Qazi Rashad Mufti son of Muhammad Mufti son of Mullah Osman son of Mullah Abubakir Afanti known as (Kichuk Malah) was born in 1915 from a religious family in #Erbil# Citadel. He was a Kurdish poet, religious scholar, and a known personality of the region.
He began his education at the age of seven and finished elementary school in Erbil until he started to learn under his father at the Mosque of the Erbil Citadel.
He moved to Egypt in 1934 to study at the Azhar University for two years until he managed to obtain a degree and returned to Erbil in 1936 to continue his education with his father. He always activiely participated in his lessons and learnt a great deal from him.
In 1944 he was made the preacher of the Erbil Citadel.
In 1956 he became the judge of Kirkuk court until he was transferred to Sulaymaniyah in 1957. In that same year, he was transferred again to the Shari’a court in Erbil. After 21 years of serving his country, he was retired in 1978.
He was a member of Erbil’s committee of scholars, and became its president after his retirement.
Rashad Mufti was the first person to preach in Kurdish language in Erbil, before whom it was always done in Arabic.
Up until his passing, he continued to preach on Fridays at the Great Mosque of the Citadel in the Kurdish language.
He was a very talented writer and poet, influenced by his environment in which he grew up and was educated. This was reflected in his poems which featured a religious theme.
Rashad Afandi Mufti became an active member of the Kurdish Union of Writers after its establishment in 1970.
On #12-09-1992#, Saturday, at the age of 77, Rashad Mufti passed away in Erbi. He was buried in Badawa, Erbil.[1]