Yarsanism

Yarsanism is an inherited, syncretic religion founded by Sultan Sahak in the late 14th century in western Iran. Sultsn Shahak was a Kurdish religious leader who reformed the beliefs of Yarsanism. He was considered to be the fourth of seven incarnations of God. The total number of Iranian followers of Iranian Yarsanism is estimated to be half a million to one million in Iran. The number of followers in Iraq is unknown. The Yarsanis have a distinct religious literature primarily written in the Gorani language, but few modern Yarsani can read or write Gorani. Their central religious book, written in the 15th century, is called the Kalâm-e Saranjâm and is based on the teachings of Sultan Sahak. Older texts are called the Perdiwari texts since Perdiwar is where Soltan Sahak had first founded the Yarsani community. The Perdiwari texts are attributed to writers from this first community of Yarsani believers. Yarsani beleive that the universe is composed of two distinct yet interrelated worlds: the internal (bātinī) and the external (zāhirī), each having its own order and rules. Although humans are only cognizant of the outer world, their lives are governed according to the rules of the inner world. Other pillars of their belief system are that the Divine Essence has successive manifestations in human form (mazhariyyat) and the belief in transmigration of the soul (dunaduni in Kurdish). Yarasani believe that if a person does not honor what is written in the Kalâm-e Saranjâm, they are not part of Yarsan. There is no compulsion or exclusion in Yarsan, so anyone who chooses to live by its precepts can become a Yarsani. This faith embraces aspects of millenarism (belief in a pending fundamental transformation of society), innatism (the view that the mind is born with ready formed ideas, knowledge, and beliefs), egalitarianism, metempsychosis (the transmigration at death of the soul of a human being or animal into a new body of the same or a different species), angelology, divine manifestation (human beings who perfectly reflect the attributes of divinity), and dualism. Yarsani believe God, in either angel or human form, is present in one primary and seven secondary manifestations in each epoch of the world. These seven persons are known as Heft tan, which means the seven persons. The primary mazhariyyat of the First Epoch was the Divine Essence known as Khawandagar, who created the world. As noted, in the Fourth Epoch the primary mazhariyyat is beleived to be Sultan Sahak. The secondary mazhariyyats of the Second Epoch include Salman, Qanbar, Muhammad, Nusayr (either Jesus Christ or Theophobus), and Bahlool. This epoch also includes Fatimah, the daughter of Muhammad as incarnation of the female angel. Two important sanctuaries of the Yarsani are the tomb of Bābā Yādgār in Kermanshah Province and the tomb of Dawoud at Zarde. Other important sites include the shrine of Sultan Suhak in Sheykhan and he tombs of Pir Benjamin and Pir Musi in the town of Kerend, which are all also located in Kermanshah Province.