Causes of the Failure of Islamist Parties in Iraqi Kurdistan

The history of awakening or emergence of Islamist movements in Iraq date back to the Islamic reform movements led by such figures as Seyed Jamal al-Din Assadabadi, Muhammed Abduh and Muhammed Rashid Rida. Islamic thinking among these individuals were oriented towards the awakening of Muslim countries under despotism and colonialism; a way of thinking that spread among Muslims dramatically. Iraqi Kurdistan in northern Iraq has also been affected by such opinions and thinking. With the formation of the first Islamic movements in formal shape called Muslim Brotherhood movement in Egypt led by Hassan al- Banna, Abdullah Beg ben Ahmad Beg and Mohammad Said created an Islamic party entitled the Islamic Kurdish Party in Halabja in 1943. Despite its long historical background, as a result of domination of ethnic and ethnonationalist debates, rise of secular political parties and presence of foreign forces (e.g. the United States), the Islamist currents have failed in the Iraqi Kurdistan. Thus this article addresses a variety of factors leading to the failure of Islamist parties after examining the history of
political Islam in the Iraqi Kurdistan.