Jaff is the largest Kurdish tribe also known as clan, living in the borderlands of Iran and Iraq. Their heartland is between Sulaymaniyah to Sanandaj. The tribe predominantly adheres to the Shafi'i school with many Naqshbandi and Qadiriyya followers. It originated in the year 1114 by Zaher Beg Jaff, other important leaders were Mohamed Pasha Jaff, Lady Adela, Osman Pasha Jaff and Mahmud Pasha Jaff, their ancestral home is Sherwana Castle. The Ottoman Empire bestowed on them the name Pasha, a noble title, in the 1700s. They are the biggest Kurdish tribe in the Middle East with approximately 4 million people and they speak Babani Sorani. They ruled the Ardalan Principality until the 1860s.

Lady Adela Jaff or Adela Khanem, called the Princess of the Brave by the British was a Kurdish ruler of the Jaff tribe and one of the first famous woman leaders in the history of Kurdistan. The Jaff tribe is the biggest tribe in Kurdistan and is native to the Zagros area, which is divided between Iran and Iraq. Adela Khanem was of the famous aristocratic Sahibqeran family, who intermarried with the tribal chiefs of Jaff. Lady Adela exerted great influence in the affairs of Jaff tribe in the Sharazor plain. The Brits appointed her the title “Lady” due to the restoration of trade and law in the region and succeeded in saving the lives of hundreds of British soldiers.