Ezaddin Husseini

Sheikh Ezaddin Husseini (also referred to as Mamosta) was a Kurdish islamic cleric.

Sheikh Ezaddin Husseini is a Kurdish religious and political leader and figure. Sheikh Ezadin Husseini, a famous and top clergy in Rojhalat, was the mediator between different forces in Kurdistan. He has been teaching in the schools of religious sciences in Iranian Kurdistan for 30 years and has started his official political activity since his membership in the in 1943. He is also known in Kurdistan as Mamousta (meaning master).

Early life and studies[]

Sheikh Ezaddin Husseini ( Mamosta )came from a religious family. His father was a mullah in the city of Baneh. As a tradition and as a protest against Reza Shah's secularization of Iran's teaching style, Izzadin's father did not send him to regular school.^[1] Izzadin studied Islamic tradition, philosophy and religion with various mullahs (imams) in the 1950s.

Career[]

Mamosta worked as an imam in various cities and villages in Iran's Kurdistan until he was employed in Mahabad's largest mosque as a Friday preacher and mulla. He was theologically influenced and inspired by many well-known Sunni Muslim scribes in the Islamic world, one of whom was Muhammad Abduh. Izzadin's interpretation and philosophy of Islam and Sharia was more liberal than Khomeini.

Meeting with representatives of the regime. Sheikh Ezzadin, Salah Mohtadi and Foruohar

Mamosta believed that religion and politics must be separate and that the state should be a secular state in order to meet and solve the challenges of the modern world. Mamosta did not see Islam as the only option. From 1960 until the , he had taught many important figures in Islamic studies, including Abdulla Hassanzadeh, leader of the PDK-I in the 1990s.^[2]

Komala Party and Mamosta[]

The late Sheikh Ezzedin Hosseini (far left) and Abdullah Mohtadi (far right ) with other Komala party members, circa 1980. Hosseini, a spiritual leader in Mahabad, was a principle Kurdish negotiator and supported by the Komala.

During the anti-Pahlavi demonstrations in 1978, he became a leading figure in the freedom struggle. Due to his background and his popularity among Kurds in Iranian Kurdistan, Izzadin became a unifying figure for Kurdish youths and Kurdish students who eventually formed a new nationalist movement in the 1960s which after the revolution became Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan. After the fall of Pahlavi, Izzadin continued to support Komala. He believed that it had better conditions and greater chances of developing into a national party in Iranian Kurdistan. His collaboration with Komala in formality played a guiding role. As pointed out by Izzadin's popularity among the main factors for the political growth Komala experienced in the first years after the Iranian revolution, something Komala showed and benefited from.^[3] During the riots in Iranian Kurdistan in 1979, some Sunni Muslim leaders called on Izzadin to establish Khabat with them. But Sheikh Izzadin was advised not to get involved such a party. This advice came from the leadership of Komala, who urged him to maintain his independence as the spiritual leader of Kurdistan. Izzadin accepted this invitation from Komala but his brother Hans helped create Khabat. Sheik Jalal led the from August 1980 in the fight against the Islamic Republic of Iran.^[4]

Death[]

He lived in Sweden for the last 20 years of his life. He died on 10 February 2011.^[5]

References[]

• fa:عزالدین حسینی
• ckb:عێزەدین حوسەینی