religion qusay hussein
Qusay Saddam Hussein al - Tikriti ( or Qusai , Arabic :     ; 17 May 1966 -- 22 July 2003 ) was the second son of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein . He was appointed as his father ' s heir apparent in 2000 . The Yazidis ( also Yezidis , " Êzidî ") are an ethnically Kurdish religious community or an ethno - religious group indigenous to northern Mesopotamia ( see also Ezidkhan ) who are strictly endogamous . Their religion , " Yazidism " is linked to ancient Mesopotamian religions and combines aspects of Zoroastrianism , ___MASK35___ , Christianity and Judaism . Yazidis who marry non - Yazidis are automatically considered to be converted to the religion of their spouse and therefore are not permitted to call themselves Yazidis . They live primarily in the Nineveh Province of Iraq . Additional communities in Armenia , Georgia , Turkey , Iran , and Syria have been in decline since the 1990s as a result of significant migration to Europe , especially to Germany . The Yazidis ' cultural practices are observably Kurdish , and almost all speak Kurmanji ( Northern Kurdish ). The Soviet Union considered the Yazidis to be Kurds , as does Sharaf Khan Bidlisi ' s " Sheref - nameh " of 1597 , which cites seven of the Kurdish tribes as being at least partly Yazidi , and Kurdish tribal confederations as containing substantial Yazidi sections . Iraq (, or ; '; '), officially known as the Republic of Iraq ('; ') is a country in Western Asia , bordered by Turkey to the north , Iran to the east , Kuwait to the southeast , Saudi Arabia to the south , Jordan to the southwest , and Syria to the west . The capital , and largest city , is Baghdad . The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds ; others include Assyrians , Turkmen , Shabakis , Yazidis , Armenians , Mandeans , Circassians , and Kawliya . Around 95 % of the country ' s 36 million citizens are Muslims , with ___MASK59___ , Yarsan , Yezidism , and Mandeanism also present . The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish .