The dance of Baba Karam is a tribute to Jahels (literally means the ignorants) who were a specific cult of usually undereducated urban youth or middle aged men with their own way of dressing (black suits, white shirts, black hat and some type of a scarf as you see in the video), their own style of speaking Farsi and and their own code of behavior. Generally they did not have legitimate jobs therefore were intoxicated often and were known to get into knife fights. They also supported a specific but unspoken code of honor amongst themselves.

Baba Karam may have been a renowned Jaheh or purely a fictitious character to exemplify the characteristics of this group. Jahels are also referred to as Kolah Makhmalis (the velvet hatters).