Sultan Sahak, or Soltân Sahak was a religious leader who founded the secret and syncretistic religion of the Ahl-e Haqq

Ahl-e Haqq

The Ahl-e Haqq or Yârsân , are members of a religion founded by Sultan Sahak in the late 14th century in western Iran. The total number of members is estimated at around 1,000,000, primarily found in western Iran and Iraq, mostly ethnic Kurds and Laks, though there are also smaller groups of Luri,...

, also known as the Yârsân. He is considered to be the manifestation of the total divine essence by the Ahl-e Haqq. According to the Ahl-e Haqq hagigography, the Asian conqueror Timur

Timur

Timur , historically known as Tamerlane in English , was a 14th-century conqueror of West, South and Central Asia, and the founder of the Timurid dynasty in Central Asia, and great-great-grandfather of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Dynasty, which survived as the Mughal Empire in India until...

 (Tamerlane) once met with Sultan and used him as an oracle

Oracle

In Classical Antiquity, an oracle was a person or agency considered to be a source of wise counsel or prophetic predictions or precognition of the future, inspired by the gods. As such it is a form of divination....

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Sultan Sahak was born in Barzanjeh, which is in the province of present day Sulaymania, Kurdistan Region. According to the Ahl-e Haqq hagiography, he was a direct descendant of the Shia Islamic Imam

Imam

An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...

 Musa Kazim. His father, Shaykh Isi, was a religious leader and his mother, Khatun-e Razbar, is considered the manifestation of one of the seven archangels. As with Jesus, the birth of Sultan is also believed to have been a case of virgin birth

Miraculous births

Miraculous births are a common motif in historical literature and religious texts. Stories of miracle births often include miraculous conceptions and features such as intervention by a deity, supernatural elements, astronomical signs, hardship or in the case of some mythologies complex plots...

. According to his followers he revealed the fourth stage of the religion (Haqiqat=truth) to earth, the Bayabas-e Pirdiwari (beyond the bridge). Sultan Sahak's teachings were recorded by his disciples and later published in the Gurani language as the Kalam-e Saranjam

Kalam-e Saranjam

The Kalâm-e Saranjâm is the central religious text of the Ahl-e Haqq, written in the 15th century based on the teachings of Sultan Sahak. The Ahl-e Haqq believe the Kalam-e Saranjam to be the book of divine guidance and direction for mankind and consider the text in its original Gurani language to...

. He is given various names by the followers of the Ahl-e Haqq, including Shah-e Haqiqat (the King of Truth), Saheb-Karam, Saan Sahaak and Khwaavandekaar (Lord).