'Military Report on South-West Persia, Including the Provinces of Khuzistan (Arabistan), Luristan, and Part of Fars' [‎91] (126/466)

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Attaclied to tlie Governors of towns^ districts and tribes and others re-
. sponsible for the collection of revenue are, as a rule,
n rigmng agen s. a g eri ^ s 0 f p r inee Governor, who aid in its collection ;
these men seem to be also confidential agents who keep the Prince informed
of the dissensions and dispositions of the tribes and who intrigue amongst
them in the interests of their masters.
The mules bred by the Feilis are considered to be superior to all others in
"Mules Persia; they can export 1,000 annually [see page 1S8).—
Hawlinson.
The price of a mule varies from thirty to forty tomans 10,000 Persian dinars, or a gold coin of that value. (lis. 120 to 160).
They also manufacture carpets, packing-bags, horse furniture, charcoals
Wealth as ah Iliyats, their chief wealth lies in their
Hocks of sheep and herds of goats, donkeys, horses, &c.
{see pages 82) ,95). Their country also produces cheese, butter, charcoal, cherry
sticks and otter skins.
Their horses are of a mixed breed [see pages 99, 109).
jj oiigeg There are few or none of pure Arab breed.
Religion ; former and present.
Some of the tribes of the Lur-i-Kuchak are still of a religion founded on
Ali-Ilahi relio-ion AH-Ilahi persuasion; and although the majority
now are Muhammadans, they are not at all strict in their
religious observances; the Ali-Ilahis are chiefly confined to the Lurs in the
vicinity of Karmanshah where their lands border those of the Kurds.
r lhis peculiar faith bears evident marks of Judaism singularly combined
with Sabaan, Christian and Mnhammadan legends. It is thus referred to by
Sir H. Rawlinson in Vol IX of the Royal Geographical Society^s journal :—
"The Ali-Ilahis believe in a series of successive incarnations of the
Godhead, amounting to a thousand and one. Benjamin, Moses, Elias, David,
Jesus Christ, Ali, and his tutor Salman, a joint development, the Imam
Husain and the Haft-tan (the seven bodies) are considered the chief of these
incarnations; the Haft-tan were seven Pirs, or spiritual guides, who lived in
the early ages of Islam, and each, worshipped as the Deity, is an objecd of
adoration in some particular part of Kurdistan. Baba Yadgar was one of these.
The whole of the incarnations are thus regarded as one and the same person,
the bodily form of the divine manifestation being alone changed; but the
most perfect development is supposed to have taken place in the persons of
Benjamin, David and Ali.
r lhe Spanish Jew, Benjamin of Tudela, seems to have considered the
whok of these Ali-Ilahis as Jews, and it is possible that in his time their
faith may have been less corrupted/ 7
And again—
" David is really believed by the AlMlahis to have lived there (Dukban-i-Daud, Howlan
Zohab), although invisible, and the smithy is consequently regarded by them as a place of
extreme sanctity. I never passed by the tomb without seeing the remains of a bleeding
sacrifice, and the Ali-Ilahis, who come here on pilgrimage from all parts of Kurdistan, will
prostrate themselves on the ground, and make the most profound reverence immediately,
taat they come insight of the holy spot. In connexion with the Samaritan captivity, I
regard this superstitious veneration for David, and the offering of Jcurhdns, or sacrifices, at
his supposed shrine, as a very curious subject."
The features of the Feili Lurs are decidedly cast after a Jewish mould
this was specially remarked when travelling with the Sagwand tribe.