Yazidis, the Angel Worshiper

More than 500 people were killed in August 2007. The suicide truck bombings targeted the minority Yazidi community in northern Iraq.Trucks loaded with fuel detonated in Qataniyah and Adnaniyah, devastating infrastructure and killing hundred peoples. Qataniyah and Adnaniyah lie in northern Iraq and are populated by the Yazidi.

Who is The Yazidi? The Yazidi are adherents of the smallest of the three branches of Yazdânism, a Middle Eastern religion with ancient Indo-European roots. The Yazidi religion is a syncretistic combination of Zoroastrian, Manichaean, Jewish and Nestorian Christian and Islam. According to The Yazidi Book of Revelation , They believe that they were created separately from the rest of mankind and are descended from Adam only - not from Adam and Eve like the rest of humanity. They have therefore kept themselves strictly isolated from the other communities among whom they lived, and did not intermarry with them. The Yazidi Book of Revelation and The Yazidi Black Book are the two principal holy book of them.

In the Yazidi worldview, God created the world, but delegated its maintenance to a hierarchy of seven angels. Malak Ta'us (the Peacock Angel) is one of them. They consider Him to be the leader of the archangels. He rules the universe with six other angels. God instructed all archangels to bow to Adam. But Malak Ta'us refused to bow Adam. and was punished by being cast down from heaven. Yazidi theology claims that Malak Taus was forgiven for his transgressions, he repented of his sin of pride, was pardoned and reinstated as chief of the angels.

In Yazidi belief, Malak Ta'us is the ruler of this world, and they seek to appease him as they fear his power. They don't really worship him, but seek to honour and placate him, believing that the Supreme Being has delegated to him dominion over the world. The Yazidi consider that the founder of their religion, Sheikh Adi , was an avatar of Malak Taus. Sheik Adi is a descendant of Umayyad Caliph Marwan ibn al-Hakam, was born in the 1070s in the Beqaa Valley of present-day Lebanon.

The reason for the Yazidis reputation of being devil worshipers, is connected to the other name of Malak Ta'us. Malak Ta'us,the peacock angel equated with Shaitan or Devil by Muslims or equated with Lucifer "The Fallen Angel" by Christians. In the Koran, both the Devil and the peacock were thrown out of Heaven down to Earth, with the Devil and the peacock both suffering similar punishments. So here we can see Islam associating the peacock with the Devil also. But in fact, the Yazidi do not worship evil as modern-day Satanists do. In their belief, Malak Taus is said to have repented his sins and returned to God as an angel.

Futhermore, the Yazidis retain two Christian customs - the baptism and the Eucharist. The Yazidis must baptize their children at the earliest possible age and the priest puts his hand on the child's head as her performs the rite. When a Yazidi couple marries, they go to a local Nestorian Church to partake of the Eucharist. The cup of wine they drink is called the cup of Isa (Jesus). The Yazidi have great respect for Christian saints and houses of worship, and kiss the doors and walls of churches when they enter them.On the other hand, Yazidis never enter a mosque.

Now, The Yazidi faced widespread violence from Sunni insurgents and foreign jihadis, and they also suffer pervasive discrimination and marginalization at the hands of the national government, regional governments, and para-state militias, including those in Kurdish areas.