Soltan Sahak

Soltan Sahak is the pivotal figure of the Yarsani (Ahl-e Haqq) religion of the Kurds. Doctrine teaches that the one Divine Essence reveals itself in a sequence of manifestations, and that in the dispensation centred on the Guran district of western Iran the Essence appeared as Soltan Sahak, who gave the faith its enduring institutions: the assembly of the jam, the sacrament of the consecrated offering, the heptad of holy companions, and the spiritual lineages descended from them. Birth-legend holds that his mother, the virgin Dayerak (Khatun Dayrak) of the Jaff people, conceived him when a pomegranate seed fell into her mouth as she slept beneath the tree; she is herself understood as an earthly manifestation of the mother-angel Razbar. His teachings are preserved in the Gurani sacred poetry of the Kalam-e Saranjam and are chanted to the sacred lute, the tanbur.

Parentage

• parent: Khatun-e Razbar

Domains

• divine manifestation
• revealed truth

Powers

• to embody the supreme essence of God in a human manifestation
• to establish the law and ritual community of the faithful

Epithets

• SoltanHamzeh'ee, M. Reza. The Yaresan. Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 1990. (secondary)
• Padishah-e YariMir-Hosseini, Ziba. "Faith, Ritual and Culture among the Ahl-e Haqq." In Kurdish Culture and Identity. London: Zed Books, 1996. (secondary)

Relations

• companion: Pir BenyaminPir Benyamin is the foremost of the seven holy companions (Haftan) who attend Soltan Sahak and serve as guide of the faithful.Kreyenbroek, Philip G. & Yiannis Kanakis. "God First and Last", Vol. I. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2024. (secondary)
• companion: Pir DawudPir Dawud, the teacher among the heptad, is numbered among the companions of Soltan Sahak.Encyclopaedia Iranica, s.v. "Ahl-e Ḥaqq." (secondary)
• companion: Pir MusiPir Musi, the recording angel who first set down the sacred poems, is one of the seven companions of Soltan Sahak.Hamzeh'ee, M. Reza. The Yaresan. Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 1990. (secondary)
• companion: Mostafa DawanMostafa Dawan completes the male members of the heptad of holy companions surrounding Soltan Sahak.Kreyenbroek, Philip G. & Yiannis Kanakis. "God First and Last", Vol. I. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2024. (secondary)
• companion: Khatun-e RazbarThe sole female of the seven holy companions (Haftan) of Soltan Sahak.Kreyenbroek, Philip G. & Yiannis Kanakis. "God First and Last", Vol. I. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2024. (secondary)

Sources

• Soltan Sahak (Soltan Es'haq) is the central divine manifestation of Yarsanism, the founder around whom the religion crystallized in the Guran-Hawraman region in the late 14th-early 15th century, venerated as a supreme earthly embodiment of the Godhead.: Hamzeh'ee, M. Reza. The Yaresan: A Sociological, Historical and Religio-Historical Study of a Kurdish Community. Berlin: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, 1990. (secondary); Kreyenbroek, Philip G. & Yiannis Kanakis. "God First and Last": Religious Traditions and Music of the Yaresan of Guran. Volume I: Religious Traditions. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2024. (secondary); Encyclopaedia Iranica, s.v. "Ahl-e Ḥaqq." (secondary)