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The Yazdanism (also rendered Ezidis,
Yezidis or Yazidis) are followers
of a religion established by
a 12th century Arab mystic,
Sheikh Adi Musafir, which draws
on elements of Islam,
Gnosticism and Zoroastrianism.
They are mostly ethnic and linguistic
Kurds, and their heartland largely
overlaps with that of the Kurds,
straddling eastern Turkey and
northern Iraq. It has been thoerized
that the Yazdâni faiths
were the primary religion of
the Kurds until their Islamization
in the 10th century. The three
religions of Yazdanism are primarily
practiced in relatively isolated
communities. The adherents of
Alevism,
Ahl-e
Haqq and Yezidi are estimated
to constitute about 1/3 of the
Kurds. They have traditionally
been derided by their Muslim
neighbors as "devil-worshippers,"
although it is more accurate
to say that they revere angels.
Some sources maintain that the
Ezidi religion predates not
only Sheikh Adi but also Islam
and even Zoroastrianism, and
that the angels of Ezidi cosmology
are actually a survival of the
ancient Indo-European gods.
Sheikh Adi is said to have given
the Ezidis two books of revelation,
but at least one has been lost
(allegedly to a British museum),
and their lore and history are
largely kept alive via oral
tradition under the direction
of an hereditary priest-ruler,
said to be Adi's successor,
the Bab el-Sheikh. Some further
elucidates their belief, noting
that the divine being they revere
as ruler of the earth, Malak
Taus ("Peacock Angel"),
is held to be fallen but not
beyond redemption: an imperfect
echo of both the Muslim Shaitan
(Satan) and the Zoroastrian
Ahriman. However, the Zoroastrianism.com
atricle goes to great pains
to emphasize that the Ezidi
beliefs are described only to
differentiate them from Zoroastrian
beliefs and dispel confusion
between the two groups. Some
passages from the Ezidi "Black
Book" or Meshaf i Resh,
a collection of hymns attributed
to Sheikh Adi.
In the Yazidi belief system, the world
was created by a god, and the world
is now in the care of a Heptad of
seven Holy Beings, often known as
Angels or heft sirr (the Seven Mysteries).
Preeminent among these is Melek Taus
(Tawûsê Melek in Kurdish),
the Peacock Angel. According to the
Encyclopedia of the Orient, "The
reason for the Yazidis reputation
of being devil worshipers, is connected
to the other name of Melek Taus, Shaytan,
the same name the Koran has for Satan".
Furthermore, the Yazidi story regarding
Malek Taus' rise to favor with God
is almost identical to the story of
the jinn Iblis in Islam, except that
Yazidis revere Malek Taus for refusing
to submit to Adam, while Muslims believe
that Iblis' refusal to submit caused
him to fall out of Grace with God,
and to later become Satan himself.
Yazidis believe that Melek Taus is not
a source of evil or wickedness. They
consider him to be the leader of the
archangels, not a fallen angel, and
therefore comparable to the Christians'
Lucifer, who is likewise considered
the leader of the "seven who
stand before the Lord" and of
all other good angels. Also, they
hold that the source of evil is in
the heart and spirit of humans themselves,
not in Melek Taus. The active forces
in their religion are Melek Taus and
Sheik Adî. The Kitêba
Cilwe (Book of Illumination) which
claims to be the words of Melek Taus,
and which presumably represents Yazidi
belief, states that he allocates responsibilities,
blessings and misfortunes as he sees
fit and that it is not for the race
of Adam to question him. Sheikh Adî
believed that the spirit of Melek
Taus is the same as his own, perhaps
as a reincarnation. He is believed
to have said: "I was present
when Adam was living in Paradise,
and also when Nemrud threw Abraham
in fire. I was present when God said
to me: 'You are the ruler and Lord
on the Earth'. God, the compassionate,
gave me seven earths and throne of
the heaven."
Yazidi accounts of creation differ from
that of Judaism, Christianity and
Islam. They
believe that God first created Melek
Taus from his own illumination (Ronahî
in Kurdish) and the other six archangels
were created later. God ordered Melek
Taus not to bow to other beings. Then
God created the other archangels and
ordered them to bring him dust (Ax)
from the Earth (Erd) and build the
body of Adam. Then God gave life to
Adam from his own breath and instructed
all archangels to bow to Adam. The
archangels obeyed except for Melek
Taus. In answer to God, Malek Taus
replied, "How can I submit to
another being! I am from your illumination
while Adam is made of dust."
Then God praised him and made him
the leader of all angels and his deputy
on the Earth. (This likely furthers
what some see as a connection to the
Islamic Shaytan, as according to legend
he too refused to bow to Adam at God's
command, though in this case it is
seen as being a sign of Shaytan's
sinful pride.) Hence the Yazidis believe
that Melek Taus is the representative
of God on the face of the Earth, and
comes down to the Earth on the first
Wednesday of Nisan (March/April).
Yazidis hold that God created Malek
Taus on this day, and celebrate it
as New Year's day. Yazidis argue that
the order to bow to Adam was only
a test for Melek Taus, since if God
commands anything then it must happen.
(Bibe, dibe). In other words, God
could have made him submit to Adam,
but gave Taus the choice as a test.
They believe that their respect and
praise for Melek Taus is a way to
acknowledge his majestic and sublime
nature. This idea is called "Knowledge
of the Sublime" (Zanista Ciwaniyê).
Sheikh Adî has observed the
story of Melek Taus and believed in
him.
One of the key creation beliefs of Yazidism
is that all Yazidis are descendants
of Adam rather than Eve. Yazidis
believe that good and evil both exist
in the mind and spirit of human beings.
It depends on the humans, themselves,
as to which they choose. In this process,
their devotion to Melek Taus is essential,
since it was he who was given the
same choice between good and evil
by God, and chose the good.
Yazidis, who have much in common with
the followers of Ahl-e
Haqq (in western Iran), state
that the world created by God was
at first a pearl. It remained in this
very small and enclosed state for
some time (often a magic number such
as forty or forty thousand years)
before being remade in its current
state. During this period the Heptad
were called into existence, God made
a covenant with them and entrusted
the world to them. Besides Melek Taus,
members of the Heptad (the Seven),
who were called into existence by
God at the beginning of all things,
include Sheikh Adî, his companion
Shaikh Hasan, and a group known as
the four Mysteries, Shamsadin, Fakhradin,
Sajadin and Naserdin. The Yazidi holy
books are the Kitêba Cilwe (Book
of Revelation) and the Mishefa Res
(Black Book).
Two key and interrelated features of
Yazidism are: a) a preoccupation with
religious purity and b) a belief in
metempsychosis. The first of these
is expressed in the system of caste,
the food laws, the traditional preferences
for living in Yazidi communities,
and the variety of taboos governing
many aspects of life. The second is
crucial; Yazidis traditionally believe
that the Seven Holy Beings are periodically
reincarnated in human form, called
a koasasa.
A belief in the reincarnation of lesser
Yazidi souls also exists. Like the
Ahl-e Haqq, the Yazidis use the metaphor
of a change of garment to describe
the process, which they call kiras
guhorîn in Kurdish (changing
the garment). Alongside this, Yazidi
mythology also includes descriptions
of heaven and hell, with hell extinguished,
and other traditions incorporating
these ideas into a belief system that
includes reincarnation.
The adherents of the faith were referred
to as the "Sabians of Harran"
(of Carrhae) in Maimonides' Guide
for the Perplexed. The Sabians are
also mentioned in the Qur'an and in
Bahá'í
writings.
The distribution of the three Yazdani
religions follows geographic boundaries
the Alevi
may be found in northwestern Iraq,
Turkey and along the Syrian coast.
The Ahl-e
Haqq or Yarsani are located in
the southernmost part of Iraq and
in western Iran. The
Yazidi come from the Turkish-Iraqi
border region.
Page last updated:
Sunday, July 13, 2008 12:10:52 -0400
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