The “People of the Truth” and Shi’ite Esotericism: Ostad Elahi’s “Burhān al-Haqq” and “Ma‘refat al-Rūh”

On February 13^th, 2025, Prof. James Morris (Boston College) came to speak to students, faculty, and the community on “The People of the Truth”, Shiite Esotericism, and the important Kurdish writer in the Ahl al-Haqq tradition, Ostad Elahi. Prof. Morris told the audience many personal stories about his life that led him to be interested in this topic. He underscored the importance of his meeting Ostad Elahi’s sister, Shaykh Jani, who is a major figure in Ahl al-Haqq in her own right. He said that the writings of Ostad Elahi were intended to get people on their path to spiritual life and realization. The book especially wrestles with the concept of evil. Prof. Morris especially pointed out the importance of song and oral tradition for Ahl al-Haqq. He said there are many branches of Ahl al-Haqq, and that there are not many scriptures although the group considered themselves Muslims, so they do read the Quran. However, it was really oral stories and songs, Morris said, that kept the tradition alive, when it was dying because of wars. Ostad Elahi realized that many Kurds were having to move from the rural areas to the city to try to make a living. Because of this, Morris said, Ostad Elahi translated works into Persian because the kids were having to learn Persian in school. Thus, Prof. Morris said that we need to pay attention to the important place of oral tradition in our studies of religion. The speaker also pointed out that people, especially studying religion in the Iranian and Kurdish context, need to understand that there are differences in what religious groups consider “religion”. For example, he said that some practitioners of religion will reject formal religious schooling and prefer the everyday practice or rituals of their religion, while others might consider those who do not formally train in a religion to be heretical. Prof. Morris emphasized that migration and diaspora means multi-generational change, that in some cases can happen overnight. People are often forced to adjust to new settings, where they might make connections to other groups. Morris gave an example that Ahl al-Haqq share music with Alevis in Syria. This event was co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of the Middle East, and the Inner Asian and Uralic National Resource Center.