of the Barzanis. In 1919, as a boy, he participated in Mahmud Barzanji revolts against the British. As an envoy of his brother, he had contact with Sheikh Said.

In 1931 he followed his older brother, the Barzani chieftain (sheikh) Ahmed Barzani, who led an insurrection against Baghdad's attempts to break up tribal power in the Kurdish regions of Iraq. The insurrection began when Sheikh Ahmed had entered into a feud