o - Aceh Books website

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QASHQA'I 635
Shiraz to make or discharge vows. Qashqa'i women, therefore, use the more
accessible and supposedly efficacious aspects of Islam, while Qashqa'i men,
who also clearly and unambiguously identify themselves as Muslims, tend to be
skeptical concerning the Islam they see practiced in bazaar economics and (after
1978) state politics and associate themselves with more specifically tribal customs
and codes of ethics.
The revolution against the rule of the Shah in 1978-1979 and the ensuing
establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979 brought about many political,
economic and social changes for the Qashqa'i. Qashqa'i tribespeople
quickly rearmed and seized control of former pastoral and agricultural land.
Nontribal encroachers were forced to leave. Prices of pastoral products tripled,
interest taking (a practice that had been a major cause of poverty in the past)
was forbidden and debts were reduced to the actual value of the goods or money
borrowed; many Qashqa'i did very well economically after the revolution and
found pastoralism to be more profitable than many of the livelihoods adopted in
the 1960s and 1970s.
Attitudes of the Qashqa'i concerning Islam changed after the forced imposition
of theocratic rule in Iran. Before 1979 they had been critical of what they regarded
as the irreligious behavior of the moneylender-merchant hajjis, on whom they
had been economically dependent, and offered this behavior as evidence that
daily prayer and fasting had little to do with being a good Muslim. After 1979
they were suspicious of the ruling clergy's political repressions, which were said
to be justified by religious doctrine. Persecutions against Iran's national minorities,
with whom many Qashqa'i identified and sympathized, were viewed with
alarm. Qashqa'i women who went to town not properly dressed were harassed,
and coeducational classes at the tribal schools in Shiraz were forbidden. Also
forbidden by the new Islamic regime were the music and dancing performed at
Qashqa'i weddings.
But it was in the area of Qashqa'i politics that the Islamic Republic had the
most impact. With the revolution of 1978-1979, Qashqa'i leaders who had been
exiled and deposed by the Shah returned to tribal territory and attempted to
resume leadership of the Qashqa'i population. This was a difficult task given
their many years of absence and the socioeconomically diversified and geographically
dispersed population.
During the uneasy first year of the Islamic Republic, Revolutionary Guards
were sent out to enforce state rule among Iran's national minorities. They interfered
little in Qashqa'i activities. That the Qashqa'i were Shia and not Sunni,
as were the Kurds, Turkmen and Baluch, was one reason. Ayatollah Khomeini
attributed peaceful conditions in Fars Province to the presence of the Qashqa'i
khans who had returned from exile. However, in 1980 relationships turned hostile
when conservative clerics denied Khosrow Khan Qashqa'i, a popular Qashqa'i
leader, his seat in the newly elected parliament. When he was arrested and
imprisoned, military confrontations between the Revolutionary Guards and
Qashqa'i forces broke out in southern Iran. Paramount Qashqa'i leaders and