Spread of Islam among Kurds

Spread of Islam among Kurds started in the 7th century with the early Muslim conquests, initally by subjugation and forced conversion. Before Islam, Kurds followed indigenous Kurdish religions, pre-Zoroastrian faiths, and Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism to a lesser extent. Judaism, introduced by exiled Jewish communities, and Christianity, succeeded in converting large parts of northern and southern Kurdistan prior to the rise of Islam. Some elements of pre-Zoroastrian faiths and native Kurdish religions survived in Yezidism, Yarsanism and Kurdish Alevism. Jaban al-Kurdi and his son Meymun al-Kurdi are believed to be among the first Kurds to convert to Islam, and Khalil al-Kurdi as-Semmani was one of the first Kurdish Tabi'uns.