SINDJABI

The Sindjabi are a Kurdishtribein theIranianprovince ofKirmanshahwho were loyal to the state and played an important role in defense of its frontiers against theOttomans. In part, this was probably because of the tribe's location on the plains, rather than in a mountainous locale where access to refuges would more likely exist. The tribe apparently gained its name only in 1838 when it sent a detachment to take part in the recapture of Herat, now in western Afghanistan. Since the lining of their tunics was made of squirrel fur, they were called Sindjabi, or those who dressed in the fur of squirrels. The Sindjabi chieftains were Shiite. The Sindjabi are noted, however, for being the only tribe that assimilated within itself, in a spirit of great tolerance, Sunnis, Shiites, andAhl-i Haqq.

Shir Muhammad Khan Sandjabi continued to defend the state's frontiers into more modern times and was officially called Samsam al-Mamalik, or the Sharp Sword of the Kingdom. His grandson, Dr. Karim Bakhtiyar Sandjabi, was minister of national education under Muhammad Mussadegh in the 1950s and minister of foreign affairs at the beginning of the Islamic Revolution in the late 1970s. In contemporary times, the tribe has suffered economically because of the government's policies to settle the tribes.