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Shabaks

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Shabak
Total population
200,000–500,000 (2017 estimation)[1]
Regions with significant populations
Largest settlements:
Mosul, Gogjali, Bartella[2][3]
Languages
Shabaki, Arabic, Kurdish[4]
Religion
Majority: Shia Islam
Minority: Sunni Islam, Yarsanism[5]
Historically: Shabaki faith

Shabaks (Arabic: الشبك, Kurdish: شەبەک, romanized: Şebek) are a group of people who live east of Mosul in Iraq. 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] The primary Shabak religious text is called the Buyruk or Kitab al-Manaqib (Book of Exemplary Acts), which is written in Turkmen.[10]

Members of the three Kurdish tribes Bajalan (or Bajarwans), Zangana and Dawoody live in the same villages as the Shabaks and are commonly mistaken for being Shabak.[11]

Origins

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The origins of the word Shabak are not clear. One theory is that Shabak is an Arabic word شبك that means intertwine, indicating that the Shabak people originated as a confederation of many tribes of different ethnicities. Austin Henry Layard considered Shabaks to be descendants of Kurds who originated in Iran, and believed that they possibly had affinities with the Ali-Ilahis.[6] Anastas Al-Karmali also argued that Shabaks were ethnic Kurds.[12] Another theory claimed that Shabaks were ethnic Kurds indigenous to the area around Mosul.[13] Another theory suggests that the Shabaks originated from Anatolian Qizilbash Turkomans, who were forced to settle in the Mosul area after the defeat of Ismail I by the Ottomans at the Battle of Chaldiran.[6] In the 1990s, Turkish sources began denying the existence of the Shabaks, claiming they were simply part of the Iraqi Turkmen.[14]

Deportation and forced assimilation

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After the 1987 census, the Iraqi regime declared Shabaks to be Arabs. Many Shabak community leaders protested, insisting that they were Kurds, after which the Iraqi regime began a campaign against Shabaks.[15] Many Shabaks chose to abandon their traditions, stop identifying with Kurds, and assimilate into the Arab identity to avoid being targeted.[16] The Iraqi government fabricated lineage documents to portray the Shabaks as Arabs.[17] The campaign included both deportation and forced assimilation, and many of them (along with Zengana and Hawrami Kurds) were relocated to concentration camps (mujamma'at in Arabic) that were located in the Harir area of the northern Iraq. An estimated 1,160 Shabaks were killed during this period. In addition, increasing efforts have been made to force the Shabaks to suppress their own identity in favour of being Arab. The Iraqi government's efforts of forced assimilation, Arabization, and religious persecution put the Shabaks under increasing threat. As one Shabak told a researcher: "The government said we are Arabs, not Kurds; but if we are, why did they deport us from our homes?"[6] Shabak politician Salim al-Shabaki, a representative of Shabaks in the Iraqi parliament, said "The Shabaks are part of the Kurdish nation", emphasizing that Shabaks are ethnically Kurdish.[18] Salim al-Shabaki also claimed that Iraqi Shia militias had no interest in protecting the Shabaks and only wanted to distance Shabaks from other Kurds. He also accused the militias of committing violations against Shabaks.[19]

Hunain al-Qaddo, a Shabak politician who advocated that Shabaks were a distinct ethnic group, was quoted by Human Rights Watch that: "The Peshmerga have no genuine interest in protecting his community, and that Kurdish security forces are more interested in controlling Shabaks and their leaders than protecting them."[20]

The strong tensions between Shabaks and Sunni Arabs further worsened after the rise of the Islamic State in 2014.[21]

During the 2017 Kurdistan independence referendum, there were Shabaks who supported independence and called for their native region in the Nineveh Plains to be included.[22]

Religious beliefs

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Historically, the native Shabaki faith was a syncretic religion based on the Ghulat sect of Shia Islam, with similarities to Yarsanism, Yazidism, Christianity, and Alevism. Shabaks were divided between those who followed the traditional Shabaki faith, and those who followed Yarsanism. The Shabaks gradually left their traditional faith and increasingly converted to orthodox Twelver Shi'ism after World War I, while the Yarsani Shabaks continued adhering to Yarsanism and remained a significant part of Shabak society.[23]

The Shabaki faith combined elements of Sufism with their own concept of divine reality. According to Shabaks, divine reality was more advanced than the literal reading of the Qur'an, which is known as Sharia. Shabak spiritual guides are known as pirs, and they are well versed in the prayers and rituals of the sect. Pirs are under the leadership of the Supreme Head or Baba.[6] Pirs act as mediators between divine power and ordinary Shabaks. Their beliefs form a syncretic faith that is similar to the beliefs of Yarsanism.[9][24] Shabaks also made pilgrimages to Yazidi holy sites and regarded them as shared holy sites.[25] Shabaks also considered the poetry of Ismail I to be revealed by Allah, and they recite Ismail's poetry during religious meetings.[9] Most Shabaks identified as Shia Muslims.[26]

Settlements

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List of Shabak–majority settlements in the Nineveh Plains:[11]

  • Abbasiyah
  • Ali Rash
  • Badanat Sufla
  • Badanat Ulya
  • Basakhrah
  • Basatliya Saghirah
  • Baybukh
  • Bazgirtan
  • Bazwaya
  • Chunji
  • Darawish
  • Dayrij
  • Gogjali
  • Gora Ghariban
  • Judaydat
  • Kahriz
  • Khazna
  • Kiretagh / Qaraytagh
  • Manara Shabak
  • Mufti
  • Qara Shor
  • Qara Tappa
  • Sadah
  • Salamiyah
  • Shaqoli
  • Shahrazad
  • Sheikh Amir
  • Tahrawa
  • Tawajinah
  • Terjilleh
  • Tiskharab



List of mixed settlements in the Nineveh Plains:[11]

  • Abu Jarwan (Shabak–Bajalan Kurdish)
  • Bartella (Shabak–Assyrian)[27]
  • Basatliya (Shabak–Kurdish)
  • Bashbitah (Mixed Kurdish)
  • Bashiqa (Shabak–Yezidi)
  • Bir Hallan (Mixed Kurdish)
  • Birma (Mixed Kurdish)
  • Fadila (Mixed Kurdish)
  • Hasan Shami (Mixed Kurdish–Arab)
  • Jilu Khan (Mixed Kurdish)
  • Kabarli (Mixed Kurdish)
  • Kanunah (Mixed Kurdish)
  • Kharabat Sultan (Mixed Kurdish)
  • Khorsabad (Mixed Kurdish)
  • Orta Kharab (Mixed Kurdish)
  • Bakhdida / Qaraqosh / Hamdaniyah (Assyrian-Shabak)[28]
  • Qarqashah (Mixed Kurdish)
  • Shamsiyat (Shabak–Turkmen)
  • Summaqiyah (Mixed Kurdish)
  • Tall Akub (Mixed Kurdish)
  • Tallara (Mixed Kurdish)
  • Topzawah (Mixed Kurdish)
  • Tubraq Ziyarah (Mixed Kurdish)
  • Umar Qabji (Mixed Kurdish)
  • Umarkan (Mixed Kurdish)
  • Yangija (Mixed Kurdish)
  • Yarimjah (Shabak–Turkmen)
  • Zara Khatun (Mixed Kurdish)

As of March 2019, all of the above settlements are under federal control and are disputed territories of Northern Iraq.[29]

References

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  1. ^ "Crossroads: The future of Iraq's minorities after ISIS" (PDF). Minority Rights Group International. p. 9. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  2. ^ "Part I: ISIS exploited the marginalized minority groups of Iraq". Rudaw. 27 April 2017. Retrieved 13 May 2017.
  3. ^ C.J. Edmonds (1967). "A Pilgrimage to Lalish". p. 87.
  4. ^ Christine M. Helms. Arabism and Islam: Stateless Nations and Nationless States. p. 12.
  5. ^ Religious Minorities in Iraq: Co-Existence, Faith and Recovery After ISIS, Maria Rita Corticelli, 2022, pp. 130, ISBN: 9780755641352, 0755641353
  6. ^ a b c d e Leezenberg, Michiel (December 1994). "The Shabak and the Kakais: Dynamics of Ethnicity in Iraqi Kurdistan" (PDF). University of Amsterdam: 5–6. Retrieved 30 March 2019. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  7. ^ Ahmed, M. (19 January 2016). Iraqi Kurds and Nation-Building. Springer. ISBN 978-1-137-03408-3. Since Shabak Kurds—a minority religious group—were legally deprivedfrom purchasing land in Mosul and those ...
  8. ^ Leezenberg (December 1994). "The Shabak and the Kakais: Dynamics of Ethnicity in Iraqi Kurdistan" (PDF). Retrieved 23 August 2024.
  9. ^ a b c Amal Vinogradov (1974). "Ethnicity, Cultural Discontinuity and Power Brokers in Northern Iraq: The Case of the Shabak". American Ethnologist. 1 (1): 207–218. doi:10.1525/ae.1974.1.1.02a00110.
  10. ^ Martin van Bruinessen (2000). Mullas, Sufis and Heretics: The Role of Religion in Kurdish Society : Collected Articles. Isis Press. p. 3000.
  11. ^ a b c عبود، زهير كاظم، (2009). الشبك في العراق (in Arabic). AIRP. p. 42. ISBN 9789953362700.
  12. ^ The Shabak, Bektashis, Safawis, and Kizilbash (1 ed.). Syracuse: Syracuse University Press. 1987. ISBN 0-8156-2411-5.
  13. ^ Ahmad Shoukat, Al-Shabak Al-Kurd Al-Mansiyoun, Ministry of Culture Printing Press, Sulaymaniyah, 2004, p. 48.
  14. ^ Beyond ISIS: History and Future of Religious Minorities in Iraq, 2019, pp. 201, ISBN: 9781912997152, 1912997150
  15. ^ Beyond ISIS: History and Future of Religious Minorities in Iraq, 2019, pp. 200, ISBN: 9781912997152, 1912997150
  16. ^ Saad Salloum, Minorities in Iraq, p. 211
  17. ^ Saad Saloom, "Mai'at Wahm 'An al-Aqaliyat fi al-Iraq" (A Hundred Myths About Minorities in Iraq), pages 531-532.
  18. ^ "Shabak minority want only Peshmerga to liberate their homes". Rudaw. Retrieved 2016-10-24.
  19. ^ میدیا, گوڵان. "سالم شەبەک: حەشدی شەعبی سووکایەتی بە کوردانی شەبەک دەکەن". گوڵان مێدیا (in Somali). Retrieved 2025-03-10.
  20. ^ "On Vulnerable Ground". Human Rights Watch. 10 November 2009.
  21. ^ The Shabaks: Perceptions of Reconciliation and Conflict, pp. 8-9, Middle East Research Institute
  22. ^ Beyond ISIS: History and Future of Religious Minorities in Iraq, 2019, pp. 205, ISBN: 9781912997152, 1912997150
  23. ^ Religious Minorities in Iraq: Co-Existence, Faith and Recovery After ISIS, Maria Rita Corticelli, 2022, pp. 130, ISBN: 9780755641352, 0755641353
  24. ^ The Persecution of Christians and Religious Minorities by ISIS, Bridey Heing, 2017, pp. 67, ISBN: 9780766092822, 0766092828
  25. ^ Syncretistic Religious Communities in the Near East: Collected Papers of the International Symposium “Alevism in Turkey and Comparable Syncretistic Religious Communities in the Near East in the Past and Present”, Berlin, 14-17 April 1995, 2018, pp. 161, ISBN: 9789004378988, 9004378987
  26. ^ Imranali Panjwani. Shi'a of Samarra: The Heritage and Politics of a Community in Iraq. p. 172.
  27. ^ "'Trust is gone': Iraqi Christians fear returning due to Shiite militia". The Daily Star - Lebanon. 12 February 2019.
  28. ^ Erica Gaston (5 August 2017). "Iraq after ISIL: Qaraqosh, Hamdaniya District". GPPi. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  29. ^ "US State Dept. says Iraq's takeover of disputed areas caused 'abuse, atrocities'". Rûdaw. 14 March 2019. Retrieved 25 March 2019.

Further reading

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