Kakai
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For the religio-cultural community in Turkey known as the Nuṣayrī, see Alevi.
For the Turcoman Shī‘ah militant groups who helped found the Safavid dynasty of Iran, see Qizilbash.
For the esoteric Ṣūfī sect, see Hurufism.

The Ahl-e Haqq or Yârsân (Kurdish: Yâresân,[1][2] Persian: اهل حق Ahl-e Haqq "People of Truth"), are members of a religion founded by Sultan Sahak in the late 14th century in western Iran.[3] The total number of members is estimated at around 1,000,000,[4] primarily found in western Iran and Iraq, mostly ethnic Kurds and Laks, though there are also smaller groups of Luri, Azeri, Persian and Arab adherents. [5] Some Yârsânî in Iraq are called Kaka'i.

The Yârsân have a distinct religious literature primarily written in Gurani and partly in New Persian, though few modern Yâresânî can speak or read Gurani as their mother tongues are Turcoman and Sorani. The Sarl living near Eski Kalak are adherents, as Edmonds (1957: 195) surmised and Moosa (1988: 168) observed.

Up to the 20th century, the Yârsânî faith was strictly for Kurds who were born into it, called checkedea "a drop of", as opposed to individuals who married into a Yârsânî family, called chasbedea "attached". Adherents today are mainly found among the Kurdish tribes of the Guran, Qalkhani, Bajalani and Sanjabi, located in western Iran, forming approximately a third of the population in the religiously diverse province of Kermanshah.[6] There are some groups located around Kirkuk in Iraq. The Arabic-speaking adherents are based in the Iraqi cities of Mandali, Baquba, and Khanaqin.[7][8] According to Encyclopedia Britannica, "The chief source of information about the Ahl-e Haqq is the Firqan al-Akhbar, written in... early 20th century by Hajj Nematollah"[9]

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Religious beliefs

The Yâresân do not identify as Muslim, although they revere ‘Alī as an emanation of God. Their teachings contain indigenous, Neoplatonic and Gnostic elements. They specifically identify themselves with Yazid, a disliked figure in Muslim history, to demonstrate their distance from Islam. In the past, as they were not identified as People of the Book, they were outcast, subject to seizure as slaves and were feared as bandits.

The Yâresân faith's unique features include millenarism, nativism, egalitarianism, metempsychosis, angelology, divine manifestation and dualism. Many of these features are found in Yazidism, another Kurdish faith, in the faith of Zoroastrians and in Shī‘ah extremist groups; certainly, the names and religious terminology of the Yâresân is often explicitly of Muslim origin. Unlike other indigenous Persianate faiths, the Yâresân explicitly reject class, caste and rank, which sets them apart from the Yazidi and Zoroastrians.[10]

The Yârsân have a famous saying about death: "Men! Do not fear the punishment of death! The death of man is like the dive which the duck makes". Human beings go through a cycle of 1,001 incarnations. During this process, they may become more purified based on their actions. Yârsân is also the native religion of Lak people.[11][12]

The Yârsânî are emanationists and incarnationists, believing that the Divine Essence has successive "avatars" (or mazhariyyat) in human form. They believe God manifests one primary and seven secondary manifestations in each of the seven epochs of the world. The avatars of the First Epoch closely matched by name the archangels of the Semitic religions; the avatars of the Second Epoch, which begins with ‘Alī as the primary avatar, also includes

In the Fourth Epoch, the primary avatar is held to be Sultan Sahak. It is said that he was given birth by Dayerak Rezbar, or Khatun-e Rezbar, a Kurdish virgin, and as in the case of Mary, it was a virginal conception. While sleeping under a pomegranate tree a kernel of fruit fell into her mouth when a bird pecked the fruit directly over her.[13] She is considered the incarnation of the Virgin Mary and of the mother of Ali.

The Haft Tan "Seven Archangels" are key figures in the Yâresân belief system and their history. They are (1) Benjamin, considered the incarnation of the archangel Gabriel, (2) Dawud "David", the incarnation of archangel Michael, (3) Mustafā', the incarnation of archangel Azrael, (4) Pir Musi, incarnation of the recording angel, (5) Shah Husain, (6) Baba Yadegar and (7) the only female archangel, Khatun-e Rezbar, the mother of Sultan.

The traditions of the Yâresân are preserved in poetry known as Kalam-e Saranjam "The Discourse of Conclusion", divinely revealed narratives passed down orally through the generations. These traditions are said to have been written down by Pir Musi, one of the seven companions of Sultan Sahak (also the angel in charge of recording human deeds).[6] The collection consists of the Epochs of Khawandagar (God), Ali, Shah Khoshin, and Sultan Sahak, the different manifestations of Divinity. The epoch of Shah Khoshin takes place in the Luristan region and the epoch of Sahak is placed in the land of Gorans (Hawraman) near the river Sirwan. The sayings attributed to Sultan Sahak are written in Gorani Kurdish, the sacred language of the Ahl-e Haqq. Some of their literature is written in the Persian language.[8]

The 12 families of the Ahl-e Haqq

The original 7 families or Sadat-e Haqqiqat established during the time of Sultan were Shah Ebrahim, Baba Yadegar, Ali Qalandar, Khamoush, Mir Sour, Seyyed Mosaffa and Hajji Babou Issa. The 5 families established after Sultan Sahak are Atesh Bag, Baba Heydar, Zolnour, Shah Hayas and Hajj Nematollah.

Famous people

The famous Iranian musician and mystic, Nur Ali Elahi, was a high-ranking member of Ahl-e Haqq and published a book titled Burhan al-Haqq which is one of the few reliable sources on the subject. Sheikh Mahmud Barzanji, the self-proclaimed King of Kingdom of Kurdistan after World War I, claimed to be descended from the brother of Sultan Sahak in the twelfth generation

References

  1. ^ Hamzeh'ee, M. Reza Fariborz (1995). in Krisztina Kehl-Bodrogi, et.al., ed.: Syncretistic Religious Communities in the Near East, pp.101-117. ISBN 9004108610. 
  2. ^ P. G. Kreyenbroek (1992). Review of The Yaresan: A Sociological, Historical and Religio-Historical Study of a Kurdish Community, by M. Reza Hamzeh'ee, 1990, ISBN 392296883X. Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol.55, No.3, pp.565-566.
  3. ^ Elahi, Bahram (1987). The path of perfection, the spiritual teachings of Master Nur Ali Elahi. ISBN 0712602003.
  4. ^ Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa (Detroit: Thompson Gale, 2004) p. 82
  5. ^ [1]
  6. ^ a b Z. Mir-Hosseini (1994). "Inner Truth and Outer History: The Two Worlds of the Ahl-e Haqq of Kurdistan", International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol.26, pp.267-269.
  7. ^ Kjeilen, Tore. "Ahl-e Haqq". Encyclopaedia of the Orient. Retrieved on 2006-09-01.
  8. ^ a b Leezenberg, Michiel. "Gorani Influence on Central Kurdish: Substratum or Prestige Borrowing?" (RTF).
  9. ^ Firqan-al-Akhbar at Encyclopædia Britannica.
  10. ^ Hamzeh'ee, M Reza, The Yaresan : a sociological, historical, and religio-historical study of a Kurdish community, Islamkundliche Untersuchungen, 138, Berlin: Schwartz (published 1990), ISBN 3-922968-83-X 
  11. ^ "Religion: Cult of Angels". Encyclopaedia Kurdistanica. Retrieved on 2006-09-01.
  12. ^ "Yazdanism". Encyclopaedia of the Orient. Retrieved on 2006-11-25.
  13. ^ Nebez, Jamal (1997-09-19). "The Kurds: History and Culture" (PDF). Western Kurdistan Association. Retrieved on 2006-09-01.

See also

External links
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