Information about the Yezidi Kurds

First, thanks to Esra’a for inviting me to join this website.

The Yezidis (”yuh-ZEE-deez”) are a Kurdish sect living in the Nineveh province of modern-day Iraq. Their religion is pre-Islamic and pre-Christian, yet it has absorbed certain qualities of both faiths. It has also absorbed elements of Zoroastrianism and Sufi mysticism. It is a matter of debate among scholars as to just how old the Yezidi religion actually is, but it is possible (though not proven) that the people and their faith are descended from ancient India. In any case, it may be that Yezidism is the original pagan religion of the Kurds.

Yezidis believe in a Supreme God who “gave birth” to a number of lesser divinities - called angels or daemons (in the original Greek sense) - in much the same way that a flame gives birth to candlelight. The number of angels is usually given as seven. Since the angels are emanations of God, not just creations, it is thought by the Yezidis that they are God, expressed in plural forms. God is believed to have taken the form of a giant bird who laid a cosmic egg or pearl, from which the entire universe was hatched; this echoes an ancient Egyptian myth in which the creator god Amun took the form of a benu bird and gave birth to the universe through a cosmic egg. After the universe was hatched, God and the angels proceeded to create life on thousands of different worlds, only one of which is our own.

Now there came a time, after human beings had been created, when the Supreme God decided that rulership of the universe should be given to the angels, that God might go off and create other universes. But to do this, it was necessary to test the angels to see which of them was closest to God and most able to take His/Her place as ruler of the angels. So God commanded the angels never to worship anyone or anything but their Creator. Then God said, “Bow down and give worship to Adam.” Each and every one of the angels immediately obeyed, except for one. When God asked the angel why he disobeyed, the angel said, “I will never worship anyone or anything but You.”

God was secretly pleased with the angel, but the test was not yet over. So God cast the angel out from heaven, whereupon the angel descended into Hell. When he got there, the angel cried and cried so much that his tears became a great ocean, and the water extinguished the fires of Hell forever. When God saw this, he rejoiced and he praised the fallen angel, for the angel had been the only one to pass the test. He had been the only one to reason a path of truthfulness instead of blindly following others (by refusing to worship Adam), and he had defeated loneliness, pain and death with his compassion (by flooding Hell with his tears). So the fallen angel was restored to his place in the celestial hierarchy, and God made him the Chief of all angels and the caretaker of Creation. The angel became known as Melek Ta’us (”mel-ECK DOWSE”), which means “the Peacock King” or “Peacock Angel” in Kurdish.

So Melek Ta’us became a sort of benevolent demiurge, who acts as a “firewall” between this world and Heaven. The book of Al-Jilwah, which is the primary sacred text of the Yezidis, is believed to be his divine revelation, which was given to the world through his prophet, Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir. The revelation says that Melek Ta’us is the omnipresent ruler of the universe; no place in Creation is without his presence. He is ever-present to help and guide those who are in need of his help. He says that he allows “everyone to follow the dictates of his own nature” (Chapter I), indicating that it is his will that people should have different colors, different religions, different sexual preferences, etc. Furthermore, those who worship Melek Ta’us are expected to be respectful toward those who are different.

Naturally, the idea that Melek Ta’us once fell from heaven has caused many Christians and mostly Muslims to identify the Peacock Angel with “Satan” or “Shaitan,” the idea of an evil Adversary who is always plotting against God and humankind. This could not be farther from the truth. The fallen angel of the Yezidi did not rebel out of hatred, but out of love for God, and he was forgiven and reconciled with the Creator. Furthermore, the book of Al-Jilwah teaches that there is absolutely no conflict between Melek Ta’us and God or the other angels or even Jesus Christ. It teaches that Christianity, Judaism and Islam, as well as every other religion on earth, contain the basic teachings of Melek Ta’us, though the religions might seem different on the surface. And it also teaches a very healthy respect for the Biblical prophets and apostles.

Yezidis pray five times a day; once at dawn, once at sunrise, once at noon, once in the afternoon, and once at sundown. Each of these prayers are to be recited while facing the sun, for the sun is the visible manifestation of Melek Ta’us in heaven. The noon prayer, on the other hand, is to be recited while facing Lalish, the primary sacred site of the Yezidis. Lalish is a mountain valley just north of the Iraqi city of Mosul, and it is there that the holy prophet Sheikh Adi was buried in his tomb. Each Yezidi is expected to make a six-day pilgrimage to Lalish at least once in their lifetime. Wednesday is their holy day, but Saturday is the day of rest.

The Yezidis have castes in their society, and they are strictly endogamous; Yezidis are only allowed to marry other Yezidis. They do not proselytize or accept converts, as proselytism is considered to be against Melek Ta’us. Another reason for this is because they believe that they are descended from Adam only, and not from Eve.

However, they also believe that Melek Ta’us is not their sole property, and that he belongs to everybody. In some cases, it is even believed that he appears under different names and guises in other religions, such as Ahura Mazda in Zoroastrianism and the angel Michael in Christianity. Therefore, non-Yezidis are free to worship Melek Ta’us if they please, but they must only worship him if they are being true to themselves in doing so. They must also be careful to point out that they are not Yezidis by ethnicity, and they must refrain from proselytizing.

The only notion of an afterlife that is outlined in Yezidism is reincarnation, while is taught in Al-Jilwah. However, reincarnation is considered desirable by Yezidis, unlike how it is perceived in Hinduism. There is some indiciation in Al-Jilwah that Melek Ta’us punishes after death those who do evil during their lives on earth, but since he himself destroyed Hell, there is no such thing as eternal punishment after death. Nobody will ever be punished eternally.

Because many Muslims believe that Yezidis are “devil worshipers,” the Yezidi people have been violently persecuted regularly for hundreds of years. To some extent, it is probably a miracle that they still exist today. In fact, one of the worst tragedies of the Iraq War was targeted against Yezidis earlier this year. On August 14, 2007, Islamic terrorists drove trucks filled with high explosives into a Yezidi village, killing anywhere from 400 to 600 people. Considering their history, I feel reasonably sure this won’t be the last time the Yezidis are targeted by such people. My purpose in sharing this information is to spread knowledge about the Yezidis and to (hopefully) generate global support for them. It is my hope that something can eventually be done to help these people and to keep them from being wiped out.

More information and links about Yezidism and a Western application of its tenets may be found on my blog, the URL of which is in my profile. Or, if there are any questions anyone might have, I would be more than happy to answer them. I will do so to the best of my ability.