Yazidis - Devil Worshippers of the Near East?

A mystical and secretive religion found in the mountains of northern Iraq, the Yazidis have been persecuted for their beliefs for hundreds of years. There within Iraq, the Yazidis hold beliefs both controversial and unusual to the outside world. A religion with elements of the Abrahamic (Islam, Christianity, Judaism), Dharmic (Vedism, other Hindu Sects) and ancient Iranian religions and philosophies, the Yazidis can be said to be both a mixture of faiths and a faith of it's own.

Beginnings

It is debatable as to whether or not Yazidism is a pre-Islamic religion or had arrived after Islam as a heretical radical Shiite sect. Yazidis often claim their religion to be the oldest religion in the world and have no affiliation with Islam. The tradition is claimed by most other historians to have existed thousands of years before Islam, during the time of another famous holy man, Abraham.

It is highly unlikely, if not completely impossible, that Yazidism didn't take the form it did until the twelfth century A.D. . A Sufi mystic, Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir created many of the rituals and rites practiced by Yazidis today. Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir is till today still revered with great respects by Yazidis along with several other individuals who they believe to be incarnations of arch angels of god (Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir is believed to be the incarnation of Malek Taus, usually represented as a peacock in Yazidi depictions and is the leader of the seven archangels).

It is estimated that there are around 700,000 Yazidis around the world. Most are of Kurdish descent but there are smaller groups of Arabic-speaking Yazidis. During a campaign sponsored by the Turkish government, most Yazidis in Turkey left for Europe in the 1970s. It is further estimated that 1/3 of all Kurds or people of Kurdish descent follow one of the branches of Yazdanism (Yazidism is probably the most obscure sect, the other two, Alevi and Ahl-e-Haqq, are considered "weird" Muslims by other mainstream Muslims). Most Yazidis are from or live in Iraq. Prior to the coming of Islam, Yazdanism's branches were probably the most followed religions among the Kurds.

Beliefs and Practices

Yazidis are very similar to Muslims in way of life and many women do wear headscarves although it is not required. They do not eat pork like Muslims and Jews. They also do circumcise boys but it is also not required. Something unique to Yazidis is that they do not eat lettuce. Yazidis are baptized at birth.

Yazidis believe that the world began with a pearl. From that pearl the world was small but after thousands of years it came into it's current state. They believe that they are from Adam and not from Eve (meaning Adam gave birth to a baby boy). According to Yazidism, all other non-Yazidis are the children of Eve and thus Yazidis accept no converts. Honor killings is a commonly prescribed punishment for Yazidis who leave their faith.

Yazidi mythology is similar to that of Islam, Christianity and Judaism. They do believe in both the heavens and the existence of angels and jinn (demons) . However, they do not believe in the existence of a devil and believe that hell was extinguished. They do believe in reincarnation. Yazidis believe that when god created Adam, he told all angels to bow down to Adam. One angel (which is known as the fallen angel / devil in other Abrahamic faiths) is believed to have refused to have bowed down to Adam. As a punishment from God, God forced this angel from heaven, just like in the other Abrahamic faiths. However, according to the Yazidis, God forgave him after he cried for seven thousand years and then repented. God then made him the lord of the earth and leader of the archangels. In fact, Yazidis revere this being for no bowing to Adam while in Islam Muslims vilify him. Muslims and other Abrahamic religions thus have came to claim that Yazidis are devil worshippers. Because of this Yazidis have been persecuted as such for hundreds of years.

Yazidis do have a caste system, divided into three castes (muraids, sheikhs and pirs, which are all coincidently terms often used by Sufi Muslims to describe a member of a Sufi order's rank). The lowest of classes are often kept illiterate and few details of the religion are divulged to them. Yazidis are only allowed to marry within their tribe. Like Muslims, Yazidis do have five daily prayers but most only pray one or two of them. Yazidis can not share razors, cups and or other accessories with non-Yazidis because they are believed to be non-pure.

Yazidis Today

Prior to the war in Iraq, Saddam's regime was known to actually donate money and goods for the construction of places of religious worship for Yazidis, although this is disputed by some historians. After the overthrow of the Saddam regime and the eventual Iraqi sectarian violence that arrived a year after Saddam's overthrow, many Yazidis left Iraq and were killed in the violence that ensued. Their numbers have been decreasing for centuries now; 200 years ago there was around two million Yazidis while today there are around 700,000. Centuries of persecution and torture have withered away the Yazidi's numbers. The few and proud Yazidis that continue to practice their religion of supposed devil worship in the mountains of northern Iraq are leaving their ancient homeland now for Europe and other places of opportunity abroad. For Yazidis, while persecution on various levels will probably always be an issue, perhaps the preservation of texts and the culture that comes with this religion for those who live outside ancestral Yazidi homelands are among the faith's biggest problems. Yazidism developed as an isolated religion, closed to the outside world. Whether it can stand the test of time with the eventual coming of globalization is something that only time can tell.