Yediler in Ahl-e Haqs

The belief of Ahl al-Haqq was founded by Sultan Ishaq, who was born in 1216 in the village of Barzinjah in Sulaymaniya, Iraq. Sultan Ishaq started to spread his belief Ahl al-Haqq after immigrating to Perdiver, Iran. For this reason, the majority of Ahl al-Haqq followers today live in the western regions of Iran. The belief of the Ahl al-Haqq has formed a community for itself as of its establishment. This community consists of ethnic Turkish speakers and Gorani speakers. The Ahl al-Haqq belief, which does not attach importance to ethnicity, gives holiness to people known to be Turks, such as Shāh İsmāʿīl and Hacı Bektaş. Yediler (the seven), which is the subject of this study, is a sacred group within the belief of Ahl al-Haqq. Yediler is one of the leading social structures in the Ahl al-Haqq belief and community. Yediler are the seven main people who appear just before the divine manifestation or attainment. For this reason, they were called by different names in each period of emergence. The term Yaren is also used by Ahl al-Haqq to these people. Yediler is also called Heften in Persian. The effects of Yediler on the community and the belief within the Ahl al-Haqq value system constitute the purpose of this study. Accordingly, an ethnographic field study was conducted between 2017-2019, centred on Iran's Tabriz, Tehran and Kermanshah cities. The data obtained from the field study and handwritten sources accessed through the library research and during the field study constitute the main sources of the study.
Keywords: Ahl al-Haqq, Yediler, Iranian Turks, Goranies, Alevism- Bektashism.