The Ahl-e Haqq or Yârsân (Kurdish Kurdish is the language spoken by Kurds in western Asia. Unlike many other languages it does not have a single standardized linguistic entity with the status of an official or state language. On the contrary, it is a continuum of closely related dialects that are spoken in a large geographic area spanning several national states, in some of these: ﯼاڔﮦساﻥ Yâresân,[1][2] Persian Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is widely spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Bahrain and has official-language status in the first three countries under different names. Persian is a pluricentric language. The Persian language has been a medium for literary and: 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 The Kurds are an Ethnic-Iranian ethnolinguistic group mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. Substantial Kurdish communities also exist in the cities of western Turkey, and they can also be found in Lebanon, Armenia, Azerbaijan and, in recent decades, some European countries and Laks The Laks are an Iranian ethnic group in southwestern Iran. They speak Laki , a Western Iranian language, though there are also smaller groups of Luri, Azeri Turkic peoples, Caucasian peoples, Iranian peoples, Persian The Persian people are defined by the use of the Persian language as their mother tongue. However, the term Persian has also a supra-ethnic significance and has been historically referred to a part of Iranian peoples. The origin of the Persian people, at least in terms of language, is traced to the ancient Indo-Iranians (Aryans), who arrived in and Arab An Arab is a person who identifies as such on ethnic, linguistic or cultural grounds. The plural form, Arabs (العرب al-ʿarab), refers to the ethnocultural group at large adherents. [5] Some Yârsânî in Iraq are called Kaka'i.

The Yârsân have a distinct religious literature primarily written in Gorani Gorani is classified as a Northwestern Iranian language spoken in southernmost parts of Iranian Kurdistan and Iraqi Kurdistan region. It is a member of Zaza-Gorani branch of North-Western Iranian languages. It is distinct from Kurmanji and Sorani. and is closer to Talishi, Zazaki, and Gilaki. Gorani is spoken in the southwestern corner of province and partly in Persian Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is widely spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Bahrain and has official-language status in the first three countries under different names. Persian is a pluricentric language. The Persian language has been a medium for literary and, though few modern Yâresânî can speak or read Gorani as their mother tongues are Turkmen The Turkmen are a Turkic people located primarily in the Central Asian states of Turkmenistan and in northeastern Iran. They speak the Turkmen language which is classified as part of the Western Oghuz branch of Turkic languages family together with Turkish, Azerbaijani, Qashqai, Gagauz, Salar and Turkoman spoken in Iraq and Soranî Soranî is the name of a Kurdic language that is spoken in Iran and Iraq and such is a member of the Iranian languages. Soranî belongs to one of the main Kurdic languages. 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 Kirkuk , Kurdish:که‌رکووک, Arabic: كركوك‎, Turkish: Kerkük, Syriac: ܐܪܦܗܐ, is a city in Iraq and capital of Kirkuk Governorate in Iraq Iraq (obsolete spelling: Irak; pronounced /ɪˈræk/ or /ɪˈrɑːk/; also US: /aɪˈræk/ ; Arabic: العراق Al-‘Irāq), officially the Republic of Iraq (Arabic: جمهورية العراق (help·info) Jumhūrīyat Al-‘Irāq, Kurdish: كۆماری عێراق‎, Komara Iraqê), is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the. The Arabic-speaking adherents are based in the Iraqi cities of Mandali, Baquba Baqubah is the capital of Iraq's Diyala Governorate, 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 Hajj Nematollah (Persian: حاجی نعمت‌الله) was born in Jeyhounabad, Persia and is considered one of the greatest leaders and mystics in Kurdish and Ahl-e Haqq history. Two of his most famous works of poetry and history are Forqan ol-Akhbar (aka Firqan Al-Akhbar, The Firkan, Furqan al-Akhbar) and Shah-Nama-Ye Haqiqat (Haqq ol-Haqayeq)"[9]

Contents

Religious beliefs

From the Ahl-e Haqq point of view, the universe is comprised of two distinct yet interrelated worlds: the internal (batini) and the external (zahiri), each having its own order and rules. Although humans are only aware of the outer world, their lives are governed according to the rules of the inner world. Among other important pillars of their belief system are that the Divine Essence has successive manifestations in human form (mazhariyyat, derived from zahir) and the belief in transmigration of the soul Transmigration of the soul is similar and foreign in some ways to the philosophy of reincarnation. The idea of transmigration of the soul comes from the ancient Greeks. In transmigration after death, the soul, or shade, drinks from the river Lethe and loses all past memories of their previous life while in Hades, or underworld, and then moves (or (or dunaduni in Kurdish Kurdish is the language spoken by Kurds in western Asia. Unlike many other languages it does not have a single standardized linguistic entity with the status of an official or state language. On the contrary, it is a continuum of closely related dialects that are spoken in a large geographic area spanning several national states, in some of these). The Ahl-e Haqq do not observe Muslim rites and rituals.[10]

The Yâresân faith's unique features include millenarism, nativism, egalitarianism Egalitarianism or Equalism is a political doctrine that holds that all people should be treated as equals and have the same political, economic, social, and civil rights. Generally it applies to being held equal under the law and society at large. In actual practice, one may be considered an egalitarian in most areas listed below, even if not, metempsychosis Metempsychosis is a philosophical term in the Greek language referring to transmigration of the soul, especially its reincarnation after death. It is a doctrine popular among a number of Eastern religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Druzism wherein an individual incarnates from one body to another, either human, animal, or plant, angelology Angels are usually viewed as messengers of a supreme divine being, sent to do the tasks of that being. Traditions vary as to whether angels have free will. While the appearance of angels also varies, many views of angels give them a human shape. Despite a common popular belief— or at least metaphor— that angels are former human beings, most, divine manifestation and dualism Dualism denotes a state of two parts. The word's origin is the Latin duo, "two" . The term 'dualism' was originally coined to denote co-eternal binary opposition, a meaning that is preserved in metaphysical and philosophical duality discourse but has been diluted in general usage. Many of these features are found in Yazidism, another Kurdish faith, in the faith of Zoroastrians Zoroastrianism is the religion and philosophy based on the teachings ascribed to the prophet Zoroaster, after whom the religion is named. The term Zoroastrianism is, in general usage, essentially synonymous with Mazdaism, i.e. the worship of Ahura Mazda, exalted by Zoroaster as the supreme divine authority and in Shī‘ah extremist Ghulat Exaggerators is the adjectival form of Ghuluww (Arabic: غلو‎) Exaggeration, a technical term mainstream Muslims use to describe the beliefs of minority Muslim groups who ascribe divine characteristics to a member of Muhammad's family, generally Ali) or the early companions of the Prophet such as Salman al-Farisi. The assumption is that groups; certainly, the names and religious terminology of the Yâresân are 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.[11]

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."[citation needed] Human beings go through a cycle of 1001 incarnations. During this process, they may become more purified based on their actions.

Yârsânism is also the faith of the Lak people.[12][13]

The Yârsânî are emanationists Emanationism is Platonic monism, and an idea in the cosmology or cosmogony of certain religious or philosophical systems. Emanation from the Latin 'emanare' meaning "to flow from", is the mode by which all things are derived from the First Reality, or Principle. All things are derived from the first reality or perfect god by steps of and incarnationists, believing that the Divine Essence has successive avatars In Hinduism, Avatar or Avatara , often translated into English as incarnation, literally means descent (avatarati) and usually implies a deliberate descent from higher spiritual realms to lower realms of existence for special purposes. Descents that are of importance are mainly those of the Supreme Being which are plenary and marked with (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 Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, and ruled over the Islamic Caliphate from 656 to 661. Sunni Muslims consider Ali the fourth and final of the Rashidun (rightly guided Caliphs), while Shi'a Muslims regard Ali as the first Imam and consider him and his descendants the rightful successors to as the primary avatar, also includes all Muslim figures except for one, Nusayr - either referring to the "Nazarene" (i.e. Jesus Jesus of Nazareth , also known as Jesus Christ, is the central figure of Christianity, and within most Christian denominations he is venerated as the Son of God and as God incarnate. Christians also view him as the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament; however, Judaism rejects this claim. Islam considers Jesus a prophet, while several other), or Nârsh, the minor avatar who later came to be known as Theophobus. (See Notzrim, Nazarene (sect) The Nazarene sect used in the Book of Acts, clearly referred to both Jewish and Gentile followers of Jesus' Apostles. A related term, ΝΑΖΩΡΑΙΟΙ, were an early Jewish Christian sect similar to the Ebionites, in that they maintained their adherence to the Torah, but unlike the Ebionites, they accepted the virgin birth of Jesus, Mandaeism Mandaeism or Mandaeanism is a monotheistic religion with a strongly dualistic worldview. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enosh, Noah, Shem, Aram and especially John the Baptist)

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 The Kurds are an Ethnic-Iranian ethnolinguistic group mostly inhabiting a region known as Kurdistan, which includes adjacent parts of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. Substantial Kurdish communities also exist in the cities of western Turkey, and they can also be found in Lebanon, Armenia, Azerbaijan and, in recent decades, some European countries virgin, and as in the case of Mary Mary , usually referred to by Christians as the Virgin Mary or Saint Mary , was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee, identified in the New Testament as the mother of Jesus of Nazareth. Muslims also refer to her as the Virgin Mary or Sitna Mariam which means Our Lady Mary. In Islam she is the mother of the Prophet Jesus, Issa عيسى in the, it was a virginal conception. While sleeping under a pomegranate The pomegranate is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing to between five and eight meters tall. The pomegranate is native to Southwest Asia and has been cultivated and naturalized over the whole Mediterranean region and the Caucasus since ancient times. It is widely cultivated throughout Afghanistan, Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, tree a kernel of fruit fell into her mouth when a bird pecked the fruit directly over her.[14] though some mistake this as an incarnation of the Virgin Mary and of the mother of ‘Alī, it echoes Mithraic and Zoroastrian beliefs, of the birth of the Saoshyant, the savior of Zoroastrianism born of a virgin, impregnated by the seed of Zoroaster or Zarathushtra in lake Hamun in Sistan. Mithra Mithra is an important deity or divine concept (Yazata) in Zoroastrianism and later Iranian history and culture was also believed to be both savior and god, born of a virgin from immaculate conception thus both divine and human in form and essence.

The Haft Tan "Seven Archangels" are key figures in the Yâresân belief system and their history. The only female among them is Khatun-e Rezbar, the mother of Sultan.

  1. Benjamin, considered the incarnation of the archangel Gabriel In Abrahamic religions, Gabriel is an angel who serves as a messenger from God. He first appears in the Book of Daniel in the Hebrew Bible. In some traditions he is regarded as one of the archangels, or as the angel of death[citation needed]. He is also known as Saint Gabriel to some Christian denominations
  2. Dawud (David), the incarnation of the archangel Michael Michael is an archangel in Jewish, Christian and Islamic tradition. He is viewed as the field commander of the Army of God. He is mentioned by name in the Book of Daniel, the Book of Jude and the Book of Revelation. In the book of Daniel, Michael appears as "one of the chief princes" who in Daniel's vision comes to the angel Gabriel's
  3. Mustafā', the incarnation of archangel Azrael Azrael is the Islamic Archangel of Death. He is also the Angel of Death in Judeo-Christian extrabiblical tradition and folklore. It is an English form of the Arabic name Azra'il or Azra'eil (عزرایل), the name traditionally attributed to the angel of death in Islam (though it should be stressed that there is no Qur`anic verse or authentic
  4. Pir Musi, incarnation of the recording angel
  5. Shah Husain
  6. Baba Yadegar
  7. Khatun-e Rezbar

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 Divinity and divine are broadly applied but loosely defined terms, used variously within different faiths and belief systems — and even by different individuals within a given faith — to refer to some transcendent or transcendental power, or its attributes or manifestations in the world. The root of the words is literally 'Godlike' (from the. The epoch of Shah Khoshin takes place in Luristan and the epoch of Sahak is placed in Hawraman near the Sirwan River, the land of the Gorani. 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 Haqiqat established during the time of Sultan were Shah Ebrahim, Baba Yadegar, Ali Qalandar, Khamush, Mir Sur, Seyyed Mosaffa and Hajji Babu Isa. The 5 families established after Sultan Sahak are Atesh Bag, Baba Heydar, Zolnour, Shah Hayas and Hajj Nematollah.[citation needed]

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 the 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). Krisztina Kehl-Bodrogi, et al., ed.. ed. Syncretistic Religious Communities in the Near East. Leiden: Brill. 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. http://lexicorient.com/e.o/ahl-e_haqq.htm. Retrieved on 2006-09-01.
  8. ^ a b Leezenberg, Michiel. "Gorani Influence on Central Kurdish: Substratum or Prestige Borrowing?" (RTF The Rich Text Format is a document file format developed by Microsoft in 1987 for cross-platform document interchange. Most word processors are able to read and write RTF documents). http://home.hum.uva.nl/oz/leezenberg/GInflCK.rtf.
  9. ^ Firqan-al-Akhbar at Encyclopædia Britannica The Encyclopædia Britannica is a general English-language encyclopaedia published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., a privately held company. The articles in the Britannica are aimed at educated adult readers, and written by a staff of about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 expert contributors. It is widely regarded as the most.
  10. ^ Z. Mir-Hosseini, Inner Truth and Outer History: The Two Worlds of the Ahl-e Haqq of Kurdistan, International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol.26, 1994, p.267-268
  11. ^ Hamzeh'ee, M Reza (1990), The Yaresan : a sociological, historical, and religio-historical study of a Kurdish community, Islamkundliche Untersuchungen, 138, Berlin: Schwartz, ISBN 3-922968-83-X
  12. ^ "Religion: Cult of Angels". Encyclopaedia Kurdistanica. http://www.kurdistanica.com/english/religion/yazdani/cult.html. Retrieved on 2006-09-01.
  13. ^ "Yazdanism". Encyclopaedia of the Orient. http://lexicorient.com/e.o/uyazdanism.htm. Retrieved on 2006-11-25.
  14. ^ Nebez, Jamal (1997-09-19). "The Kurds: History and Culture" (PDF). Western Kurdistan Association. 23. http://www.bakhawan.com/dotkurd/nebez/Inglizi/TheKurds.pdf. Retrieved on 2006-09-01.

See also

External links

Categories: Kurdish people | Religion in Iran | Religion in Iraq | Religion in Kurdistan | Mysticism | Monotheistic religions

 

The above information uses material from Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Some facts may not have been fully verified for accuracy. [Disclaimers]
This page was last archived by our server on Mon Jul 6 00:33:50 2009. [ refresh local cache ]
Displaying this page or its contents does not use any Wikimedia Foundation's resources.
The owners of this site proudly support the Wikimedia Foundation.

[Hide]▼
[Hide]▲