Yarsanism

The origins of Yarsânism are difficult to determine because there are borrowings from numerous beliefs.

According to Irène Mélikoff, Yârsânism is a religious order similar to other esoteric heterodox groups of Shiite Muslim origin such as the Ghulat (known as “Baltinites”), the Alevis, the Druze or the Ismailis. Moreover, the members of this community practice taqiya (concealment) like the Druze. Considered apostates, they were persecuted by the Sunni authorities.

On the other hand, independent university researchers consider Yârsânism as one religion among others: thus, according to Mehrdad Izady, Yârsânism is one of the three religions forming Yazdanism (with Alevism and Yezidism), a term he erected to designate religions that it considers to be kurds and containing elements that predate Islam. Regarding the common points between these three religions, the Turkologist Irène Mélikoff writes that “the three Bektashi-Alevi principles concerning the Creation of the World (..) are also found in religions specific to the Kurds, among the Yazidis and the Ahl-è-Hakk »”.

Other common points exist between these religions such as the belief in the “Peacock Angel” common to Yarsanism and Yezidism or the representation of the “Peacock Angel” in the form of a rooster, an animal object of veneration among the Alevis.

The Yârsâns have a religious literature mainly written in Goranî and marginally in Persian, although some Yârsâns today also speak Turkmen and Sorani.

Until the 20th^e century, the Yârsân faith was, like the Druze faith, preached only within the Kurdish community and only to chekedes (“born in the community”), excluding chasbedés (“attached”, entered the community by marriage with a Yârsân family). This community mainly comprised the Kurdish tribes of Gurans, Qalkanis, Bajalanis and Sanjabis, living mainly in western Iran.