How Islamists weaponize funerals? Who Owns Religion in Kurdistan?

Dr. Pshtiwan Faraj , Sulaimani, Iraq, 02 May , 2026 ---When Islamists Claim a Monopoly Over Heaven, They Challenge the State on Earth

The deaths of Khazal Mawlan and Farooq Rafiq triggered an argument that went far beyond mourning. It exposed a deeper struggle over sovereignty, legitimacy, and the ownership of religion itself. When Islamist voices questioned whether either man deserved Islamic funeral rites, they were not merely making a theological point. They were asserting political authority—claiming the right to determine who belongs to the community, who deserves dignity in death, and ultimately, who may enter heaven.

That is not religion. That is power.

In modern political systems, the monopoly over legitimate force belongs to the state. Less often acknowledged, but equally important, is the state's monopoly over public religious administration. Mosques, burial procedures, and religious ceremonies in public life are governed not by private sectarian groups, but by state institutions. The alternative is not freedom. It is fragmentation.

The Modern State Regulates Religion—And Must

Across the Middle East, the state already exercises this authority. Saudi Arabia closed Mecca during the COVID-19 pandemic, restricting access to Islam's holiest site. Al-Aqsa Mosque has repeatedly been subject to Israeli security controls during periods of heightened conflict. Iran has integrated mosques into its political and military infrastructure, using some as centers for the Basij and state mobilization. This is not exceptional. It is the defining characteristic of the modern state. Governments determine which religious institutions operate, which interpretations are permitted, and which acts constitute lawful worship rather than criminal violence. The state decides whether armed struggle is legitimate defense or terrorism. It does not defer that authority to militias, clerics, or ideological parties.

That distinction matters enormously. For radical Islamists, figures like Osama bin Laden, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and Ali Khamenei may be framed as martyrs or mujahideen. For states, they are terrorists, insurgents, or hostile actors. The difference is not theological—it is political. And politics, in organized societies, belongs to the state.

Why the State Must Hold the Monopoly

Political theorists from Max Weber onward have recognized that the state's defining feature is its monopoly on legitimate violence. Yet this monopoly extends beyond physical force. It includes legal meaning, public order, and institutional authority. Without it, every faction becomes its own court, army, and clergy. That is precisely what groups such as Islamic State created in Mosul and Raqqa: competing sovereignties, each enforcing its own version of divine law through coercion. The result was not piety, but barbarism.

In Kurdistan, the state's authority over funeral rites, mosques, and public religious practice is therefore not an attack on Islam. It is a defense against sectarian privatization of religion. Democracy determines whether this power is used justly. But even an imperfect state is preferable to the collapse of authority altogether. Chaos has never been a friend of liberty.

Funeral Rites Are a Civic Matter, Not a Sectarian Privilege

Whether Khazal Mawlan or Farooq Rafiq identified as believers is ultimately beside the point. Funeral administration in modern societies is a public matter. Mosques operate under state law. Burial procedures are regulated by civil authorities. No political party, clerical faction, or ideological movement possesses veto power over the dead. To allow otherwise would mean surrendering public institutions to partisan control. Today it is a funeral. Tomorrow it is citizenship itself. The right to burial with dignity cannot depend on the approval of self-appointed gatekeepers of faith.

Religion and Culture Cannot Be Separated So Easily

Islamist arguments also ignore a basic anthropological truth: religion and culture are deeply intertwined. Funeral washing, shrouding, and burial long predate Islam. Arabian societies practiced these rites centuries before the Prophet Muhammad. Islam adopted and modified many existing customs, as all great religions have done. Religions do not emerge in a vacuum. They inherit, adapt, and institutionalize older traditions.

In Kurdistan, funeral ceremonies are therefore not merely religious obligations. They are communal rituals, expressions of solidarity, and affirmations of social belonging. Even when the deceased held secular or atheistic views, their families, friends, and communities often remain attached to these traditions. That choice belongs to them. Not to political zealots.

The Islamist Project: Control Through Exclusion

The controversy surrounding these funerals reveals a familiar Islamist instinct: to transform religion from a source of meaning into an instrument of domination. By deciding who is Muslim enough, who is worthy of prayer, and who deserves burial, they seek to monopolize salvation itself. They would privatize God if they could. But no party owns heaven. No movement controls divine mercy. And no faction should be allowed to dictate the dignity of death. The state exists precisely to prevent such monopolies.

Kurdistan's Democratic Test

For the Kurdistan Region, this issue is larger than one funeral or two controversial figures. It is a test of whether civic institutions will remain stronger than sectarian ambitions. A democratic state protects believers, non-believers, and everyone in between. It guarantees religious freedom while denying any single group the authority to impose its theology on the public sphere. That balance is difficult. It is also indispensable.

Conclusion: Death Belongs to Humanity, Not to Parties

The dead cannot defend themselves. That responsibility falls to the living—and above all, to the state. When Islamists attempt to weaponize funerals, they are not defending religion. They are contesting sovereignty. Kurdistan must reject that challenge unequivocally. Religion can guide private conscience. Culture can shape communal rituals. But only the state can guarantee equal dignity for all. And dignity, unlike dogma, must never be conditional.

#Kurdistan #Iraq #MiddleEast #PoliticalIslam #Geopolitics #Religion #Democracy #KRG #Islamism #HumanRights