by a spiritual leader called a say-yed, to whom each member must swear obedience. The say-yed is the spiritual leader of the community and is normally present during the ceremonies attended by the followers. Say-yeds are the only ones allowed to have full access to the religious texts of Yarsanism, and have traditionally competed with each other to have the largest number of followers. The position of Say-yed is hereditary, being passed down through the generations from the original founders. As the say-yed are considered spiritual 'parents', it is the tradition for them not to marry their followers. Relationship with other religious groups An excerpt from the French Review of the Muslim World describes the difficulty in nomenclature for Yarsanism and related Shi'ite mysticism. The English translation reads: Relations with Islam Ahl-e Haqq view Islam as a product of a cycle of divine essence, which was made manifest in Ali, and established the stage of shai'at (Islamic law). This was followed by the cycle of tariqat (Sufi teachings), then ma'rifat (Sufi gnosis), and finally the current cycle of haqiqat (Ultimate Truth), which was made manifest in Sultan Sahak. The final stage supersedes the previous ones, which frees Ahl-e Haqq from observing the shari'a rules incumbent on Muslims. Ahl-i Haqq class other Muslims as either Ahl-i Tashayyu (followers of Shi'ism) or Ahl-i Tasannun (followers of Sunnism). The Ahl-i Haqq neither observe Muslim rites, such as daily prayers and fasting during the month of Ramadan, nor share Islamic theology and sacred space, such as belief in the day of resurrection and sanctity of the mosque. Extremist Sunni Islamic groups, such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and al-Qaeda, regard the followers of Yarsanism as unbelievers who have to convert to Islam or die. These militants have persecuted Yarsanis during the Iraq conflict, possibly prompting some Iraqi Yarsan community leaders to declare in 2013 that their people were actually Muslims to avoid sectarian attacks. See also Ali-Illahism Yazidism Yazdanism References Bibliography Collections of Yarsani texts published in Iran and Iraq: Ṣafizāde, Ṣ. (1375/1996), Nāme-ye Saranjām yā Kalām-e Xazāne [The Book of Saranjām or the Kalām of the Treasury], Tehran. Ḥosseyni, Sayyed M. (1382/2003), Dīwān-e Gewre [The Great Diwan], Kermanshah. Ṭāheri, Ṭ. (2007, 2009), Saranjām, 2 Vols., Erbil. Anonymous (copied 1387/2008), Daftar-e Diwān-e Gewre-ye Perdiwari [The Book of the Great Collection of Perdiwari (Kalāms)], copied by Kāki ‘Azizpanāhi Tutšāmi, n.pl. External