Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Jahanbakhsh Savagheb ¹
• Masoomeh Hadi ²
• Mohammadreza Zadehsafari ³

¹ Lorestan University

² Ph.D. Candidate of History of Islamic Iran in University of Lorestan

³ Ph.D. Candidate of History of Islamic in University of Tehran

Abstract

The considerable increase of the Europeans’ travels to Iran in the 19th/13th AH centuries expanded their information about various aspects of Iran's nature and society. But due to their sensory or superficial perception of the Persian culture, religions, and sects, particularly ethnic, local, and mystic sects, their percepts are not that much accurate. This fact is evident in the Western travelers' reports of the religions of Western Iran in the Qajar period. The present paper is a critical study on the basis of the comparative approach. Foreign travel writers mentioned current beliefs and customs of the Kurds, whose central settlement was the city of Kerend-e Gharb. What they recorded in their travelogues -entitled Ahl-e Haq, Nosairi, Cheragh khamush, Cheragh pof, Davudi and, in particular, the Ali-Allahi sect- is actually about Yari, one of the common sects of the area. Therefore, their image of the Ali-Allahi sect is distorted and unreliable.

Keywords

• Iranian religions
• bateni sects
• Ahl-e haq
• Yari sect
• European travelogues