Shabaks

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. They live east of Mosul in Iraq. However their cultural traditions are different from Kurds and Arabs. Historically the Shabak can be identified as an ethnoreligious group. According to Shabak representatives, the Kurdish authorities intend to eliminate their culture and language, with concerns expressed over any new Kurdish language schools within Shabak villages. Their origin is disputed, and they are considered Kurds by some scholars. 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. The primary Shabak religious text is called the Buyruk or Kitab al-Manaqib (Book of Exemplary Acts), which is written in Turkmen.

Members of the three Kurdish tribes of Bajalan (or Bajarwans), Zangana and Dawoody live in the same villages as the Shabaks and are commonly mistaken for being Shabak.