The Kalam-e Saranjam: The Sacred Book of the Yarsani Faith
- Dala Sarkis
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
Introduction
The Kalam-e Saranjam, 'The Discourse of Conclusion', is the central sacred scripture of the Yarsani (Ahl-e Haqq) faith. A vast body of divinely revealed poetry, it preserves the teachings of Sultan Sahak and the holy history of the faith, and it stands at the heart of Yarsani belief much as the Quran or the Bible stands in other religions.
Yet the Kalam-e Saranjam is unlike a printed holy book. For most of its life it was carried not on the page but in the voice, sung from memory in the sacred language of the faith, and it lives even now in the chanting of the kalams at the jam. To understand it is to understand how the Yarsani keep their truth alive.
Contents
What Is the Kalam-e Saranjam?
The Kalam-e Saranjam (also simply the Saranjam, or the Kalam) is the holy scripture of the Yarsani faith, a collection of revealed poems based on the teachings of the founder, Sultan Sahak, and composed around the fifteenth century. Written in the Gorani language and long transmitted orally, it recounts the successive manifestations of the divine and sets out the beliefs and rites of the faith. It is the book that the singers of the jam draw upon to this day.
Key Takeaways
The Kalam-e Saranjam is the central sacred scripture of the Yarsani (Ahl-e Haqq) faith.
Its name means 'The Discourse of Conclusion', and it preserves the teachings of Sultan Sahak.
It is written in Gorani, the sacred language of the faith, and was long passed down orally.
Tradition holds it was first written down by Pir Musi, the recording angel of the Haft Tan.
Its poems are sung at the jam, the communal ceremony, to the music of the tanbur.
Quick Facts
Name: Kalam-e Saranjam ('The Discourse of Conclusion'); also simply Saranjam or Kalam
Tradition: Yarsanism (Ahl-e Haqq / Kaka'i)
Type: The central sacred scripture of the faith
Based on: The teachings of Sultan Sahak, the founder
Written down by: Pir Musi, the recording angel of the Haft Tan
Language: Gorani (Hawrami) Kurdish, the sacred language of the Ahl-e Haqq; partly Persian
Structure: The epochs of four divine manifestations: Khawandagar, Ali, Shah Khoshin and Sultan Sahak
Form: Divinely revealed poems (kalams), long transmitted orally
Use: Sung at the jam to the accompaniment of the tanbur
Attestation: Composed around the 15th century; partly oral, partly written
The Discourse of Conclusion
The Kalam-e Saranjam grew from the teachings of Sultan Sahak, the founder of the Yarsani faith, who in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries gathered his first community in the land of the Gorani Kurds. The book is built around his revelation, and around the words of the holy beings who surrounded him. Its name, often rendered 'The Discourse of Conclusion', marks it as the culminating scripture, the final word of a long unfolding of the divine.
The Saranjam is not a single slim volume but a great and complex body of sacred poetry, the kalams. Around its core gather other books and collections held to belong to the same revelation, including the Daftar-e Khazana-ye Perdivari, the 'Book of the Treasure of Perdivar', a gathering of mythological poems. Together they form the written memory of the faith.
Written Down by the Golden Pen
Yarsani tradition holds that the words of the Saranjam were first set down by Pir Musi, the member of the Haft Tan identified with the recording angel. As the heavenly scribe who keeps the record of all deeds, it was fitting that he should be the one to commit the divine poems to writing, the Golden Pen of the faith.
Yet for most of its history the Saranjam was preserved less on the page than in the heart. The poems were learned, remembered and sung across the generations, a living scripture carried in the voices of the faithful. Only in recent times have parts of it been gathered and written down for the wider world; much remains, by long tradition, an oral treasure.
The Four Epochs of the Divine
At the heart of the Saranjam lies the Yarsani vision of history as a succession of divine manifestations. The faith teaches that the divine essence has appeared in the world in a series of great epochs, each with its own central manifestation, and the scripture is ordered around them.
The collection gathers the epochs of four great manifestations of the divine: Khawandagar, the Creator who made the world; Ali, the revered figure of early Islam; Shah Khoshin, whose epoch unfolds in Luristan; and Sultan Sahak himself, whose epoch is set in Hawraman by the Sirwan River. In this sweep the Saranjam tells not one story but the whole long history of the divine presence in the world.
The Sacred Language and the Living Word
The Saranjam is written in Gorani, also called Hawrami, the language Yarsani tradition holds to be the sacred tongue of the faith. It is said that all the early Yarsani used Gorani as their religious language, and the holiest words of the Saranjam are preserved in it. This gives the scripture a particular poignancy today, for few modern Yarsani speak Gorani as their mother tongue, which is more often Southern Kurdish or Sorani. To know the Saranjam in its own language is itself a sacred inheritance.
Above all, the Saranjam is a book that is sung. Its poems are the kalams chanted at the jam, the communal ceremony, where a reciter sings them to the accompaniment of the sacred tanbur and the community answers in the refrains. In this the scripture is never merely read; it sounds, it is performed, it becomes for a time the living voice of the faith. The Saranjam is less an object than an act of devotion repeated down the ages.
Symbolism
The Kalam-e Saranjam embodies the Yarsani sense that truth is revealed and remembered rather than simply written. As the record of the divine manifestations, it holds the whole shape of sacred history; as a body of song carried in memory, it binds the community to its past through the living voice.
Its preservation in Gorani, in the face of dispersion and pressure, makes it a vessel of identity as well as faith. To keep the Saranjam, to sing its kalams and guard its language, is for the Yarsani to keep themselves: a people held together by a remembered, sounding word.
Debates and Misconceptions
Is the Saranjam like the Yazidi sacred hymns? There is a kinship: both the Saranjam and the Yazidi Qewls are bodies of revered sacred poetry transmitted by voice rather than fixed in a single printed scripture. But there are differences too. Unlike the Yazidis, the Yarsani have no special class whose sole task is to memorise the texts, and the two traditions use and understand their sacred poems in their own distinct ways.
Is there one definitive Kalam-e Saranjam? Not in the way of a single fixed canon. The Saranjam is a broad and somewhat fluid body of poems, with various collections and copies held by different communities and lineages. Old calligraphic manuscripts exist, but much of the tradition remains oral, and its boundaries are drawn more by reverence than by a single official edition.
Related Topics
Sultan Sahak: the founder whose teachings the Saranjam records
Pir Musi: the recording angel said to have written it down
The jam: the ceremony where the kalams are sung
The tanbur: the sacred lute that accompanies the recitation
The Yazidi Qewls: the kindred sacred hymns of the Yazidis
The Haft Tan: the seven holy beings whose words the scripture preserves
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Kalam-e Saranjam?
The Kalam-e Saranjam ('The Discourse of Conclusion') is the central sacred scripture of the Yarsani (Ahl-e Haqq) faith, a body of revealed poetry based on the teachings of Sultan Sahak.
What language is it written in?
It is written chiefly in Gorani (Hawrami), regarded as the sacred language of the Yarsani faith, with some material in Persian. Few modern Yarsani speak Gorani as their everyday language.
Who wrote the Kalam-e Saranjam?
Yarsani tradition holds that the divine poems were first written down by Pir Musi, the member of the Haft Tan identified with the recording angel. They are based on the revelation of Sultan Sahak.
What is in the Kalam-e Saranjam?
It gathers the sacred poems, or kalams, of the faith, ordered around the epochs of the great divine manifestations: Khawandagar, Ali, Shah Khoshin and Sultan Sahak, along with teachings and rites.
How is the Kalam-e Saranjam used?
Its poems are sung as kalams at the jam, the communal ceremony, by a reciter to the accompaniment of the tanbur, with the community joining in. It is a living, sung scripture rather than only a written one.
References and Further Reading
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