Letter exchange between two Kurds in 17th-century Aleppo

What might bring two Kurdish littérateurs together in 17th-century Aleppo? A shared love of riddles and smoking. This letter is a portion of Saladin Gorani and Ibrahim ibn al Mulla's communication:

Husayn Exlati: the occult sciences

Husayn Exlati (14th century) was one of the earliest Kurdish figures to become a point of reference in the so-called occult sciences. Using these discourses in the service of dynastic/elite ambitions in particular is noteworthy due to its link to the role of many premodern Kurds:

Book production, Rasulid rulers

One of the most influential point for book culture in Yemen may have been the Rasulid dynasty. An ongoing tradition of scholar-rulers was successfully established by the Rasulids. Their impact for book-production was moreover in their sponsoring of book production, and inviting authors to their realm. 

Laks, Kurds and Ancient Persians

Lady Mary Sheil (1825–1869) encountered an interesting philosophical chestnut during her travels in Iran.

Before turning to her observations, it is worth asking why some Kurds identified themselves as "ancient Persians" and were described as such by outsiders. One plausible explanation lies in the historical significance of the term Pahlavi. Furthermore, the meaning of "Persian" in many older sources, including Arabic and Persian literature, often differed from the modern understanding of Persian as a distinct ethnic identity. In numerous contexts, "Persian" functioned as a broad label for Iranian-speaking populations.

Lady Mary was puzzled by the fact that the Kurds and Laks she encountered did not regard themselves as belonging to the same group. This confusion stems from an essentialist understanding of identity labels, a common but often misleading way of approaching the subject. Historically, communities did not come to identify as x, y, or z primarily because of language or ancestry. This is not to say that such labels bore no relationship to lineage or language, or that they contained no historical truth. Rather, the decisive factors behind collective self-identification were often social, political, and historical.

Had historical circumstances unfolded differently, the Laks might just as easily have identified as Kurds. The distinction was not inevitable. The historical contingencies that would have produced a different outcome were neither unimaginable nor particularly difficult to envision; they simply did not occur.

Lady Mary Sheil writes:

Who are the Leks, and who are the Koords? This inquiry I cannot solve. I never met any one in Persia, either eel or moolla, who could give the least elucidation of this question. All they could say was, that both these races were Foors e kadeem,—old Persians. They both speak dialects, the greater part of which is Persian, bearing a strong resemblance to the colloquial language of the present day, divested of its large Arabic mixture. These dialects are not perfectly alike, though it is said that Leks and Koords are able to comprehend each other. One would be disposed to consider them as belonging to the same stock, did they not both disavow the connection. A Lek will admit that a Koord, like himself, is an 'old Persian,' but he denies that the families are identical, and a Koord views the question in the same light.

Early Armenian sources on the Hakkari dynasty

According to the Armenian chroniclers, the qara qoyunlu's incursion into the Hakkari dynasty's domain was an inhospitable act. They obviously preferred the early Hakkari rulers. Information on the court culture of the early Hakkari rulers and the interactions between different nations and religions is valuable. Christian Armenians were welcome to use the palace library at the palace of Hakkari ruler Malik-Asad. The significance of marriages between premodern royal dynasties may help to explain the cultural interchange. The mother of Malik Izz ad-Din was an aristocratic Armenian woman: 

Source: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4030969

19th-century Kurds in the Ottoman center

Antoine-Laurent Castellan's 1812 depiction of Kurds in the Ottoman center:

Library for Kurds at al Azhar

With roughly 1,300 manuscripts, the Kurdish dormitory at Al-Azhar possessed one of the most significant manuscript collections in Egypt and Syria until the nineteenth century, enriched by generations of book donations. The manuscripts themselves bear the imprint of centuries of activity and historical memory.:

We don't know how many manuscripts there were at the peak. Book theft was common in Egypt and elsewhere. A 19th-century author who conducted some research into libraries said the following about the library of Mahmud al Kurdi (Mahmudiya madrasa) in Cairo:

On Qaşabat Ridwan Street:...the Masjid of Mahmūd al-Kurdī also known as the Masjid of al-Mu'izz. It has a library of fifty-eight volumes. Jalāl al-Din 'Abd al-Rahman al-Suyūțī says in some of his works that this library is the one that helped him compose so prolifically, saying that it contained so-and-so number of books... Now, only this meager amount of books remain [in the library] due its [endowment] supervisors having stolen them.

Maqrizi, the Mamluk chronicler, on the beginning of the Kurdish dynasty of Yemen

Al Maqrizi (15th-century): 

                  Al-Malik al-Mas'ūd Şalah al-Din Abū l-Muzaffar Yūsuf, known as Atsiz

 [He was also] known as Aqsīs; [he was] the son of the sultan al-Malik al-Kamil Nāşir al-Dīn Abū l-Muzaffar Muhammad, [who was] the son of the sultan al-Malik al-'Adil Sayf al-Din Abū Bakr Muhammad, [who was] the son of the father of kings, Nağm al-Din Abū l-Šukr Ayyüb b. Šādī b. Marwān al-Kurdī l-Ayyūbī.

He was born in Rabī II of the year 597 [January 1201]. In the year 611 [1214-1215], in the days of his grandfather [al-Malik al-Adil], his father appointed him over the territory of Yemen. He went there amidst 1,000 horsemen and 500 [men] from the armour bearers and the bowmen. He came to Mecca and from there he proceeded to Zabīd. He occupied it, and he acquired control over Tihama, Taʻizz, Sanaa and all the territories of Yemen.

He performed the pilgrimage in the year 619 [1223]. He fought the amir of Mecca, the Sharif Hasan b. Qatādah al-Hasanī. He overcame him and plundered Mecca. When it was the Day of [the standing at] 'Arafah, he pre-vented the standards of the caliph from preceding his father's standards. He publicly committed gravely sinful deeds of insolence towards God, among which [the following]: he took the habit of hunting from atop Zamzam, shooting bullets at the pigeons of the sacred mosque, and thus not taking the sacrosanctity of the Ka'bah seriously and causing a lot of bloodshed; it used to be so that when he was asleep in his house at the time of the ritual of running [between al-Şafa and al-Marwah], the armour bearers would hit the two groups at the running course with the tips of their swords to make them not disturb him while he was asleep [and recovering from] his heavy drunkenness from wine.

 Then he returned to Yemen. In the year [6]22 [1225] he left from it, leaving Nür al-Din 'Umar b. 'Alī b. Rasül al-Kurdī as his agent to govern it. He came to Cairo with fine presents and he settled down in the palace. Due to his father he obtained lofty status, the amirs and soldiers fearing him and dreading his influence.

When there came to him from Baghdad the caliphal robe of honour, he moved back to Yemen. He remained there until he was informed that his father had taken Damascus and he wished to take it instead of Yemen. He left with his possessions and goods, but he died [on his way North,] in Mecca, on 13 Ğumādá I of the year 626 [9 April 1229]. He was buried at al-Maʻlah. After him, Yemen was ruled by his representative 'Umar b. 'Alī b. Rasūl.

 

 Al-Malik al-Manşür Nür al-Din 'Umar

[He was] the son of 'Alī b. Rasul al-Kurdī.

 After the death of al-Malik al-Mas'üd he acquired control over Yemen. He sent a precious gift to al-Malik al-Kamil [in Egypt] and he said: "I am the representative of the sultan over the lands." [Al-Malik al-Kamil] confirmed his [authority] over it.

This Umar is the first of those who were in control of Yemen from the Rasūlids.

The oath of allegiance was sworn to him there in the year [6]29 [1232]. In [this year], the sermon in Mecca was also said in his name. His reign continued until he was killed in the year 647 [1249]. His son al-Malik al-Muzaffar Šams al-Din Yūsuf ruled after him.

This Nür al-Din performed the pilgrimage in the year 631 [1234], [travelling there] on especially bred she-camels.

 In the year [6]32 [1235] he sent lamps made from gold and silver to the Ka'bah.

 He also performed the pilgrimage in the year [6]39 [1242]. He abolished the non-shar'i taxes and [removed other] illegal customs from Mecca. He had that written down [on a slab] opposite the [Ka'bah's] black stone; that [writing] remained until Ibn al-Musayyab had it removed when he took control over Mecca in the year 646 [1248] and [when] he reinstated the non-shar'ī taxes and [other] illegal customs. [Nür al-Din] performed the rit-ual of fasting during the month of Ramadan in Mecca.

 It so happened in the year 643 [1246]-it was said [6]44 [1247]-that a strong wind was stirred up and tore apart the kiswah of the Kabah, throwing it off, the Ka'bah remaining uncovered. Umar b. Rasūl wanted to cover it [with a new kiswah]. But the šayh al-haram Afif al-Din Manşūr b. Man'ah al-Bagdādī prevented him from doing that, saying: "That can only come from the dīwān", that is, [from] the caliph. So [Ibn Man'ah] had it covered with a cloth made from cotton dyed in black, on which he mounted the old embroidered inscription bands. 

Book: Kurdish Scholars and the Reinvigoration of the Rational Sciences in the Ottoman realm

 

Source: https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/islamic-intellectual-history-in-the-seventeenth-century/kurdish-scholars-and-the-reinvigoration-of-the-rational-sciences/60FE7C2374CCA79D6B5C51223F2E3C4D