Shabak is a Kurdish ethno-religious group. They speak a variety of a Kurdish dialect called Gurani-Hawrami. Although the vast majority of the Shabak community is ethnic Kurds, the community also contains some Turkmen and Arabs. The majority of the Shabak are Shia Muslims; the minority are Sunni. A recent study of the history of the Shabaks disclosed that their origin is from a Kurdish tribe called Shanbak who settled an area located between Kermanshah and Hawraman in eastern Kurdistan (Iran). In this area in the past, Yarsan beliefs emerged using the Gurani dialect for religious books and writings. Later in 15th century the tribe emigrated to southern Kurdistan and settled in the eastern part of the Mosul plain. The Shabaks have several beliefs and religious ceremonies that are related to the religion of Yarsan, moreover, the Shabaks speak a variety of the Kurdish Gurani dialect. This is clear evidence that they are originally come from that area in Kurdistan. Shabaks in the past century were subjected to persecution by Iraqi authorities. The previous Iraqi government tried to Arabize their Kurdish identity, for this reason Shabaks were deported and their villages destroyed. Today, after the fall of the previous regime in 2003 and the strengthening of the Shiite wing in Iraq, for political reasons, once again the Shabak identity is subject to distortion because some Shia Shabaks are trying to change their Kurdish identity into an independent ethnic group and claim that their Kurdish variety is an independent language. This paper will analyze the topic in the sociolinguistic perspective, explaining that Shabaks are Kurds and Shabaki is a variety of the Kurdish Language
