This paper will explore the impact of writings and reports of Orientalists and Western scholars in shaping the Yarsan identity, a marginalized ethno-religious group, as a branch of Shi’ism by representing them as believers of the divinity of ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib (‘Ali-Allahis). Western explorers who traveled to the western regions of Iran during the Qajar dynasty have documented cultural and religious information about various ethno-religious groups living in the region, including the Yarsan. Even though these travelogues and reports provide vast information about this group’s tradition, beliefs, and daily life routines, they are overburdened by Eurocentric ideologies, presumptions, and prejudices. Looking at the relationship between Orientalism and Eurocentrism, this research will delve into the writings of Orientalists such as Arthur Gobineau (d. 1882), Henry Rawlinson (d. 1895), and George Curzon (d. 1925) to show how these scholars either advertently or inadvertently influenced later Iranian scholars in their representations of the Yarsan as Shi’ite groups, and particularly as Shi’ite exaggerators (ghulat). Furthermore, by using textual analysis methodology and unpacking the conceptual constructions that underpinned the interactions between Orientalists and the Yarsan, my aim is to challenge the idea that Western knowledge production on the Orient was conducted in isolation. I will argue that the Yarsan identity formation as a Shi‘ite group was a joint enterprise between Orientalists, Iranian scholars, and the Yarsan themselves. This approach shows the nuanced and varied conceptual apparatus that creates several dynamic forms of Othering of the Yarsan as People of the Truth (Ahl-i Haqq), ghulat, and Shi’ite mystical groups. These constructed identities have been constantly reproduced and reinvented from the nineteenth century onward to enable a variety of relations, from equal to subordination, and a variety of treatments from discrimination, assimilation, to toleration. While Orientalists are often positioned as the dominant authority in the Yarsan identity formation discourse, the Yarsan themselves have played a dynamic role in shaping their identification as a Shi’ite population by outside observers.