Dr. Ibrahim S. Malazada
Soran University, Soran, Iraq
Email: [email protected]
Bahman T. Nariman
Kurdistan Institute for Strategic Studies
DOI: 10.23918/ICABEP2019p51
(Full Paper)
Abstract
In eastern Kurdistan, extremism sought to replace the Kurdish national identity or Kurdish nationalism, which was struggling for Kurdish legal, political and cultural rights, into a Sunni sectarian identity in front of the Persian/sectarian state identity. The emergence of Kurdish radical extremist ideology in response to the Islamic Republic’s unhindered threat in Iran has been greatly delayed. There were only two Kurdish Islamist organisations that played a key role in preventing the development of this radical thought, the Quran Office and the Islamic Brotherhood movement. How did these two movements first attempt to stem the tide of Islamic extremism in eastern Kurdistan, and what caused them to fail in their efforts? Ultimately, the extremists were able to break into the ranks of Kurdish society, attacking Kurdish nationalism and Islamic ideology and at the same time confronting the sectarian state ideology with a more extremist sectarian ideology. Regarding the methodology of this paper, two trends have been studied. First, there are the discourses of Ahmad Muftizadah, the leader of the Quran Office, and of Nasir Subhani, the leader of the Islamic Brotherhood movement in eastern Kurdistan. Second, there is the study of radical discourse and its attitudes. This constitutes an attempt to assess the emergence of extremist ideology among the Kurdish people and to explore its structure.
Keywords: Iran, eastern Kurdistan, Islamic Republic, Islamic Ideology, Kurdish nationalism, Kurdish radicalism and Sectarianism.
ICABEP2019
International Conference on Accounting, Business, Economics and Politics
ISBN: 978-9922-9036-3-7
