Kashkai

The origins of the Kashkai trace back to Turkic speaking groups that left Central Asia and began arriving in Iran around the 11th century. Over the following centuries, these groups mixed with other populations in the region, including Lurs, Kurds, and Arabs, forming a distinct identity. Little is known about this long intermediate period.

The confederation gradually took shape, bringing the clans together under recognized tribal leadership; by the mid 18th century, a Kashkai leader was already being appointed governor of a province by the ruler of southern Iran. Since the early 20th century, successive Iranian governments have pressured the Kashkai to abandon nomadism and settle in villages and towns, deeply transforming their traditional way of life.

Traditionally nomadic herders, many Kashkai still raise sheep and goats, moving their flocks between summer and winter pastures in a rhythm that organizes the entire family calendar. Social life revolves around the clan and tribal leadership, which historically settled disputes and represented the group before the authorities.

Carpet weaving is one of the people’s most distinctive crafts: Kashkai women weave from memory, without prior sketches, pieces in vivid colors inspired by nature and daily life, passing the craft down from mother to daughter. Poetry, music, and oral storytelling also hold a central place, keeping tribal memory alive across generations.

Practically all Kashkai identify as Shia Muslims, and this religious identity is intertwined with tribal and national belonging. In everyday practice, however, many have little contact with formal Islamic institutions: daily prayer and the Ramadan fast are not observed regularly by everyone.

For much of the people, Islam functions less as a constant devotional practice and more as a mark of collective identity, something that grants belonging to the group and, at times, an advantage in dealings with local and national authorities.

The heart language of the Kashkai is a Turkic language historically spoken but not written, which for a long time left the people without Scripture in their own tongue; many also communicate in Persian day to day. Recently, a New Testament in this language was published, along with Bible portions, audio recordings, and apps, opening a still very recent path for the Word to reach them in their own language.

Among the Kashkai, being a Shia Muslim is inseparable from being Kashkai: the faith functions as a seal of tribal and national belonging, and leaving it is seen as breaking with one’s own family and clan. Added to this is their history of nomadism, which for generations kept the people distant from cities and any contact with Christian communities, along with the recent arrival of Scripture in their language, still little known and far from most of the people.

The forced transition from nomadism to settled life has brought real challenges of livelihood and cultural preservation for many Kashkai families, whose traditional way of life has been pressured by decades of state policy. There is also a genuine lack of access to Scripture in their own language, since the Kashkai New Testament is recent and still circulates little.

The people lack their own Christian community and discipleship in their heart language; those who draw near to faith in Jesus find very little support from other believers who share their culture and history.

Among Iran’s nomadic peoples, of whom the Kashkai are part, a small number of known believers already exist, and Persian Christians from other regions of the country have begun reaching out to them with the message of the gospel. It is still a small beginning, but a real one, among a people historically distant from any Christian witness.