Jaff ( ku, جاف; also ''Jahf'', ''Jaaf'', ''Jaf'', ''Caf'') is the largest

Kurdish Kurdish may refer to: *Kurds or Kurdish people *Kurdish languages *Kurdish alphabets *Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes: **Southern Kurdistan **Eastern Kurdistan **Northern Kurdistan **Western Kurdistan See also * Kurd (dis ...

tribe also known as clan, living in the borderlands of Iran and Iraq. Their heartland is between

Sulaymaniyah Sulaymaniyah, also spelled as Slemani ( ku, سلێمانی, Silêmanî, ar, السليمانية, as-Sulaymāniyyah), is a city in the east of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, not far from the Iran–Iraq border. It is surrounded by the Azmar, Go ...

Sanandaj Sanandaj (Persian: سنندج, ; ku, سنە, Sine, often romanized as Senneh, is the capital of Kurdistan Province in Iran. With a population of 414,069, Sanandaj is the twenty third largest city in Iran and the second largest Kurdish city. San ...

. The tribe predominantly adheres to the

Shafi'i school The Shafii ( ar, شَافِعِي, translit=Shāfiʿī, also spelled Shafei) school, also known as Madhhab al-Shāfiʿī, is one of the four major traditional schools of religious law (madhhab) in the Sunnī branch of Islam. It was founded by A ...

with many

Naqshbandi The Naqshbandi ( fa, نقشبندی)), Neqshebendi ( ku, نه‌قشه‌به‌ندی), and Nakşibendi (in Turkish) is a major Sunni order of Sufism. Its name is derived from Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari. Naqshbandi masters trace their ...

and

Qadiriyya The Qadiriyya (), also transliterated Qādirīyah, ''Qadri'', ''Qadriya'', ''Kadri'', ''Elkadri'', ''Elkadry'', ''Aladray'', ''Alkadrie'', ''Adray'', ''Kadray'', ''Kadiri'', ''Qadiri'', ''Quadri'' or ''Qadri'' are members of the Sunni Qadiri ta ...

followers. It originated in the year 1114 by Zaher Beg Jaff, other important leaders were

Mohamed Pasha Jaff Mohamed Pasha Jaff, was born in 1714 and was considered the supreme leader of the Jaff tribe. The Sherwana Castle was built by him. The Jaff dialect (called Jaffi) is part of Sorani, a south-southeastern branch of Kurdish language family. The regi ...

Lady Adela Lady Adela Jaff or Adela Khanem, called the ''Princess of the Brave'' by the British was a Kurdish ruler of the Jaff tribe and one of the first famous woman leaders in the history of Kurdistan. The Jaff tribe is the biggest tribe in Kurdistan an ...

Osman Pasha Jaff Osman Pasha Jaff, supreme ruler to the Jaff tribe, and an Ottoman ruler in the Mosul vilayet, that contributed to women's suffrage in the Middle East. In 1888 and 1889, Sultan Abdul Hamid II had Osman replace his more violent brother, Mahmood P ...

and Mahmud Pasha Jaff, their ancestral home is

Sherwana Castle Sherwana Castle () also known as Shirwanah Castle, is located in Kalar, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. Sherwana Castle is the ancestral home of the Jaff family. History It was built by Mohamed Pasha Jaff, Kurdish pasha serving the Ottoman Empire, du ...

. The

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

bestowed on them the name

Pasha Pasha, Pacha or Paşa ( ota, پاشا; tr, paşa; sq, Pashë; ar, باشا), in older works sometimes anglicized as bashaw, was a higher rank in the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman political and military system, typically granted to governors, gener ...

, a noble title, in the 1700s. They are the biggest Kurdish tribe in the Middle East with approximately 4 million people and they speak Babani

Sorani Central Kurdish (), also called Sorani (), is a Kurdish dialect or a language that is spoken in Iraq, mainly in Iraqi Kurdistan, as well as the provinces of Kurdistan, Kermanshah, and West Azerbaijan in western Iran. Sorani is one of the two o ...

. They ruled the Ardalan Principality until the 1860s.

Geographic distribution

The Jaff tribe lives in the following cities and towns: Helebce,

Kelar Kalar (; ckb, کەلار, Kelar) is a city in the Kurdistan Region in Iraq, located on the west bank of the Sirwan (Diyala) river in Sulaymaniyah Governorate. It is located east of Kifri and west of the towns of Qasri Shirin and Sarpol Zahab, l ...

, Silêmanî,

Ravansar Ravansar ( fa, روانسر; also Romanized as Ravānsar and Rawānsīr) is a city and capital of Ravansar County, Kermanshah Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 16,383, in 3,838 families. Archaeology and history Ravansar ha ...

Sine In mathematics, sine and cosine are trigonometric functions of an angle. The sine and cosine of an acute angle are defined in the context of a right triangle: for the specified angle, its sine is the ratio of the length of the side that is oppo ...

, Ciwanrro, Selas-bawecanî, Kirmaşan, Xaneqîn.

History

The West began ties with the Jaff tribe during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, when

Ely Bannister Soane Ely Bannister Soane (1881–1923) was a British major, linguist, intelligence agent and writer who is best known for his travels around Kurdistan and Mesopotamia and works on Kurds. Life Soane was born in 1881 in Kensington and went to Bishop L ...

established contact. After the war, the tribe opposed Sheikh

Mahmud Barzanji Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji ( ku, شێخ مه‌حموود بەرزنجی) or Mahmud Hafid Zadeh (1878 – October 9, 1956) was a Kurdish leader of a series of Kurdish uprisings against the British Mandate of Iraq. He was sheikh of a Qadiriyah Sufi f ...

, as well as Great Britain's failure to grant Kurdish autonomy in Iraq.Tripp, Charles. ''A History of Iraq''. Cambridge Press, 2007. Page 33-34 At the beginning of the 20th century, the tribe controlled one ninth of Iraq and controlled the communication system of the country. In 1933, about 100,000 rifles were in the hands of the tribe, contrary to the only 15,000 by the newly-established Iraq. During this period, the tribe sedentarized.

Notable members

;Leaders and politicians *

, a Kurdish king and supreme chief of the Jaff tribe, he built

in 1734. *

, (born 1846) a Kurdish king, leader of the Jaff tribe, and married to Adela Khanum of the old Ardalan tribe. * Adela Jaff (1847–1924), called Princess of the Brave by the British; married Kurdish King Osman Pasha Jaff, was famous for her role in the region, namely in the era of Shiekh Mahmood Al-Jaff Hafeed. *

Ahmed Mukhtar Jaff Ahmed Mukhtar Jaff (1898–1934) was the son of Osman Pasha Jaff, Ottoman Kurdish ruler of Mosul Vilayet, and Adela Kahnem AKA Adela Jaff (Lady Adela) . He was one of the most prominent leaders of the Jaf family, as well as a poet and a novelist. ...

(1898–1934), was a member of Iraqi parliament and mayor of Halabja. *Nawzad Dawood Beg Jaff (also known as Nozad Dawood Fattah Al Jaff), Chairman of North Bank Iraq and leader of the Jaff tribe. *

Akram Hamid Begzadeh Jaff Akram Hamid Begzadeh Jaff الدكتور اكرم حامد بك جاف ‎(14 July 1929 – 21 November 2010) was a Kurdish leader who served in various posts in the Iraqi government and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). Also known ...

, a Kurdish leader, politician, and former Minister Of Agriculture in Iraq. *

Hanna Jaff Hanna Jazmin Jaff Bosdet (born November 4, 1986) is an American-born Mexican television personality who runs the non-profit Jaff Foundation for Education. She has appeared in various media outlets and was part of the television series ''Made in ...

(born 1986), American born Mexican-Kurd who is a politician, philanthropist, author, and spokeswoman. ;Artists, poets, singer * Khanai Qobadi Jaff (ca.1700–1759), an 18th-century Jaff poet. * Nali Jaff (1797 or 1800–1855 or 1856), poet who contributed to making Sorani literary language of southern Kurdistan.

Keith Hitchins Keith Arnold Hitchins (April 2, 1931 – November 1, 2020) was an American historian and a professor of Eastern European history at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, specializing in Romania and its history. He was born in Schenect ...

, "NALÎ" in Encyclaopedia Iranica * Abdulla Goran Jaff (1904–1962). * Tara Jaff (born 1958), singer and musician specializing in harp.World on Your Street
BBC Radio 3. ;Scholars and academics *

Fereidoun Biglari Fereidoun Biglari ( fa, فریدون بیگلری) () is an Iranian archaeologist and a museum curator. Career Fereidoun Biglari is co-founder and head of the Paleolithic department in National Museum of Iran which established in 2001. He is ...

(born 1970), archaeologist and museum curator.

References

{{Kurdish tribes Kurdish tribes