"Shadd" and its Ceremony

"Shadd" is a symbolic belt which was being tied around the waist of the neophytes and novices of fityān, aṣnāf and some sufi communities in an initiation ceremony where the earlier waist-tied (mashdūd) members presented. By this ceremony, the person became,
provisionally or permanently, a member of the aforementioned communities. It has been emerged at least in the 7th century and continued in some Sufi orders so far. In addition to be a sign of acceptance in the mentioned groups, shadd has also functioned in
some other ways; among the traders, it has somehow been as a license for their job and among some Sufis functioned as lubs i khirqa ceremony. In this paper, the function, history, material, apparent features, conditions and terms of mashdūds ceremony details have been investigated. The study is based on the futuwwat-nāmas and kasb-nāmas, particularly the Persian ones which have been seldom studied in previous surveys.