KRG official: Kurdish Islam, not extremism

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (K24) – Mariwan Naqshbandi, the Spokesperson of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Ministry of Endowment and Religious Affairs, stated on Tuesday, “Our plan is to choose a Kurdish Islam.”

According to Naqshbandi, more than three thousand mosques in the Kurdistan Region hold Friday prayers, five percent of which are suspected of spreading extremist religious thoughts among the prayers who attend there.

Naqshbandi added, in total nearly half-a-million people attend Friday prayers in the Kurdistan Region. He signified the role of the Kurdish members of the clergy in giving moderate religious preaches and raising awareness against extremism in the Kurdistan Region.

Naqshbandi highlighted the KRG Ministry of Endowment and Religious Affairs banning of three clergymen from preaching in the mosques, specifically during Friday prayers, because of spreading extremist notions.

He announced the Ministry’s policy towards the content that religious schools teach was strict. He continued, “All the staff in a mosque are responsible for any problem of this sort [extremism].” Naqshbandi stressed that the Kurdish community does not allow religious extremism.

“Some try to impose the Islam in Saudi Arabia on us. Some seek to impose the Islam in Iran on us. Some others plan to impose the Islam practiced by The Muslim Brotherhood, Turkey, or Iraq on us…we refuse all the types of Islam from these places…[our Islam must be] a Kurdish Islam based on the interpretations of Kurdish Islamic scholars,” He clarified.

Naqshbandi explained that the role of the Islamic political parties in Kurdistan is extremely important in helping the government in its fight against religious extremism.