'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎223r] (450/862)

PEOPLE
3^9
The main characteristics of orthodox Sunni belief, theology, and
jurisprudence established in the first three centuries of Islam have
already been described (p. 251). The only important movement of
recent origin within Sunni Islam is the Wahhabite teaching, which
like certain forms of Protestantism claims to be a revival of the primi
tive faith, and is certainly very puritanical towards slackness in
observance of the Koranic rules and towards later accretions to
Islam. But Wahhabism is not strong in Iraq, where the Sunnis are
generally noted for their tolerance. Fanaticism is seldom found
except in Kurdistan, where strict observance of the external forms of
piety is commonest among the village headmen, who set the tone of
the whole community; many southern Kurdish tribes follow the
Shafii rather than the more liberal Hanifite rite. The Sunni clergy are
trained at the Sunni madrasas, but the theological schools of Baghdad
have not the reputation enjoyed by the great Moslem universities at
Damascus and Cairo. Iraq has one notable Sunni shrine, that of
Shaikh Abdul Qadir Gailani, whose mosque and tomb at Baghdad are
a centre of pilgrimage from regions as remote as India. Some lesser
shrines are biblical, such as the Maqam Yunas (Jonah) at Kufa and
the tomb of Ezekiel at Kifl. The effective representative of the Sunni
community in Iraq is the dignitary known as the Naqib of Baghdad,
who is the hereditary custodian of the shrine of Shaikh Gailani.
Minor Moslem Sects. In some districts of the Assyrian plains and
foothills obscure sects known as Sarlis, Kakais, Shebeks, and Qizil-
bashis are found. The Sarlis and Kakais are the same, Kakai being
generally used south of the Little Zab and Sarli north of it. Their
religion is identical with that of the better known Ali Ilahi sect of
western Persia. It is one of a number of pantheistic secret cults
sprung from Islamic mysticism. Characteristics of these sects in
clude belief in the deification of Ali and the transmigration of souls,
a communion service, and so on. The adepts, particularly those of
Persia, like to refer to themselves as Ahl-i-Haqq, People of the
Divine Truth, but Kakai is the most convenient and distinctive
name to use in Iraq. The Kakai religion is distinguished from the
others by its reputed founder, Sultan Ishaq. Every adept has a Pir,
belonging to one of ten families of Saiyids. Five of these are re
puted to be descended from five sons of Sultan Ishaq and five from
other ‘saints’ or from the guardian of their tomb. It is thus not
exact to regard these ten divisions as ordinary tribal sections. Kakais
and Sarlis speak the Gorani dialect of Kurdish.
The Shebeks or Chabaks of Mosul province are another unortho