Roj Bash !

Much is said about Yezidis, from hostile groups to pro-Aryanist Kurdish nationalists, and all is wrong. So I think it is useful to make a survey of the real history of Yezidism (and of course, history being an evolutive science, there is no definitive and complete knowledge about a historical research, but let’s stress on real facts).

Their name :

Yezidis called themselves “Êzdî/Êzîdî”, in Kurdish. Most Western scholars think that this name comes from the Ummayyad sovereign Yazîd b. Mu’âwiya (particularly hated by Shiits for he killed Husayn at Kerbelah !). But it could be come from the ancient Iranian world : “Yazata/Yazad” or divine being. Yezidis in general rather the last etymology. Some popular explanations says it is a contraction of “Ez da” that would mean “God created”. Some other terms are related to an islamic vocabulary. In certain hymns (kawls) the comlmunauty is called “Sinnat” (Sunna), Suhbatiyya (Friends). Other are related to old Kurdish tribes as Dasinî, Dâsin. The most important religious figure is the Angel Peacock, in arab “Tâ’ûs-e Malak” or “Malak Tâ’us”.

Almost all yezidis speak Kurdish and even some arab-speakers yezidis use Kurdish as religious language. So it is the only cult, with Ahl-Haqq, for which Kurdish is a sacred language, even Alevis use Turkish in their hymns, and of course Muslims use Arab and Christians Aramean…
In general Yezidis considers themselves as Kurds, but in Armenia and Georgia, there is a tendancy to claim to be distinct from Kurds, perhaps because of anti-islamic feelings which grow in these 2 republics and in former Soviet Republics, Kurds = Muslims.

Social tradional organisation of yezidis was tribal, like other Kurds. It was forbidden to common believers to read and write, and until modern times, their culture was oral. A character that could be linked to ancient iranian religion (Avesta) is the division in social hereditary “casts” and inter-casts marriages. The main division is the class of Shaykh, Pîr and murîd (laic). Each Yezidi should have his Shaykh and his Pîr. There are other symbolic “Brotherhood” practising too by Alevis and other Kurds, that could be a remaint of ancient “Futuwwat” or “Akhi group”, a medieval order or sufi chivalry.

There are 3 others religous casts, Kawwals, Fakirs and Koçaks, who have sufi aspects as well of “hindu brahmanism” whith their hereditary character. Kawwals sing the kawls and play sacred music, fakirs have a pious life as sufi and are clad in black, though Koçaks are clad in white. Some koçaks are like shamans, they have visions, dreams, and can communicate with the “unseeing world”.

Their history :

When did the name “Yazidiyya” appear for the first time ? A movement pro-Yazid b. Mu’awiyya existed in Kurdish moutains. In 505H/1111 a Shaykh, who claimes to be of Umayyad ligneage, ‘Adi b. Musafir came in that area, where Kurdish tribes were still “Mazdean believers”. Shaykh Adi founded a sufi order, al ‘Adawiyya, in the valley of Lalesh, where he was buried. Al’Adawiyya was not only a Kurdish order, at this time. But Kurdish believers, with their particular culture and former cult, were isolated from other and developped their own religion, which separated them from their Muslim neighbours, with which they were often in conflict.

Powerful Kurdish tribes were inclined to join al Yaziddiya, betweenn the 13-15th century. With Mongol invasion (firstly hostile to Islam) in 1258, and Timur Lang’s devastation (14th/15th century) Islamic state was disorganized, cities were ruined, and local powers and cults increased their influence, like Alevis in Iran and Anatolia.

But since the 16th century, Yezidis begun to be persecuted, as many other religious groups considered as “heretic”, Shabak, Alevis, Yaresan etc., by Ottoman empire. At this time, the Middle-East was shared in 2 empires, a Sunni (Ottoman) and a Shiite (Safavid in Iran). Alevis aka Qizil Bash were supporters of the Safavid leader, and then Ottoman sultans considered all Shiite and Qizil Bash as “inner ennemies” and then persecuted a lot of sects. Much Yezidis fled in Armenia and Georgia, for they were not persecuted by Christians !

During the great massacres of Christians by Ottoman in 1894-5 then 1915-16, Yezidis were killed like others, and fled in Caucasian areas.

Their religion :

There are in their religion, remains of ancient Iranian cult and an inluence of sufism.

Yazidis believe in one God, which created the world (which had originally the shape of a pearl), but delegated its rule to seven archangels, the “Seven mysteries” or “Heft Surr”. As in any gnostic beliefs, the Evil is on Earth, and symbolized by Malak Ta’us. It is the last point that make believe to their adversaries that they adore the Devil, but some Yazidis rejected that connexion, though the name of Shaytan is taboo, and no one should tell it in their presence. There is a obvious connexion with the sect of Ahl-Haqq (mostly in Eastern Kurdistan) so such myth as the creation of the world-pearl could be an ancient Iranian belief. Some tradition mention too a Flood, which is a very common Mesopotamian tradition.

There are a great number of saints, (Khass or Mêr). They have the name of ancient sufis, some others could have been ancient chiefs or heros. There are dynasties of Shaykhs/Pîrs, which had their mausoleums.

Some Yezidis texts mention reincarnation, heaven and hell. Sharaf Khan Bitlisî, in his History of Kurds (16th century) wrote that Sheikh Adi had chosen to take for himself the burden of all the sins in his community, then yezidis would go directly to paradise, without being interrogated by the 2 angels of Death (as any Muslims).

The first sources are the hymns, or Kawls. They are very numerous, and not all well-known. They are the main and most trustable source about this religion.

There are written manuscripts known as “sacred Books” of yezidis, the Mashaf e Resh and the Kitab i Jilwa. but there are fakes, forged by Christians. However they reflect Yezidi oral tradition and the kawls, then if these manuscripts are false as objects, the content is interesting.

Practices :

They don’t gathered for praying, contrary to Muslims. They praise the sun at morning, like Alevis and many Iranian groups, derivated from Avestic Cult of Light. Saints’ mausoleum are places of pilgrimage.

There are a lot of taboos (mamnu’at) : it is forbidden to tell Satan’s name as we have seen to wear blue clothes, to eat certain things (as lettuce !) and they must not polluate air, water, earth (as ancient Mazdeans and Parsis nowadays). But with modern life, these taboos disappear.

Places and pilgrimage :

Much village have their own local saint’s mausoleum. The most important is the valley of Lalesh, a region called “Shaykh Adi”. Within the valley some places and their names remind islamic beliefs while other are most local and “Kurdish” : At the entrance of the valley there is a small bridge “the Sirat Bridge” (pirra silat) which could be related to that bridge going to Paradise Door for Muslims, which is thin as a thread and of which much dead souls fall before entering in Eden… There is a source in a cavern called “Zam Zam” (as in the source that Gabriel made for Agar and Isma’il); another source called “Kaniya spî” (White source). One of the mountains around the valley called “‘Arafat” (as in Mecca) and another “Mishet” (Mushayt in Medina).

But the sanjak (statues) of Malak Ta’us, figuring the peacock are radically opposed to islam which refuse any kind of “idols”. Moreover, the great importance of clothes and thei religious meaning could be related to Mazdeans which had sacred clothing too.

Theu practice baptism with the water of zam zam (Christian or Mandean influence ?) and circumcision, as Muslims and Jews. Some of their celebrations and feasts are parallels to islam and follow the lunar calendar, some other are connected with ancient eastern calendar. They celebrated the Newroz as all the Kurds (Sarsal at spring). Some religious could fast 40 days in summer and winter. Some feast are connected with the solar cycle : A fast of 3 days in winter, before the birth of a Saint Ezîd could remind Christmas, but Christmas was a “copy paste” of an ancient Solar Feast, corresponding to the solstice and the “new sun” of the year. The greatest celebration last 7 days (Jajna Jama’iyya), where each people who can has to go to Lalesh. Some reports mention that a bull is sacrified for the occasion. If it is true, it is a link with the ancient Iranian cult of Mithra, who killed a bull of which the blood fertilized the earth and made growing plants, flowers and trees…

Short and recent bibliography :

Encyclopédie de l’Isla, 2004 : Yazidi;
P.G. Kreyenbroek : Yezidism. Its backgrounf, observances and ritual traditions, Lewiston, 1995.
J. Guest : Survival among the Kurds. A history of the Yezidis, London, 1993.
C. Allison : The Yezidi Oral Tradition in Iraqi Kurdistan, 2001.
J. Elias Murad : The sacred poems of the Yazidis: an anthropological approach, Los Angeles, 1993
N. Fuccaro : The other Kurds. Yazidis in Colonial Iraq, London 1999.