An intriguing article on the Kurdish theologians of the Ottoman Empire appeared in Tercüman-ı Hakikat, the most influential Ottoman newspaper of its time, in 1880. Its contents reflect a long-standing trope: the portrayal of Kurdish regions or Kurdish scholars as particularly distinguished in the so-called rational sciences:
Most people in the Arab Iraq, Aleppo, and all other regions in Sham, be they Turks or Arabs...cannot become scholars without knowing Kurdish. Among these 'ulemâ are philosophers whose theological debates would overwhelm Voltaire if he were resurrected from his grave and confronted with them. So he would have no choice but to bow to them and acknowledge their superiority.
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