The Shabak people are an ethno-religious group who live mainly in the villages of Ali Rash, Khazna, Yangidja, and Tallara in the Sinjar District of the Nineveh Province in northern Iraq. They speak Shabaki a Northwestern Iranian language of the Zaza–Gorani group. In addition to the Shabaks, there are three other ta'ifs, or sects, which make up the Bajalan, Dawoody and Zengana groups. About 70 percent of Shabaks are Shi'a (Shabakism) and the rest of the population are Yarsani or Sunni. It has also been suggested that Shabaks are descendants of the Qizilbash army led by Shah Ismail.