Ahl-i Haqq

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there are reports of conversations between

the Prophet and Umar b. al-Khab as

well as references to the practices of the

early Islamic community, none of which issupported by an isnd. During the third andfourth centuries A.H., however, the differ-

ences between the two groups diminished,

as a synthesis between the two forms of

legal jurisprudence was achieved.

Bibliography

Sources

Ab Ysuf, Ikht ilf Ab an fa wa-Ibn Ab Lay l, ed. Ab l-Waf al-Afghn (Cairo1357/1939), 84, 88, 144, 182, 218; Hill al-Ray,Akm al-waqf(Hyderabad 1355/1937);Ibn al-Muqaffa, Rislat al-aba, ed. FahdSad and Tnyus Franss (Beirut 1960), 167;Ibn Qutayba, al-Marif, ed. Tharwat Uksha(Cairo 1969), 6767; al-Shfi, al-Risla, ed.Amad Muammad Shkir, Cairo 1979.

StudiesJonathan E. Brockopp, Competing theories of

authority in early Mliktexts, in Bernard G.Weiss (ed.) Studies in Islamic legal theory (Leiden2002), 322; Jonathan E. Brockopp, Early

Mlik law. Ibn Abd al-akam and his majorcompendium of jurisprudence, Leiden and Boston2000; Wael B. Hallaq, The origins and evolu-tion of Islamic law, Cambridge and New York2005; Wael B. Hallaq, Was al-Shafii the mas-ter architect of Islamic jurisprudence?IJMES25 (1993), 587605; Peter C. Hennigan,The birth of a legal institution. The formation ofthe waqf in third-century A. H. anaf legal dis-course, Leiden and Boston 2004; Christopher

Melchert, The formation of the Sunni schools oflaw, 9th10th centuries C.E., Leiden and NewYork 1997; Christopher Melchert, Tradition-ist-jurisprudents and the framing of Islamiclaw, ILS8 (2001), 383406; Joseph Schacht,The origins of Muhammadan jurisprudence, Oxford1950; Nurit Tsafrir, The history of an Islamicschool of law. The early spread of Hanafism,Cambridge MA 2004; Nurit Tsafrir, Semi-anafs and anafbiographical sources, SI84 (1996), 6785.

Peter Hennigan

Ahl-i aqq

TheAhl-iaqq (lit., people of truth)

is a syncretistic religion or, according tosome adherents, an esoteric Sh com-

munity, that appears to have emerged first

among the Grn of southern Kurdistan

in the fifteenth or sixteenth century C.E.

and that survives in various parts of Iran

and Iraq, among Grn, Lurs, Kurds,

Azerbaijanis, and Iranians. A preferred self-

designation of the community, especially

in the Kirmnshh region, is Yrisn.

In the Iraqi part of Kurdistan, the Ahl-iaqq are known as Kka and constitute

a distinct ethno-religious community. The

teachings of the Ahl-i aqq are handed

down orally to the initiated, commonly in

the form of religious poems (kalm), sungand explained by specialists, the kalmkhwn(kalm-readers). Although it is essentiallyan oral tradition, there do exist written

collections of kalm (intended as memoryaids for the kalmkhwn, not as holy scrip-ture to be read by ordinary devotees). The

oldest kalm are in an archaic form ofGrn, the language spoken by the Grn

and Kka, and new kalm continued to becomposed in that language until the late

nineteenth century. There are also poems

and treatises in Turkish and Persian, be-

longing to later stages of development of

the Ahl-i aqq religion in Azerbaijan and

northern Iran.

Thefirst serious studies of the Ahl-iaqq,by Vladimir Minorsky and Wladimir

Ivanow, were based largely on their expe-

riences with Persian-speaking Ahl-i aqq

communities and an analysis of Persian

Ahl-i aqq treatises and a few Turkish

poems. Ivanows Truth-worshippers was thefirst edition and translation of a significant

amount of Ahl-i aqq manuscript mate-

rial. Numerous Grn kalm were later

ahl-i aqq 51


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edited, translated into French, and an-

notated by Mohammad Mokri, who had

acquired a large collection of Ahl-i aqq

manuscripts. Mshallh Srand iddqaf-zda also published a considerable

volume of Grn kalm, with Persiantranslations and commentaries. Cecil

Edmonds, who had had contact with the

Kka in the 1920s as a British political

officer, published interesting material on

the social organisation, religious beliefs, and

practices of this community, partly on the

basis of Grnkalm and oral explanation.The Kurdish Ahl-i aqq reformer jj

Nimatallh Jayhnbd (d. 1920) and

his son Nr Al Ilh (d. 1974) composed

important works in Persian, in which they

presented Ahl-i aqq doctrines, again

based largely on Grnkalm, in a moreconsistent and systematic form (Shhnma-yiaqqat, Burhn al-aqq, Lsotrisme kurde, andJayhnbds unpublishedFurqn al-akhbr,which was used extensively by Minorsky).

Publication of these works brought some

of the teachings previously revealed only

to initiates into the public domain; they

have become the major sources on doctrine

for later researchers. It should be noted,

however, that Ilh and his son Bahrm

Elh (Bahrm Ilh) went much further

in reconciling Ahl-i aqq doctrines with

esoteric Shism than many Ahl-i aqq

communities thought warranted.

1. DoctrineA central tenet of Ahl-i aqq doctrine

is belief in a series of consecutive divine

incarnations, each initiating a new cycle of

sacred history. Al b. Ablib is recog-

nised as one of these divine incarnations;

the Ahl-i aqq are therefore sometimes

categorised with other ghult (extremist)groups as Al-ilh (deifiers of Al).

However, the Ahl-i aqq cosmology is

far more developed than that of any of

these other groups. Not only do the Ahl-i

aqq recognise a number of major and

minor divine incarnations, but in eachof them the Divinity is accompanied by

four or more angels. Nor is Al the most

important of these divine incarnations; in

fact, Aloccupies but a modest place in the

Ahl-i aqq tradition. The central divine

figure is Suln Sahk, who flourished in

Hawramn in the fifteenth or sixteenth cen-

tury, and the oldest sacred texts (kalm) thatare associated with his cycle are in Grn.

The various Ahl-i aqq communities have

slightly differing lists of incarnations, but

most agree on two major incarnations

between the cycle of Aland the cycle of

Suln Sahk: Shh Khshn, associated

with Luristn and wandering dervishes,

and Shh Fal, in whom we may perhaps

recognise the urfFalallh Astarbd.

Ahl-i aqq communities in Azerbaijan and

north-central Iran mention several later in-

carnations, the most important of whom is

tesh Beg, or Khn tesh, an Azerbaijani

Ahl-i aqq saint buried near Margha in

eastern Azerbaijan.

The Companions always include incar-

nations of the four archangels (chr malak)and are usually said to constitute a heptad,

the haftan (haft tan, seven bodies). SulnSahks four main companions were Pr

Binymn, Dwd, Pr Ms, and Muaf.

Each of the four is invested with certain

ritual functions (thus, Binymn is the pr,the master who initiates the other compan-

ions, Dwd is the dall, or guide, Pr Msthe scribe, and Muaf the executioner);

they are associated with the four elements,

the four directions of the compass, and

four colours. They are identical with the

four archangels Jibrl, Mkl, Isrfl, and

Azrl, who emanated from the essence

of Khwandkr, the Creator, who was

52 ahl-i aqq


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none other than the first manifestation of

Suln Sahk.

A fifth companion is the female spirit

Ramzbr, who appears in various cycles asthe virgin mother of the divine incarnation.

She was Khtn Dyark, a young woman

of the Kurdish Jf tribe, who gave birth to

Suln Sahk; in earlier cycles, she was the

virgin Mm Jalla, who became pregnant

after inhaling a particle of light from the

sun and nine months later vomited up the

child Shh Khshn; she was Als mother,

Fima bt. Asad.

The various Ahl-i aqq communities

are not unanimous as to the identity of the

other two companions. All groups include

Bb Ydigr, whose shrine in Sarna, in

the district of Kirind west of Kirmnshh,

is presently the Ahl-i aqqs most impor-

tant place of pilgrimage. As the seventh

person in the heptad, some groups men-

tion Shh Ibrhm, who may have been an

early successor of Suln Sahk and whose

descendants constitute one of the larger

khnadn (lineages) of Ahl-i aqq religiousspecialists. Others make Shh Ibrhm a

dark adversary of Bb Ydigr and count

Suln Sahk himself as one of the haftan.In most views, Shh Ibrhm and Bb

Ydigrby their angelic names Aqq

and Yaqq, or Rchyr and Aywatdo

constitute pairs of opposites; according to

one myth, they emanated from the light of

the deitys left and right eyes, respectively

( Jayhnbd, 42).The haftan have a counterpart in a sec-

ond heptad, the haftawna; these are oftenpresented as more earthly and material

spirits, complementary to the heavenly

haftan in some interpretations and opposedto them in others. In the period of Suln

Sahk, the haftawna manifested them-selves as his seven sons, and five of them

are the ancestors of still-existingkhnadn

of religious specialists. Ahl-i aqq texts

mention various other groups of spiritual

beings including a group of forty, the chiltan

(reminiscent of the Krklar (Turk., Forty)of the Anatolian Alev tradition), seventy-

two khalfa, ninety-ninepr, and some largergroups (see, e.g., Elh, sotrisme kurde,479; Jayhnbd, passim).

Several observers and some educated

Ahl-i aqq themselves believe they have

recognised in the haftan the seven angels,Amesha Spenta, of Zoroastrianism, and

that beneath an Islamic veneer the Ahl-i

aqq religion represents essentially an

older form of Iranian religion (see, e.g.,

Hamzehee). There seems to be some sup-

port for this view in the dualistic beliefs of

some subgroups of the Grn, which op-

pose Bb Ydigr and Shh Ibrhm as

angels of light and darkness and the haftanand haftawna as spiritual and materialforces, between which a cosmic struggle is

being waged. Many other elements of the

Ahl-i aqq belief system, however, connect

them at least as strongly with (heterodox)

Shtraditions as with a distant pre-Islamic

past. There are numerous correspondences

with Ismlism, especially the teachings

contained in the Umm al-kitb (Halm), aswell as with Turkish Kzlba belief and

practice, although there appears to be

no direct genealogical connection. Roux

has moreover pointed out the remarkable

presence of Turkish religious ideas in the

Grnkalm (Roux).The human (or occasionally animal)

embodiment of the angelic spirit is called

itsjma or dn (both lit., gown), and themovement from one incarnation to another

of ordinary human souls as well as the

haftan and other angelic spirits, is referredto as dna dn (from gown to gown), suggest-ing the metaphor of changing clothes. The

Ahl-i aqq recognise two types or degrees

ahl-i aqq 53


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of incarnation: full manifestation (uhr) ofthe deity and the angels; and more ephem-

eral and temporary forms of indwelling

in a human being, sometimes called ull(those who alight and stay) but morecommonly referred to as mihmn (guest).The major incarnations are referred to

(using the word mahar, manifestation)as Shh-mahar (or Suln-mahar), Bin-

ymn-mahar, etc., the lesser ones as

Shh-mihmn and similar expressions. Al

was thus Shh-mahar and AlQalandar,

a beloved Ahl-i aqq saint of the Grn

region, is believed to have been Ydigr-

mihmn. In the latter case the association

between the two saints is so close that their

mythical biographies seem to merge; both

are believed to have been killed and be-

headed by enemies of their religion under

similar circumstances. The kalmkhwntend also to identify other famous victims

of beheadings (including John the Baptist,

usayn, and a nineteenth-century Ahl-i

aqq dervish of Kirmnshh, Teymr) as

Ydigr-mihmn or Ydigr-mahar. The

angels can also be present in seemingly

inanimate objects, such as Als sword Dh

l-Fiqr, and between successive incarna-

tions they may assume the shape of a spark

of fire, a pomegranate seed, or a bird.

The teshbegAhl-i aqq communitiesof Azerbaijan and northern Iran consider

tesh Beg (who may have lived in the

seventeenth century) as Shh-mahar,

and his three brothers Jamshd, Alms,

and Abdl, along with his sister Khtn

Parkhn, to be full manifestations of the

other angels. They attribute the same

status to two leading personalities inter-

vening between Suln Sahk and tesh

Beg, named Qirmiz (Shh Ways Qul)

and Mamad, who appear to reflect the

spread of the Ahl-i aqq teachings from

the Grn region by way of Luristn to

Azerbaijan (see Ivanow, 13348). Other

Ahl-i aqq communities, when aware of

tesh Beg, grant him and his predeces-

sors at most the status of Shh-mihmn.

The Kka, who lived in Ottoman terri-

tory, count jjBektsh and some other

Bektsh saints, whose names are hardly

known among the Iranian Ahl-i aqq,

among the major manifestations (Edmonds,

Beliefs and practices; van Bruinessen). The

54 ahl-i aqq

major

cycles

names of the

incarnations

of God

I Khwandkr Jibrl Mkl Isrfl Azrl Yaqq Aqq

II Al Salmn Qanbar Jafar-i

ayyr

Nuayr Fima bt.

Asad

usayn asan

III Shh Khshn Kka

Rid

Chalab Shahryr Bb

Faq

Mm

Jalla

Bb

Buzurg

IV Shh Fal Manr

[allj]

Nasm Zakariy Turka Ayna Barra

V Suln

Sahk

Binymn Dwd Pr Ms Muaf

Dwudn

Khtn

Dyrk /

Ramzbr

Bb

Ydigr

Shh

Ibrhm

VI tesh Beg Jamshd

Beg

Alms

Beg

Abdl Beg Khtn

Parkhn

Names of the incarnations of God and seven angels in the six major cycles (dawra) of incarnation.


5/8

Grn recognise only four major cycles

(but numerous minor ones) after the cycle

of Creation, culminating in Suln Sahk.

They associate Al with shara (religiouslaw), Shh Khshn with arqa (religiousway), Shh Fal with marifa (mysticalknowledge), and Suln Sahk with aqqa(truth, sacred canon).

The table summarises the names of the

major manifestations about which there

is agreement among most Ahl-i aqq

communities. It is, however, compiled

from different sources, and no community

would agree on all of the names here;

there is broad agreement on the various

incarnations of Suln Sahk, Binymn,

Dwd, and Ramzbr but more variety

in the identification of the incarnations of

the other angels. Similar tables, based on

teshbegand Kkasources, respectively,

are presented by Minorsky (Ahl-i a)

and Edmonds (Beliefs and practices).

2. Ritu al specialists : pr,

dall, kalmkhwn

Like other syncretistic religious commu-

nities such as the Yazds and the Kzlba

Alevs of Turkey, the Ahl-i aqq have a

hereditary and endogamous class of ritual

specialists, called sayyids, without whosepresence rituals are not valid. There are

a limited number of lineages of sayyids,known as khnadn (family) or jq (alsojgh, hearth), that descend from known

Ahl-i aqq saints. Elh (sotrisme, 49)and af-zda (Nma-yi saranjm, 248) listeleven khnadn: (1) AlQalandar, (2) ShhIbrhm, (3) Ydigr, (4) Khmsh, (5)

j Bb-usayn, or j Bways, (6)

Mr-Sr, (7) Sayyid Muaf, (8) tesh-

beg, (9) Dh l-Nr Qalandar, or Zunr,

(10) Bb-Haydar, (11) Shh-Hiys.

Each adult has a special relationship with

the particular sayyid who officiated at his

initiation ceremony, and usually entire

village communities are affiliated with the

same khnadn. In most regions, only afew khnadn have influence, and in cer-

tain regions some khnadn have a virtualmonopoly, as for instance the teshbegin Azerbaijan and northern Iran. The fol-

lowers of the various khnadn constitutesub-communities, between which certain

minor differences in belief and ritual prac-

tice have developed.

Sayyids can officiate as prs at religiousceremonies; in that capacity they represent

Binymn, the first spiritual teacher. Major

ceremonies also require the presence of

a dall, or guide, who has to belong toanother group of families said to descend

from seven of the seventy-two khalfas ofSuln Sahks time. These families do not

have a social standing comparable to that

of the sayyid khnadn. In practice, manyrituals are performed without the presence

of a dall.The third ritual specialist is the kalm-

khwn. This is not a hereditary but anachieved position; kalmkhwns may be ofsayyid, dall, or commoner background.Good musicians and singers, who have

memorised many kalm and can explainthem, enjoy great prestige. Whereas many

sayyids and khalfas are not particularlyknowledgeable about Ahl-i aqq doctrine

and traditions, it is the kalmkhwn who are,together with the daftardn (scholars with aprofound knowledge and understanding

of the daftar or collections of kalm), theguardians of the Ahl-i aqq teachings.

The kalmkhwn accompanies himself onthe tanbr, a long-necked lute, which is usedfor both profane and sacred music; there

are distinct modes (arz, nam) for the latter,that are played only with texts belonging

to the sacred canon (aqqat). The musicof the Ahl-i aqq differs significantly

from Kurdish folk music and from that

of other religious communities. Durings

ahl-i aqq 55


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study (in Musique et mystique) of musicalpractices in the reformed branch of the

Ahl-i aqq at Tehran is complemented by

Hooshmandrads excellent work on musicaland ritual practices among the Grn.

3. Ritual

The most important ritual is the jam, agathering of the initiated male members

of the village community, in which the

spiritual presence of Suln Sahk and

the haftan is invoked. Kalm are chantedby a kalmkhwn, a dhikr(repetitive litany) isperformed and, most importantly, an offer-

ing of a sacrificial animal (nadhr), or morecommonly a non-animal offering(niyz) offruits, nuts, and sweets, is consecrated and

eaten by the participants. The jam mustbe presided over by a sayyid (the pr) anda dall; the ritual function of the khdim(servant), who assists the pr and servesthe participants, is usually performed by

a commoner.

The initiation ritual (called sar sipurdan,surrendering ones head) takes place in

a specialjam and involves the dissection ofa nutmeg (perhaps symbolising the novices

head) and the nadhr of a rooster. The prcuts up the nutmeg and consecrates it,

together with the niyz, adding to the com-mon formula of consecration the name of

the khnadn with which the novice will beaffiliated. The nutmeg, niyz, and nadhraredivided among the participants in the jam

and partly eaten, partly taken home.Niyz is the most common ritual, per-

formed as it is, not only in thejam but alsoby individuals or small numbers of relatives

or friends on various occasions, especially

during visits to sacred places, as a vow or a

form of thanksgiving. Each nadhrhas to bepreceded by a niyz, in order to consecratethe knife with which the animal is to be

slaughtered. A sayyid must be present at

a niyz to consecrate the offering, and acommoner has to act as the khdim. Thelatter remains standing; the other men pres-

ent sit in a circle with the sayyid. Amongthe Grn, there are no strict rules on theminimum number of attendants; in the

reformed branch of Master Ilh, at least

five persons have to be present, including

the sayyidand the khdim (During, Systmedes offrandes).

The Ahl-i aqq have one major annual

festival, the d-i Khwandkr, taking place

around the first full moon of the Kurdish

winter. This is a three-day fast followed

by a day of celebration, the d proper.

Each evening a jam is held, and the fastmust be kept until the moment the niyz isdistributed. On the final day, each family

is expected to bring an animal for a large

sacrificial meal. A special type of bread,

baked with animal fat, is also prepared

on that day.

4. Doctrinal reformulati ons

An important reformulation of Ahl-i

aqq doctrine took place among the

Grn in the mid-nineteenth century under

the influence of a charismatic leader be-

longing to the Khmshkhnadn, Sayyidaydar, who became known later as

Sayyid Barka. As present memory has it,

the sayyidhad gathered thirty-six dervishesaround him, each of whom composed a

volume of inspired poetry. Their thirty-six

daftarof kalm constitute probably the mostsignificant body of authoritative religious

texts among the Grn today; many of

the most cherished kalm belong to thisset. Sayyid Barka was believed to be

Dwd-mahar, and eventually five of the

other haftan manifested themselves in him.The chr malak (Binymn, Dwd, PrMs, and Muaf) moreover were also

present in nine of the dervishes each, and

56 ahl-i aqq


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together with these four indwelling spirits,

the dervishes also constituted, in a sense,

the forty persons (chiltan). This was the

last great period of revelation, and severalof the peculiarities of the Grns beliefs,

such as the special veneration for Bb

Ydigr over the other haftan, appear todate to this period. Other peculiarities, to

which some of the Grn owe their repu-

tation among their Muslim neighbours as

devil-worshippers (shaynparast), is theirveneration of Dwd in his manifestation

as Malakws (known to Muslims as

Shayn) and their affectation of a taste

for wild boar. These may have older origins

but appear to have been strengthened in

the circle around Sayyid Barka. Under

the sayyids successors, latent dualist ideaswere formulated more explicitly, making

Shh Ibrhm and the haftawna representdark cosmic forces opposed, rather than

complementary, to Bb Ydigr and the

haftan.By the time of his death in 1863,

Sayyid Barka had established himself

as the pr of all the Grn and hadfound recognition among other Ahl-i

aqq communities as well. The village

of Ttshm, which he is alleged to have

founded and which has remained the seat

of the aydar family, his descendants

and successors, is considered the spiritual

centre of the Grn. He was succeeded

by his grandson, Sayyid Rustam, who

also had considerable charismahe wassaid to be Ms-mihmnand wieldedsignificant power in Kirmnshh in the

early twentieth century. The next prs ofthe Grn were Rustams sons Shams

al-Dn and Nr al-Dn, succeeded by the

latters grandson Sayyid Nar al-Dn,

who at the time of writing is the venerated

leader of the community. He steered the

heterodox community safely through the

turbulent years of the Islamic revolution

and war with Iraq (Mir-Hosseini, Inner

truth; Hooshmandrad).

A different reformulation of the Ahl-iaqq belief system was that of Hjj

Nimatallh Jayhunbd and his succes-

sors, who, as noted above, brought it into

accommodation with Twelver Sh ism.

Jayhnbdwas a Kurd of Sunn family

background who lived among the Ahl-i

aqq of the Sana district and was initi-

ated into the Shh-Hiyskhnadn. He wasa visionary, and he set about systematizing

the teachings, rephrasing the myths of

the Grn kalms in Persian in a moreconsistent, chronological narrative. Con-

temporaries detected a strong millenarian

element in his teachings (Stead). He found

a larger following among the Ahl-i aqq of

northern Iran than in his own community.

Nr Al Ilh (Elh), recognised by many

as a great spiritual master, settled in Tehran

and brought existing Ahl-i aqq groups

and new converts into his reformed branch

of the Ahl-i aqq. Under his successor,

Bahrm Elhi, the integration into esoteric

Shism was completed. He publishedin

French, for the benefit of a growing circle

of Western convertsseveral books on

spirituality that made only scant reference

to the original Ahl-i aqq concepts, and

he edited his fathers conversations with

disciples in a format that shunted the spe-

cifically Ahl-i aqq bases of his thought

into the background (Ilh,thr al-aqq; cf.Mir-Hosseini, Breaking the seal).

Official terminology in post-revolution-

ary Iran distinguishes three branches of

the Ahl-i aqq: Maktab, or Ahl-i aqq

(i.e., the reformed branch led by Elh),

Shaynparast (i.e., the Grn who follow

the aydar family), and Al-Ilh, under

which term all other communities are com-

bined. The Kkaand related communities

ahl-i aqq 57


8/8

(rl, Bjaln, Ashir-i Saba) in Iraq ap-pear to have remained untouched by the

developments in Iran; they did not follow

the movements toward dualism or towardscripturalisation and accommodation with

official Shism.

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Martin M. van Bruinessen

Amad b. bi

Amad b. bi (or i, or Khbi)

(d. 227232/842847) was a theologian

from Basra, who is considered to have been

a Mutazil. He started his career as a stu-

dent of the Mutaziltheologian al-Nam

(d. before 235/850), but Ibn bi s

views on three issues distinguishedand

distancedhim from his mentor and

58 amad b. bi

Documents

Ahl-i Haqq