in Iran, which contains the first examples of dualist and eschatological beliefs. It has a dual cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic ontology and an eschatology that presupposes the ultimate conquest of evil by good. This religion existed between 660-583 BC. Until the time of the war between the Sassanids and the Islamic army, most of the Kurds belonged to this religion. (3)
Islam emerged in the 7th century. At that time, the geography of Kurdistan was divided between the Sassanid Empire and the Byzantine Empire, so Kurdish lands were always a battleground for the Sassanids and Byzantines. At the end of these wars, both sides exhausted their resources. As a result of this, Muslim forces destroyed entire parts of the Byzantine Empire in the Levant, Caucasus, Egypt, and North Africa and conquered the entire Sassanid Empire. Over the next centuries, half of the Byzantine Empire and the entire Sassanid Empire came under Muslim rule. Thus, Islam started to spread among the Kurdish people. (1)
The identification of the Kurds with Islam dates back to the time of Muhammad. There are many Kurdish Companions who became Muslims at the time of Muhammad. The most well-known of them are Cabanê Kurdî and his son Maymünê Kurdî.
The majority of Kurds accepted Islam during the Caliphate of Omar. When the Islamic Army spread Islam in Kurdistan in 637-642, the majority of Kurds became Muslims. Thus, the Kurds were accepted as the first Muslim people after the Arabs. (2)
The poem "Hurmizgan"
In the early 1800s, a poem was found during an excavation in the Kurdistan region. This poem named "Hurmizgan", which was written on leather, is accepted as one of the first written examples of Kurdish poetry. In the poem Hurmizgan, it is claimed that there was a massacre carried out by the Islamic army against the Kurds of Zoroastrianism during the Islamic conquests. In the poem, it is stated that people who believe in Zoroastrianism were attacked by Arabs, men were killed, and women and girls were taken captive. This poem is also claimed as proof that the Kurds were Islamized 'by the force of the sword'.
Hurmizgan riman Atiran kûjan,
Wişan şardewe gewrey gewrekan,
Zorkar ereb kirne xapûr,
Ginay paleyi heta Şarezûr,
Jin û kenikan we dîl beşîna,
Mêrd aza tlî we rûy hwêna,
Reweşti Zerdeşt manuwe bêkes,
Bezeyika neka Hewrmez we hwîçkes
(Our temples are destroyed
Our fire is out
The greatest of gentlemen hid
Cruel Arabs destroyed poor villages as far as Sharezur
Girls and women became slaves
The Braves drowned in their own blood
Zoroastrianism lost its followers
Ahuramazda did not pity anyone
*Ahuramazda is the power that represents goodness in the Zoroastrian faith.)
Since no scientific study has been done on this example, some think that this poem is fake.
There is still no conclusive evidence about how the Kurdish people became Muslim. According to some, the Kurds who heard about Islam gave up their religion and became Muslims. According to others, the Kurds entered Islam at the time of Caliph Omar by force of the sword. (4)
References:
Kennedy (2004), ss. 266, 269.
BİÇER, B. (2014). Islam COĞRAFYACILARININ ESERLERİNDE KÜRTLER HAKKINDAKİ RİVAYETLER (9. YÜZYIL - 13. YÜZYIL). Journal Of History School, 7(XVII), 165-187. https://johschool.com/Makaleler/1174847716_8.%20b.bicer.pdf
ZERDÜŞTÎLİK ve YEZİDİLİK BAĞLAMINDA KÜRTLERİN İNANÇLARININ KÖKENİ PROBLEMİ. (2020, December 31). Home » DergiPark. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/sarkiat/issue/59182/745544
Chaliand, G. (1993). A people without a country: The Kurds and Kurdistan.
Comments