Afshari

The Afshars are one of the original Oghuz Turkic tribes, named in Mahmud al-Kashgari's 11th-century list of the 24 Oghuz clans; Persian tradition derives the name from a grandson of Oghuz Khan and glosses it as "agile" or "obedient". They entered Iran and Anatolia with the Seljuks in the 11th century. In the 16th century the Afshars were one of the seven great Qizilbash tribes that brought Shah Ismail I and the Safavid dynasty to power, and the Safavids planted Afshar clans as frontier guards and governors across Iran: around Urmia, in the Sain Qaleh-Takab country of West Azerbaijan and Khamseh (Zanjan), in Kerman, in Khuzestan (the Gondozlu) and in northern Khorasan. Nader Shah (r. 1736-47), of the Qereqlu clan of the Khorasan Afshars, founded the Afsharid dynasty and briefly ruled from Delhi to Daghestan.

Today the Afshars are a tribal identity rather than one territory. Those of West Azerbaijan, Zanjan and Qazvin speak an Afshar dialect of South Azerbaijani and live among Azerbaijanis; the Kerman Afshars keep their own Turkic dialect close to Qashqai and Azerbaijani; the Khorasan Afshars speak Khorasani Turkic and are now counted with the Khorasani Turks. Major clans include the Qasemlu, Imanlu, Arashlu, Gondozlu, Osalu and Amirlu, and the Kerman Jahanshahi, Amui and Mirhaibi. Branches live in Turkey (the Avshar of Kayseri and the Taurus) and Afghanistan (the Afshar Qizilbash of Kabul). The Bichaghchi (Pishagchi), a neighbouring Turkic tribe of Kerman, are listed separately.

The Afshars were transhumant herders of sheep and goats who moved between summer pastures in the mountains and winter quarters (qeshlaq) in the valleys; the subdistrict of Qeshlaqat-e Afshar on the Qezel Ozan in Zanjan is named for them. Most are now settled farmers and townspeople, but tribal and clan names, khans' lineages and pride in Nader Shah remain strong. Afshar women are famous weavers: Afshar rugs of Kerman and Sirjan, with their bold medallions and botehs, and the Afshar kilims and saddlebags of the Takab region are collected worldwide. Music and storytelling follow the Azerbaijani ashiq tradition in the northwest, and weddings feature long celebrations with drum (davul) and shawm (zurna). Families are patrilineal and tribal endogamy is common.

The Afshars are Twelver Shia, and their Qizilbash history ties tribal identity closely to Shiism: their ancestors fought for the Safavids who made Shiism Iran's state religion, even though Nader Shah later tried to steer Iran back toward a Sunni-compatible 'Ja'fari school'. Practice centres on Muharram mourning and ta'zieh, vows (nazr) and votive meals, pilgrimage to Mashhad and to local imamzadehs, and the authority of local clergy. Older tribal customs survive in wedding rites, folk healing and seasonal festivals such as Nowruz.

The Afshars of the northwest use South Azerbaijani, which has the complete Bible (Elam New Testament 2013, Old Testament finished 2014; Institute for Bible Translation text 2008), the JESUS film and Global Recordings Network and Faith Comes By Hearing audio. The Kerman Afshars' dialect has no separate resources; they use Persian or Azerbaijani materials. No Afshar church or known evangelical believers are reported.