What religion are the Kurds?

Answer 1

Most Kurds confess to the Sunni Islam. Significant minoritygroups among them confess to Shiite Islam though. Most Kurds are secular from Islam and often only big holidays like Ramadan is celebrated. Kurds have their own new year called newroz and this is something that is celebrated all over Kurdistan no matter religion.

However, there are also religious minorities among the Kurds, such as the Yarsan, Yezidi, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Judaism. There are also non-Kurdish peoples that share Kurdistan with the Kurds that are Christian (Assyrians, Chaldeans, etc.) and that are Alevis (Turcomans, Shabakis, etc.)

Answer 2

Kurdistan is a religiously diverse nation. Originally the Kurds belonged to several sects related to Zoroastrianism commonly called "the cults of angels". There were also significant numbers of Zoroastrians and Jews. Following the dawn of Christianity, many Kurds left their old religions to embrace Christianity. In addition to Christian Kurds there were also Assyrian and Armenian Christians in the region. Kurdistan was eventually conquered by the Muslims and slowly, the Kurds, many times out of fear or by force, were converted to Islam. Today, most Kurds are technically secular, spiritual or agnostic. Yazidism, Yarsanism/ Ahl-e-Haq, and Zoroastrianism are still practiced. There are smaller numbers of Jews. At one time, there were many Jews in Kurdistan but most migrated to Israel following the formation of the Jewish state. Christianity has gained many converts, particularly in Iraqi Kurdistan, where missionaries from American evangelical churches have been active. If going by name only, the largest percentage of Kurds today belong to the Shaf'i branch of Sunni Islam. However, Islam is not widely practiced or adhered to in Kurdistan (Turkish Kurdistan tends to be less secular than Iraqi Kurdistan), and there aren't very many mosques in the region. Most Kurds see Islam as the religion of tyrants and oppressors and have a generally negative view of Islam and Muslims and don't support pro-Islamic political agendas or Islamic law. Probably only about 1/4 to 1/3 of Kurds practice Islam, sometimes in face of harassment, intimidation and humiliation by the secularists. However, the Muslim holidays of Eid al Fitr and Eid al Adha are celebrated, often along with Kurdish ethnic holidays such as Nawruz and Christian holidays such as Christmas and New Year's. There is a fairly significant minority of Shia Muslims in Kurdistan as well, who tend to be more religiously engaged than the Sunni community. Despite the secular nature of Kurdistan, however, most Kurds are very socially conservative and extremely traditionalist.

I speak mainly for Iraqi Kurdistan. Kurdistan is divided between Iraq, Iran, Syria and Turkey, and culture and religious practice differ from one region the next.