Editing Caste (section)

=== West Asia ===
==== Kurdistan ====
===== Yazidis =====
{{further|Yazidi social organization}}
There are three hereditary groups, often called castes, in [[Yazidism]]. Membership in the Yazidi society and a caste is conferred by birth. Pîrs and Sheikhs are the [[priestly caste]]s, which are represented by many sacred lineages ({{langx|ku-Latn|Ocax}}). Sheikhs are in charge of both religious and administrative functions and are divided into three endogamous houses, Şemsanî, Adanî and Qatanî who are in turn divided into lineages. The Pîrs are in charge of purely religious functions and traditionally consist of 40 lineages or clans, but approximately 90 appellations of Pîr lineages have been found, which may have been a result of new sub-lineages arising and number of clans increasing over time due to division as Yazidis settled in different places and countries. Division could occur in one family, if there were a few brothers in one clan, each of them could become the founder of their own Pîr sub-clan ({{Langx|ku-Latn|ber}}). Mirîds are the lay caste and are divided into [[Kurdish tribes|tribes]], who are each affiliated to a Pîr and a Sheikh priestly lineage assigned to the tribe.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Pirbari |first1=Dimitri |last2=Mossaki |first2=Nodar |last3=Yezdin |first3=Mirza Sileman |date=March 2020 |title=A Yezidi Manuscript:—Mišūr of P'īr Sīnī Bahrī/P'īr Sīnī Dārānī, Its Study and Critical Analysis |journal=Iranian Studies |volume=53 |issue=1–2 |pages=223–257 |doi=10.1080/00210862.2019.1669118 |s2cid=214483496 |issn=0021-0862}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Omarkhali |first=Khanna |date=31 December 2008 |title=On the Structure of the Yezidi Clan and Tribal System and its Terminology among the Yezidis of the Caucasus |journal=[[Journal of Kurdish Studies]] |volume=6 |pages=104–119 |doi=10.2143/jks.6.0.2038092 |issn=1370-7205}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Omarkhali |first=Khanna |title=The Yezidi religious textual tradition: from oral to written categories, transmission, scripturalisation and canonisation of the Yezidi oral religious texts |year=2017 |isbn=978-3-447-10856-0 |page=27 |publisher=Harrassowitz Verlag |oclc=1007841078}}</ref>

==== Iran ====
Pre-Islamic [[Sassanid]] society was immensely complex, with separate systems of social organisation governing numerous different groups within the empire.<ref name="Nicolle, p. 11">Nicolle, p. 11</ref> Historians believe society comprised four<ref>
These four are the three common "Indo-Euoropean" [[Trifunctional hypothesis|social tripartition]] common among ancient Iranian, Indian and Romans with one extra Iranian element (from Yashna xix/17). cf. Frye, p. 54.</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Persian Night: Iran under the Khomeinist Revolution |date=1986 |first=Amir |last=Taheri |publisher=Encounter books}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Why the Middle East Lagged Behind: The Case of Iran |page=72 |first=Kāẓim |last=ʻAlamdārī |publisher=University Press of America}}</ref> [[social class]]es, which linguistic analysis indicates may have been referred to collectively as "pistras".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Chaudhuri |first=K. N. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cYY6AAAAIAAJ&dq=pistra+iran&pg=PA55 |title=Asia Before Europe: Economy and Civilisation of the Indian Ocean from the Rise of Islam to 1750 |date=1990 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press|CUP Archive]] |isbn=978-0-521-31681-1 |language=en}}</ref> The classes, from highest to lowest status, were priests ({{transliteration|fa|Asravan}}), warriors ({{transliteration|fa|Arteshtaran}}), secretaries ({{transliteration|fa|Dabiran}}), and commoners ({{transliteration|fa|Vastryoshan}}).

==== Yemen ====
{{further|Al-Akhdam}}
In [[Yemen]] there exists a hereditary caste, the [[Africa]]n-descended [[Al-Akhdam]] who are kept as perennial manual workers. Estimates put their number at over 3.5 million residents who are discriminated, out of a total Yemeni population of around 22 million.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-999239 |title=Yemen's Al-Akhdam face brutal oppression |work=[[CNN]] |access-date=22 October 2017 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20131129072703/http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-999239 |archive-date=29 November 2013}}</ref>