ABSTRACT
Ahl-e Haqq consider Bektashis as their closest members of a large family which includes a few other hyper-Shia1 groups, of which only the Nusayri, and ‘Ali Allâhi are clearly identified. Tradition has it that Soltân Sahâk founded the Ahl-e Haqq maslak in Iranian Kurdistan and Luristan. After a hundred years of spiritual reign in Kurdistan, he disappeared, then reappeared, and manifested himself in Anatolia under the name of Haci Bektaş.2 When giving an account of the Ahl-e Haqq in a seminar on Bektashi and Alevi, I found it more appropriate to make a survey of the Ahle Haqq studies at large but with a critical eye, and to suggest some research perspectives, rather than to focus on a specific point. Thereby the reader will get a general idea of the present situation of this religious group and its problems, and hopefully be able to draw comparisons with the case of the Bektashi and Alevi.
