July 2003
World View

Sorani Kurds of Iraq

Personal Story:
“Paul”, like many Kurds, was raised a Muslim. When he prayed to receive Jesus Christ as his personal Savior in Iraq, his life was transformed. Paul has suffered greatly for his faith and also suffered for his drive to share his faith with others. He has had experiences very similar to his New Testament namesake. Currently, he is living and serving the Lord in exile, waiting and hoping one day to return home.

Worldview Info:
The mountains of northeastern Iraq are home to more than 2.5 million Sorani Kurds, whose reputation as a fierce tribal people has intimidated travelers for centuries, dating back to the time of Marco Polo. Bound by Islam and threatened by the Iraqi government, the Sorani Kurds are physically protected from attack by the United Nations no-fly zone. While sharing the good news with them is difficult, the New Testament is now available in Sorani. There are reports of 200-plus believers among the Sorani in Iraq today.

The total Kurdish population of northern Iraq is estimated at three million. They are the dominant ethnic group living there, although they have shared the area with Arabs, with Assyrian Christians who have lived there for centuries, and with Turkmens who have lived in the area around Kirkuk since they were moved there by the Ottoman Turks.

Kurdish society is traditionally tribal. The dictionary definition of a tribe is the social and political unit of a group of people, usually associated with a particular geographical area, which professes genetic relationship through a single (real or mythical) ancestor. Kurdish tribes are united more by geographical area than by relationship to a common ancestor, but in other respects they fit the anthropologists’ definition. Probably because of the inaccessibility of the area, Kurdish society has remained basically tribal or local, despite the fact that the area has been nominally controlled by larger political entities for centuries. It is also true that, since the 17th century at least, a Kurdish educated elite has existed that has been as susceptible to the concept of nationalism as were the Turks and Arabs and Persians in the 19th century. The conversion of the Kurds to Islam, which had the ultimate effect of uniting the Arabs beyond their tribal affiliations, did not perceptibly weaken the tribal nature of Kurdish society: Kurds are widely considered to hold their local political concerns above their religion to be Muslims only insofar as the religion does not counter the interests of the tribe. A traditional Kurd does not think of himself or herself as one millions of Kurds, but rather as a member of a tribe, a locality, or a political party. Even urban Kurds appear to identify themselves with a local group or party, rather than as members of a larger ethnic or national group.

Cultural differences:
Americans who have worked extensively with Kurds, together with Kurds who have lived here for a while, have stressed the crucial importance of maintaining a formal relationship with the Kurds. They believe that American informality, most importantly our use of first names, is interpreted by all but the most sophisticated Kurds as a sign of weakness and evidence that we should not be taken seriously.

Religion:
Kurds have always been among the more liberal Muslims. Kurdish women, for example, have never covered their faces and have never worn the all-covering garments worn by some Arab and Iranian women. They have worked outside the home – traditionally, in the fields. In modern times, women have attended school and university and held jobs outside the home. Many aspects of daily Kurdish life, for example their bathing requirements, are determined by essentially Muslim customs.

The Sorani Kurds are difficult to access in their homeland, and are dispersed throughout Europe as lonely refugees, and have a significant portion of their population illiterate. All these are excellent reasons to pursue radio for reaching the Sorani with the Good News of Jesus Christ. Currently there are very few stations that broadcast in the Sorani language.