Abstract
This chapter focuses on understanding of the historical context and socioreligious milieu in which the Yārsāni belief appropriates religious forces to survive their religion, how Yārsānis Kurd and Turk experience their religion in Islamic society, and what differences are significant in their lived experiences. This chapter examines the ways in which socio-political surroundings have affected the evolution of Yārsāni religious thought and why the Yārsāni religious belief, despite its fundamental disagreement with Islamic tenets, has been affiliated with Islam. Second part focus on how Yārsāni after revealing their religion and publishing their manuscript have a disagreement in their religion, as religion was only previously orally transmitted. The aim of this paper is to discover the transformation of religion, and in particular in which context can an individual change the content of religion, and bring about new idea regarding religion and beliefs.
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Notes
- 1.
Also known as Or Harman, a mountainous region situated within the provinces of Kurdistan and Kermanshah in western Iran, and in north-eastern Iraq within Iraq’s Kurdistan Region.
- 2.
According to Yārsāni belief, a soul passes 1000 Dūn within a 50,000-year period, and continuously departs one body for another until he reaches perfection (Elahi, 1969, p. 17).
- 3.
Yārsāni adherents believe that there is always a divine particle in a human’s nature which regularly circulates among holy ones; it is called successive manifestation (Mazhar be Mazhar). Thus, God will incarnate in perfect bodies. It is also possible for God to incarnate into others, as he incarnated into Ali’s body. Yārsāni adherents believe in seven successive manifestations. In this way, each time the Almighty God, along with its archangels, has incarnated in mundane forms. This incarnation means putting on clothing; hence, it is called in Persian Jāmeh (garment) or Dūn (During, 1998, p. 143; Personal interview).
- 4.
Glory or splendor, divine mystical force or power, reflecting the perceived divine empowerment of kings. In Persian mythology, a person with Dutifulness may achieve the degree of perfection acquired. This charisma was dependent on the legitimacy of kings.
- 5.
Especially that by Prof. Ph. Kreyenbroek, who wrote: “The essentials of the pre-Zoroastrian cosmogony, with an admixture of Zoroastrian elements similar to that of Mithraism, can still be found in the mythology of two modern sects, The Yezidis and the Ahl-e Ḥaqq, both of which may have originated among speakers of Western Iranian languages” (Kreyenbroek, 1992, pp. 57–79).
- 6.
One of the regions in the west of Iran; most of the people living there are Ahl-e Ḥaqq.
- 7.
“Ethnic and religious minority in Iran,” 2015, retrieved from https://www.noexperiencenecessarybook.com/yyxdE/minorities-in-iran-unrepresented-nations-and-peoples-organization.html, June 2015 and “Iran’s severe discrimination against religious minorities,” 2015, retrieved from http://iraninfocus.aipac.org/memos/IranDiscriminationAgainstReligiousMinorities.pdf.
- 8.
L. Gillani, “Mohammad Ghanbari set himself on fire in front of Islamic Parliament,” Human Rights Activities News Agency, Online Edition, July 28, 2013, 5.
- 9.
Danish immigration service, Iranian Kurds on Conditions for Iranian Kurdish Parties in Iran and KRI, Activities in the Kurdish Area of Iran, Conditions in Border Area and Situation of Returnees from KRI to Iran, 30 May to 9 June 2013, retrieved from https://www.nyidanmark.dk/NR/rdonlyres/D82120CB-3D78-4992-AB57-4916C4722869/0/fact_finding_iranian_kurds_2013.pdf, accessed June 2015.
- 10.
R. Macuch, “Assyrians in Iran: The Assyrian community (Asurian) in Iran,” in Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol. II, p. 820.
- 11.
Report presented by the FIDH and the Ligue de Défense des Droit del’Homen Iran, 2013, Federation Internationale des Ligues des Droits de L’Homme.
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Hosseini, S.B. (2020). Yārsāni Religious Practice and Identity. In: Yārsān of Iran, Socio-Political Changes and Migration. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2635-0_3
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