Abstract
Iran is host to a wide variety of faiths and religions. Despite this diversity, Iran’s constitution denotes Shi’a Muslim as the country’s official religion and only grants formal recognition to Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians. These groups, considered “people of the book,” are permitted to perform their religious rites and ceremonies and to act according to their own canon in matters of personal affairs and religious education according to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, adopted in 1979. Despite being constitutionally protected, Iran’s recognized minorities face challenges not experienced by the majority Shi’a population.
I completed the six months of fieldwork in which this chapter is largely based in Iranian Kurdistan. This research was supported by a KWA (Kurzfristige Auslandsstipendien) center grant at the University of Vienna in 2015.
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Notes
- 1.
Lanigan, Richard L.: 1988. Phenomenology of Communication: Merleau-Ponty’s Thematics in Communicology and Semiology. Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press, 1988.
- 2.
Merleau-Ponty, Maurice: 1968. The Visible and the Invisible. transl. by A. Lingis. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1968. (Original work published 1964.)
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Pollio, Howard R., Tracy B. Henley, and Craig J. Thompson: The Phenomenology of Everyday Life. New York: Cambridge University Press, Williamson, 1997. Paul, William-Pollio, Howard R. and W. Hood, Ralph W. Jr. “A Phenomenological Analysis of the Anointing among Religious Serpent Handlers.” International Journal for the Psychology of Religion 10(4), 2000, 221–240.
- 6.
Morris, Brian: Religion and Anthropology: A Critical Introduction. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
- 7.
Mir-Hosseini, Ziba: “Faith, Ritual and Culture among the Ahl-i-Haqq,” in Kurdish Culture and Identity, ed. by P. Kreyenbroek and C. Allison. London: Zed Books Ltd. 1996. 111–134. During, Jean: “A Critical Survey on Ahl-e Haqq Studies in Europe and Iran.” in Alevi identity: Cultural, Religious and Social Perspectives (Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul). Ed. by T. Olsson, E. Özdalga, and C. Raudvere. London: Routledge, 1998. 105–125. Bruinessen, Martin V.: “Veneration of Satan among the Ahl-e Haqq of the Gûrân Region.” Fritillaria Kurdica: Bulletin of Kurdish Studies 3(4): 2014, 6–41. Hosseini, S. B. (2016) “Life after death in Manichean Religion and Yārsān.” Fritillaria Kurdica: Bulletin of Kurdish Studies 13–14, ISSN 2353–4052 (September 2016), http://www.kurdishstudies.pl/?pl_fritillaria-kurdica-nr.-13–14,218.
- 8.
For complete description of Tanbūr, see Hooshmandrad, Partow: “Life as Ritual: Devotional Practices of the Kurdish Ahl-i Ḥaqq of Gurān.” Religious Minorities in Kurdistan. in Studies in Oriental Religions. Vol. 68, Religious Minorities in Kurdistan: Beyond the Mainstream. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2014, 47–66.
- 9.
For a complete explanation of the Jam ceremony, refer to Mir-Hosseini (1996: 126–128).
- 10.
Bruinessen, Martin V.: “Ahl-i Haqq.” in Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. 3. ed. by K. Fleet, G. Krämer, D. Matringe, J. Nawas, and E. Rowson, Brill Online, 2016, 51–58.
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Mir-Hosseini, Ziba: “Redefining the Truth: Ahl-i-Haqq and the Islamic Republic of Iran.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 21(2): 1994b, 211–228.
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Mir-Hosseini, Ziba: “Inner Truth and Outer History: The Two Worlds of the Ahl-i-Haqq of Kurdistan.” International Journal of Middle East Studies 26(2): 1994a, 267–285.
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Mir-Hosseini, Ziba: “Redefining the Truth: Ahl-i-Haqq and the Islamic Republic of Iran.” British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, 21(2): 1994b, 211–228.
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Izady, Mehrdad R.: The Kurds: A Concise Handbook. Harvard, MA: Dept. of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization, 1992.
- 17.
For the Yārsān an intact moustache is an element of faith on which the Kalām expressly commands it.
References
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During, Jean. 1998. A Critical Survey on Ahl-e Haqq Studies in Europe and Iran. In Alevi identity: Cultural, Religious and Social Perspectives (Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul), ed. T. Olsson, E. Özdalga, and C. Raudvere, 105–125. London: Routledge.
Gordon, Milton. 1964. Assimilation in American Life: The Role of Race, Religion, and National Origins. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.
Izady, Mehrdad R. 1992. The Kurds: A Concise Handbook. Harvard, MA: Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization.
Lanigan, Richard L. 1988. Phenomenology of Communication: Merleau-Ponty’s Thematics in Communicology and Semiology. Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press.
———. 1992. The Human Science of Communicology: A Phenomenology of Discourse in Foucault and Merleau-Ponty. Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press.
Merleau-Ponty, Maurice. 1968. The Visible and the Invisible. Translated by A. Lingis. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. (Original Work Published 1964.).
Mir-Hosseini, Ziba. 1994a. Inner Truth and Outer History: The Two Worlds of the Ahl-i-Haqq of Kurdistan. International Journal of Middle East Studies 26 (2): 267–285.
———. 1994b. Redefining the Truth: Ahl-i-Haqq and the Islamic Republic of Iran. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 21 (2): 211–228.
———. 1996. Faith, Ritual and Culture Among the Ahl-i-Haqq. In Kurdish Culture and Identity, ed. P. Kreynbroek and C. Allison, 111–134. London: Zed Books Ltd.
Morris, Brian. 2006. Religion and Anthropology: A Critical Introduction. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
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Patton, Michael Quinn. 1990. Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods. 2nd ed. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
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———. 2014. Veneration of Satan among the Ahl-e Haqq of the Gûrân Region. Fritillaria Kurdica: Bulletin of Kurdish Studies 3 (4): 6–41.
Williamson, W. Paul, Howard R. Pollio, and Ralph W. Jr Hood. 2000. A Phenomenological Analysis of the Anointing Among Religious Serpent Handlers. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion 10 (4): 221–240.
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Hosseini, S.B. (2023). Transformation and Appropriation of Religion: A Case of Yārsāni Community in Iran. In: Hosseini, S.B. (eds) Ethnic Religious Minorities in Iran. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1633-5_11
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