Mick Hartley

More on the Kurds and their waning devotion to Islam, following that report about the unlikely return of Zoroastrianism, from RUDAW:

“We Muslims have a lot of problems with our religion, for a lot of reasons,” the words of Sanger Najim, a young man living in Erbil, echo the sentiments of a growing population in the Kurdistan Region who struggle with questions about their faith.

Many Muslims are confronted by the violent extremism of the Islamic State (ISIS) and wonder how to reconcile their personal beliefs with the actions of the extremist group. The Kurdish population is approximately 94% nominally Muslim. Recently, however, there have been many reports of Kurds leaving Islam or converting to other religions. The Zoroastrian movement claims to have as many as 100,000 followers in Iraqi Kurdistan. Christian organizations assert that thousands in the region have been seeking out Christianity as they reject ISIS’ interpretation of Islam. There are also reports of growing numbers of atheists and agnostics.

These claims could not be confirmed by the Kurdish Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs. Mariwan Naqshbandi, the ministry spokesman said that they do not publish figures of people who convert from one religion to another.

Many blame ISIS for this rejection of Islam. “Daesh (ISIS) appeared, they kill people and they said they are Muslims, but actually not. This… leads to an increase of the idea that Islam is the base of Daesh,” said Avein Abdul-Rahman. She, however, believes that ISIS’ practice of Islam is wrong and that Islam is a religion of peace.

Others have completely abandoned Islam and religion altogether. “I am an atheist,” says Mohammad, a young Kurdish man in Erbil who declined to give his full name for personal reasons. “I think the tipping point and the moment it all got loose was when Islamic State overran Shingal,” Mohammad argued. “When I first heard about the cases of enslavement of non-Muslim Kurdish women, Yezidi women, I knew that it is allowed in Islam to do that. It’s not only allowed, it is promoted.” Mohammad went on to say that that the extremism of ISIS such as beheading, stoning of women and cutting off a thief’s hand are sanctioned in the Koran… Some believe that the solution is to promote a Kurdish version of Islam, which Naqshbandi said is part of KRG’s plan to combat extremism. "A number of Islamic ideologies were brought into Kurdistan. They do not represent true Islam,” says Naqshbandi. “Their radical ideology is incompatible with the tolerant culture of Kurdish society. For example, there was nothing called Salafism in Kurdistan before 1991, but there was Sufism, and people were being educated… in a moderate way." The roots of Islam are strong in Kurdistan and, even for those who do not believe or practice the religion; it still plays a role in their lives.

But others like Mohammed, who grew up in a religious family and whose father is an imam, have had their own revelation. “I came to a point where I had to make a choice. I said, this can’t be my religion. And obviously, at that moment, I said it’s not. It’s never been mine,” he said.