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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 | |
Shia Islam (Twelver),[5] Sunni Islam |
Shabaks (Arabic: الشبك; Kurdish: شەبەک, romanized: Şebek) are a group with a disputed ethnic origin. Some Shabaks identify themselves as a distinct ethnic group and others as ethnic Kurds.[6][7][8] They live east of Mosul in Iraq. However their cultural traditions are different from Kurds and Arabs.[9] Historically the Shabak can be identified as an ethnoreligious group.[10] According to Shabak representatives,[who?] the Kurdish authorities intend to eliminate their culture and language, with concerns expressed over any new Kurdish language schools within Shabak villages.[11] Their origin is disputed, and they are considered Kurds by some scholars.[12] 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.[13] The primary Shabak religious text is called the Buyruk or Kitab al-Manaqib (Book of Exemplary Acts), which is written in Turkmen.[14]
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.[5]
Since Shabak Kurds—a minority religious group—were legally deprivedfrom purchasing land in Mosul and those ...
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