The Khâksâr Order: between Ahl-e Haqq and Shiite mystical Orders.

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The Khâksâr mystical brotherhood is the second largest Shiite Iranian dervish order in Iran. Our knowledge about the religious life of Khâksâr dervishes is still limited, and their rituals, traditions and the historical development of this Order remain largely unexplored.There are close links between the Khâksâr dervishes and the Ahl-e Haqq (Yârestân) community, a religious minority which is located mainly in the west and northwest of Iran. The religious traditions of the Ahl-e Haqq include many pre-Islamic elements and therefore many Muslims do not recognize their followers as fellow believers.The first aim of this project is to gather information about beliefs, self-conception and religious practices of the Order, mainly on the basis of fieldwork. Field work includes attending and documenting religious meetings and rituals, and conducting interviews with members of the order.Based on the results of the field research, a comparison between Khâksâr and Ahl-e Haqq will play a significant role in an attempt to reconstruct the early history of Khâksâr. Furthermore, fieldwork undertaken in the framework of this project has raised further questions about the integration of a community that has both Islamic and non-Islamic elements, in the wider, orthodox Shiite community.