KHORRAM-DINAN

( (Persian: Glad Religionists), ) also called Khorramiyeh, esoteric Islamic religious sect whose leader Babak led a rebellion in Azerbaijan (now divided between Iran and Azerbaijan) that lasted from 816 until 837. The doctrinal beliefs of the Khorram-dinan are not altogether clear. Although the sect accepted the general principles of Islam, its members also believed in transmigration of the soul and placed special emphasis on the Zoroastrian dualism of light and darkness. They differed from Sunnite Muslims (the major branch of Isl am) in that they believed in the Shi'ite doctrine of the imamate (the belief that the religious community should be led by the descendants of the union of Fatimah, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, and 'Ali, the Prophet's nephew). The Khorram-dinan differed from most Shi'ites, however, in believing that the imamate should be hereditary in the person of Abu Muslim (d. 755), who had led a revolutionary movement in Khorasan. According to some sources, Babak, spiritual leader of the Khorram-dinan, claimed, in the early 9th century, to be a descendant of Abu Muslim. Other sources, emphasizing the belief in transmigration of souls current among the Khorram-dinan, maintain that Babak claimed to possess the soul of Jawizan ibn Sahl, a former leader of the Khorram-dinan. In 816 Babak, believing that he had a divinely inspired mission to right all the wrongs of the temporal world, led the Khorram-dinan in open rebellion against the 'Abbasid caliphs that ruled from Baghdad. The rebellion lasted 20 years and was suppressed only in 837, when Babak was captured. Although the rebellion died out with Babak's execution in 838, the Khorram-dinan survived as a sect until the 11th century.