Introduction

Summary

I first visited Turbat-i Jam in eastern Iran, the seat of the mausoleum of Shaykh al-Islam Ahmad-i Jam, in spring 2010. Whilst traveling from Mashhad to Jam by bus, the fecundity of the province of Jam became evident: distant snowcapped mountains on both sides of Jam’s plains-fed rivulets, rivers, channels, and subterranean waterways, which nourished agricultural and pastoral activities. Jam was as the fourteenth-century traveler Ibn Battuta had described it: “pretty, with orchards and trees, abundance of springs, and flowing streams.” My fellow passengers were dressed suspiciously like their neighbors in Afghanistan. The majority of the region’s residents are Sunni, with a burgeoning Shiʿi minority. The passengers were mostly Iranians, with a smattering of Afghan Hazaras and Tajiks. Traditional dress – turbans and shalwar – is not uncommon, although the burqa, ubiquitous across the border in nearby Herat, is rarely seen in the city of Jam or its purlieus. Jam is a prosperous region. It profits from a sensible balance of Iranian tradition and modernity; and Iran’s Sunni and Shiʿi cultural heritages.