Kurd, Southern

Southern Kurds speak Southern Kurdish, a chain of Northwestern Iranian dialects spoken from Khanaqin and Mandali in Iraq across Kermanshah and Ilam provinces to Dehloran and Asadabad in Iran. Speakers have traditionally called their speech simply Kurdish, naming it by tribe or place: Kalhori, Kermanshahi, Ilami, Feyli, Sanjabi, Garrusi (Bijari), Malekshahi and Kolyai, among some 35 varieties. Society is organised in tribes, the Kalhor being the largest, followed by the Sanjabi, Zangana, Guran, Kolyai and Feyli. Unlike most Kurds, Southern Kurds became Shia under the Safavids, and they share history and customs with the neighbouring Lurs and Laks. The Feyli Kurds of Baghdad and eastern Iraq belong to this people; Saddam Hussein stripped tens of thousands of them of citizenship and expelled them to Iran in 1980.

Southern Kurdish culture is known for its singing, from Kalhori work songs and lyrical bayt to chamari funeral laments with dance, and for the tanbur lute of the Yarsan, played by Guran masters. Men traditionally wear white shirts fastened at the left shoulder, wide trousers tapering at the ankle and woven giweh shoes; women wear long velvet or embroidered dresses with layered scarves such as the fringed golvani. Kermanshahi ghee, rice-flour nan-e berenji biscuits and almond stew are regional foods. Weddings feature line dances and the zurna and dohol; families are patrilineal and tribal ties remain strong in villages.

Most Southern Kurds are Twelver Shia, keeping Muharram mourning, ta'zieh passion plays in historic tekyehs, and pilgrimage to Karbala, Najaf and Mashhad. Kermanshah is the heartland of Yarsan (Ahl-e Haqq), a faith founded by Sultan Sahak in the 14th century that teaches the manifestation of the divine in successive incarnations; its followers gather in jam ceremonies to sing sacred kalam to the tanbur, share food offerings and visit shrines such as Baba Yadegar near Sarpol-e Zahab. Folk Islam includes vows at local imamzadehs and protective charms.

The New Testament exists in Southern Kurdish, together with the Jesus Film and Global Recordings Network audio. Most speakers also read Persian, so Persian Bibles and Christian media are understood. Few believers are known; outreach comes mainly through Persian satellite, radio and online ministries and through Feyli Kurdish contacts in Iraq.

Feyli Kurds are Shia Southern Kurdish speakers living on both sides of the Iran-Iraq border, from Ilam and Mehran in Iran to Khanaqin, Mandali, Badra and Baghdad in Iraq, where they long formed a prosperous merchant class. In 1980, as war with Iran began, Saddam Hussein's government declared many of them Iranian, stripped them of citizenship, confiscated their property and deported tens of thousands across the border, while thousands of young Feyli men disappeared in detention. Many settled in Ilam, Kermanshah and Tehran, some in camps, and lived for decades as stateless refugees. Since 2003 Iraq has restored citizenship to many, and some have returned, but families remain divided across the border.