Peripatetics of Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey - Religion and Expressive Culture

All the concerned communities are Muslim. Although none of the groups in Afghanistan or Iran were considered good Muslims, and some—such as the Luti of Iran—were considered polluting, their beliefs and practices did not diverge basically from local Islamic patterns in the perspective areas. In Afghanistan, the majority are Sunni, but most Ghorbat are imami Shia. In Turkey, the Tahtacı are also imami Shia, but they call themselves "Alevis" and are attached to the Anatolian mystical order of the Bektashi. They still practiced certain pre-Islamic traditions well into the twentieth century.