Salvation Force

Salvation Force
Salvation Force
سپای ڕزگاری
	Sheikh Muhammad Uthman Siraj al-Din Naqshbandi on horseback
Also known as	Army of Umar ibn al-Khattab
Founding leader	Muhammad Uthman Siraj al-Din Naqshbandi
Leaders	Madih Naqshbandi; Muhammad Ziya Naqshbandi;
Foundation	1980
Dissolved	1988
Country	Iran
Active regions	Avroman
Ideology	Kurdish-Islamic nationalism; Naqshbandi Islamism; Anti-Iranian sentiment
Size	1,000–2,000
Allies	Ba'athist Iraq; Komala (formerly); KDPI (formerly)
Opponents	Iran; Komala; KDPI; PUK
Battles and wars	1979–1983 Kurdistan conflict; Iran-Iraq war

The Salvation Force (Kurdish: سپای ڕزگاری; Sipay Rizgarî)^[a] was a Naqshbandi Sufi Islamist militant group composed of Kurds, active in the Avroman region of Iranian Kurdistan during the 1979–1983 Kurdistan conflict and Iran-Iraq war. Like other Kurdish separatist groups in Iran, they aligned with and were armed by the Iraqi side.^[1]^[6] For the period of its existence, it was led by its founder Sheikh Muhammad Uthman Siraj al-Din Naqshbandi, of the prominent Sheikhs of Tawilah family.^[3]^[7]

^ ^a ^b Mofidi, Sabah (2022-01-21). Political Function of Religion in Nationalistic Confrontations in Greater Kurdistan. Transnational Press London. pp. 76–77. ISBN 978-1-80135-109-6 – via Google Books. Although the KDPI historically had a connection with the Sunni clergies, with the 1979 revolution some religious and religio-national groups emerged in Kurdistan like (...) the Rizgari party related to the Naqshbandi order. (...) The party, known as Sipay Rizgari (the Salvation Force), was a religious/Sufi party under (...) Sheikh Osman Sirajadin Naghshbandi. Due to some conflicts, especially the ideological dispute, Komele in Meriwan and Sine, and KDPI (around the time of its fourth congress) in Pawe and Hewramanat, disarmed Sipay Rizgari in 1980. (...) There were conflicts between secular and religious Kurds especially between the radical leftists/Komele and Islamists such as (...) Rizgari.
^ van Bruinessen, Martin (15 August 1986). The Naqshbandi Order as a Vehicle of Political Protest among the Kurds (With Some Comparative Notes on Indonesia). New Approaches in Islamic Studies. Jakarta: Indonesian Institute of Sciences. pp. 1–3 – via Academia.edu. Shaykh Osman (...) had been born, and had long lived, in the Iraqi part of Kurdistan, and he had had to flee from that country because of another revolution. (...) [It was] a real dervish army, recruited from among the most devoted followers of Shaykh Osman and commanded by the shaykh's son, Dr. Madih. The old shaykh himself had withdrawn across the border into Iraq, where all enemies of the Iranian revolution were then welcome. (...) The shah welcomed the shaykh and showed him favours, and the shaykh was interested in establishing close relations with the court, to their mutual benefit. The political protection he enjoyed enabled the shaykh to consolidate his influence. (...) the Naqshbandi order, and especially the Kurdish branch of it to which Shaykh Osman belonged, has always been strongly anti-Shi`i. Many pious Kurds regarded the new regime not as an Islamic but as a Shi'i government. (...) Most of the arms of the Sipahî Rizgarî were allegedly provided by Iraq. In the first months of its existence, the Sipahî Rizgarî did in fact engage in a few clashes with revolutionary guards (Pasdaran) in and around Hawraman. Soon, however, the shaykh's men found themselves fighting another Kurdish organization, the left-wing Komala, which had one of its strongest bases in a region overlapping the shaykh's zone of influence. The shaykh was, among many other things, a rich landowner, whereas the Komala had been organizing land invasions and rebellions by landless peasants against landlords and tribal chieftains. The Komala saw the shaykh as a class enemy, (...) Sipahî Rizgarî on the other hand, regarded the Komala as godless communists, and saw the pasdaran, who were after all fellow Muslims, as the lesser evil. One of its commanders, Shaykh Osman's khalifa Muhammad Ziya Naqshbandi, fearing to be crushed between the Komala and the Pasdaran, in fact turned to the latter and offered them his cooperation. (...) In the first year of its existence, the Sipahî Rizgarî counted, according to Shaykh Osman's own claims, a thousand armed men (...) In the following years its numbers rapidly dwindled. (...) In the Iraqi part of Hawraman, which the shaykh's men used as a basis from which to launch patrols into Iran, they ran into trouble with an organization of Iraqi Kurds, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The PUK was in armed rebellion against the Baghdad government, and it resented the shaykh's collaboration with that same regime. (...) The PUK harassed the shaykh's men and largely cut off their supply lines. (...) In the autumn of 1982, the shaykh left Iraq, whose government had become less friendly to him as his usefulness seemed spent. He set out on a tour of western Europe and Turkey, where he still had numerous disciples (...) His son Madih remained in Kurdistan.
^ ^a ^b Boroujerdi, Mehrzad; Rahimkhani, Kourosh (2018-06-05). Postrevolutionary Iran: A Political Handbook. Syracuse University Press. p. 345. ISBN 978-0-8156-5432-2 – via Google Books. Sepah-e Razgari [was founded by] Sheykh Osman Naqshbandi. (...) This group was established in Kurdistan Province and followed the teachings of its leader.
^ Cabi, Marouf (February 2020). "The roots and the consequences of the 1979 Iranian revolution: A Kurdish perspective". Middle Eastern Studies. 56 (3): 339–358. doi:10.1080/00263206.2020.1722651 – via ResearchGate. a fledgling Islamic extremist force, called Spai Rizgari or the Salvation Force, (...) had spread in the southern rural region enforcing Sharia law.
^ Bruinessen, Martin van (1992). Agha, Shaikh and State: The Social and Political Structures of Kurdistan. London: Zed Books Ltd. p. 336. ISBN 1-85649-018-1 – via Academia.edu. It was in this village of Duru where I twice visited Shaikh Osman (...). In 1980 his son Madih led a minor army, consisting of the shaikh's followers and armed by Iraq, the Supay Rizgari, against Islamic Iran's government forces and rival Kurdish groups.
^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ "لە شێخ عیزەدین حوسەینی و موفتیزادەوە تا داعش، ئیسلامی سیاسی لە ڕۆژهەڵاتی کوردستان" [From Sheikh Ezaddin Husseini and Moftizadeh to ISIS, Political Islam in East Kurdistan]. Kurdistan Conflict and Crisis Research Center (in Central Kurdish). 2019-04-09. دوای ڕووخانی حکومەتی شا لە ئێران، بزاڤی تری مەزهەبی لە ڕۆژهەڵاتی کوردستان دەرکەوتن، لەوانە (سوپای ڕزگاری) بە ڕابەرایەتی (شێخ عوسمان نەقشبەندی) ڕابەری تەریقەتی نەقشبەندی لە ناوچەی هەورامانی مەریوان و پاوە درووست بوو. وەک باس دەکرێت 2000 چەکداری هەبووە.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

[:0-1] Mofidi, Sabah (2022-01-21). Political Function of Religion in Nationalistic Confrontations in Greater Kurdistan. Transnational Press London. pp. 76–77. ISBN 978-1-80135-109-6 – via Google Books. Although the KDPI historically had a connection with the Sunni clergies, with the 1979 revolution some religious and religio-national groups emerged in Kurdistan like (...) the Rizgari party related to the Naqshbandi order. (...) The party, known as Sipay Rizgari (the Salvation Force), was a religious/Sufi party under (...) Sheikh Osman Sirajadin Naghshbandi. Due to some conflicts, especially the ideological dispute, Komele in Meriwan and Sine, and KDPI (around the time of its fourth congress) in Pawe and Hewramanat, disarmed Sipay Rizgari in 1980. (...) There were conflicts between secular and religious Kurds especially between the radical leftists/Komele and Islamists such as (...) Rizgari.

[:6-2] van Bruinessen, Martin (15 August 1986). The Naqshbandi Order as a Vehicle of Political Protest among the Kurds (With Some Comparative Notes on Indonesia). New Approaches in Islamic Studies. Jakarta: Indonesian Institute of Sciences. pp. 1–3 – via Academia.edu. Shaykh Osman (...) had been born, and had long lived, in the Iraqi part of Kurdistan, and he had had to flee from that country because of another revolution. (...) [It was] a real dervish army, recruited from among the most devoted followers of Shaykh Osman and commanded by the shaykh's son, Dr. Madih. The old shaykh himself had withdrawn across the border into Iraq, where all enemies of the Iranian revolution were then welcome. (...) The shah welcomed the shaykh and showed him favours, and the shaykh was interested in establishing close relations with the court, to their mutual benefit. The political protection he enjoyed enabled the shaykh to consolidate his influence. (...) the Naqshbandi order, and especially the Kurdish branch of it to which Shaykh Osman belonged, has always been strongly anti-Shi`i. Many pious Kurds regarded the new regime not as an Islamic but as a Shi'i government. (...) Most of the arms of the Sipahî Rizgarî were allegedly provided by Iraq. In the first months of its existence, the Sipahî Rizgarî did in fact engage in a few clashes with revolutionary guards (Pasdaran) in and around Hawraman. Soon, however, the shaykh's men found themselves fighting another Kurdish organization, the left-wing Komala, which had one of its strongest bases in a region overlapping the shaykh's zone of influence. The shaykh was, among many other things, a rich landowner, whereas the Komala had been organizing land invasions and rebellions by landless peasants against landlords and tribal chieftains. The Komala saw the shaykh as a class enemy, (...) Sipahî Rizgarî on the other hand, regarded the Komala as godless communists, and saw the pasdaran, who were after all fellow Muslims, as the lesser evil. One of its commanders, Shaykh Osman's khalifa Muhammad Ziya Naqshbandi, fearing to be crushed between the Komala and the Pasdaran, in fact turned to the latter and offered them his cooperation. (...) In the first year of its existence, the Sipahî Rizgarî counted, according to Shaykh Osman's own claims, a thousand armed men (...) In the following years its numbers rapidly dwindled. (...) In the Iraqi part of Hawraman, which the shaykh's men used as a basis from which to launch patrols into Iran, they ran into trouble with an organization of Iraqi Kurds, the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). The PUK was in armed rebellion against the Baghdad government, and it resented the shaykh's collaboration with that same regime. (...) The PUK harassed the shaykh's men and largely cut off their supply lines. (...) In the autumn of 1982, the shaykh left Iraq, whose government had become less friendly to him as his usefulness seemed spent. He set out on a tour of western Europe and Turkey, where he still had numerous disciples (...) His son Madih remained in Kurdistan.

[:4-3] Boroujerdi, Mehrzad; Rahimkhani, Kourosh (2018-06-05). Postrevolutionary Iran: A Political Handbook. Syracuse University Press. p. 345. ISBN 978-0-8156-5432-2 – via Google Books. Sepah-e Razgari [was founded by] Sheykh Osman Naqshbandi. (...) This group was established in Kurdistan Province and followed the teachings of its leader.

[:2-4] Cabi, Marouf (February 2020). "The roots and the consequences of the 1979 Iranian revolution: A Kurdish perspective". Middle Eastern Studies. 56 (3): 339–358. doi:10.1080/00263206.2020.1722651 – via ResearchGate. a fledgling Islamic extremist force, called Spai Rizgari or the Salvation Force, (...) had spread in the southern rural region enforcing Sharia law.

[:8-5] Bruinessen, Martin van (1992). Agha, Shaikh and State: The Social and Political Structures of Kurdistan. London: Zed Books Ltd. p. 336. ISBN 1-85649-018-1 – via Academia.edu. It was in this village of Duru where I twice visited Shaikh Osman (...). In 1980 his son Madih led a minor army, consisting of the shaikh's followers and armed by Iraq, the Supay Rizgari, against Islamic Iran's government forces and rival Kurdish groups.

[:3-7] Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[:1-8] "لە شێخ عیزەدین حوسەینی و موفتیزادەوە تا داعش، ئیسلامی سیاسی لە ڕۆژهەڵاتی کوردستان" [From Sheikh Ezaddin Husseini and Moftizadeh to ISIS, Political Islam in East Kurdistan]. Kurdistan Conflict and Crisis Research Center (in Central Kurdish). 2019-04-09. دوای ڕووخانی حکومەتی شا لە ئێران، بزاڤی تری مەزهەبی لە ڕۆژهەڵاتی کوردستان دەرکەوتن، لەوانە (سوپای ڕزگاری) بە ڕابەرایەتی (شێخ عوسمان نەقشبەندی) ڕابەری تەریقەتی نەقشبەندی لە ناوچەی هەورامانی مەریوان و پاوە درووست بوو. وەک باس دەکرێت 2000 چەکداری هەبووە.

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