The Kurdish Re-Appropriation of the Yazdani Religion

[Emmunah]

The Kurdish Re-Appropriation of the Yazdani Religion

by Daniel Bart

September 11, 2004 – KurdishMedia.com

No culture can be truly understood without understanding its history of religion. This is clearly a problem in the Kurdish context as most Kurds lack even rudimentary knowledge of the Kurdish religion.

The Kurdish culture of secretiveness prevents dissemination of knowledge about the Yazdani religion. Some scholars even dispute the notion of a Yazdani religion and claim that this is an academic construct. This is true in the sense that almost every notion of an establishment of “religion” is a Western construct. E.g. the divergent practices and doctrines of “Hinduism” do share far less than the rather more coherent practices and doctrines of “Yazdanism”.

The Yazdanis believe in a universal spirit. They share the Hindu tolerant view of other religions as well as the belief in transmigration and reincarnation including the belief in incarnated avatars. Leading religious figures from neighboring religions have been given the status of avatars throughout Yazdani history as Yazdanism is explicitly syncretistic. Yazdanis do not believe in heaven and hell although they accept the notion of linear time. There is a hereditary priestly class as in Hinduism and Judaism. Yazdanis share with the Zoroastrians the belief in seven benevolent and seven malevolent arch-angels.

Key to the understanding of Yazdanism as well as Kurdish political culture is the practice of dissimulation or as the Arabs call it, taqiyya. Dissimulation has been part of Middle Eastern religion long before the advent of Islam. This is apparent in the Yazdani religion, the Druze religion as well as in Middle Eastern Islam.

The late American political scientist Leo Strauss was a pioneer in rediscovering the political dissimulation of classical philosophers. He explored “the art of writing” or practices of writing in layers and code to avoid the wrath of rulers. Strauss concludes that these practices were abandoned with Enlightenment. Strauss rediscovers these practices in his famous readings of the classics of Plato, Maimonides, Spinoza and others. The fact is however, that that political dissimulation was never abandoned in Kurdistan and the Middle East. It is in fact impossible to understand Kurdish culture without familiarity with the ancient practice of political dissimulation. It is likely no coincidence that a student of Leo Strauss such as Paul Wolfowitz has helped and understands the Kurds like few others.

If a non-Yazdani interviews an Alevi cleric s/he will simply come away with nothing. The cleric will confirm that which the interviewer knows or thinks s/he knows but will not tell her/him anything concrete s/he didn’t know before the interview. A Yarsani will simply refuse to divulge anything. If a Yazdani tells you that “my father taught me a few things” then you can be sure that he knows quite a few things that he won’t tell you! Most Western scholars who have attempted to study the Yazdanis have done that without any familiarity with dissimulation and the art of writing. Few people also know that there is a historical Yazdani presence in southeastern Europe though Yazdanis now live across Western Europe. To this day, a third of the Kurdish people are still Yazdanis.

This is a culture that is used to dealing with political oppression and adapt to the rulers and religious doctrines of the day. At home, far away from the eyes of Muslims, the Yazdanis continue to practice their own religion and culture. Many Muslim and post-Muslim Kurds do not realize that the Sufi Islam practiced by most Muslim Kurds is heavily infused with Yazdani practices. It is extremely common for Kurds in exile in Europe to completely abandon any practice of Islam. What is both tragic and ironic though is that they unwittingly also abandon age-old practices of their Yazdani heritage that are integral to Sufism in Kurdistan. It is critical that post-Muslim Kurds know how to distinguish between Islam on the one hand and Yazdani practices of Kurdish Sufism on the other.

The Yazdani religion has three surviving contemporary denominations: the Alevis, the Yarsanis and the Yezidis. There can be no doubt that there have been more denominations in the past that have not survived the violently enforced Islamization of the Ottoman era. Many Muslim and post-Muslim Kurds identify the Kurdish religion with the Yezidi branch of Yazdanism. This is so because the Yezidis almost never claimed to be Muslims. However, the Yarsani denomination does not differ much from the Yezidi one. The Alevi branch in contrast has given Avatar status to the twelve shi’a Imams which has caused some innocent observers to conclude that this is simply another branch of shi’a Islam.

The level of dissimulation often depends on the geographical location. E.g. Alevi Kurds in Stockholm rarely admit that they are Alevis. However, the situation is different in the old university city of Uppsala north of Stockholm as the Alevis predominate in the Kurdish population of Uppsala. An Uppsala Alevi may however deny his/her background while in Stockholm. Hence, the level of dissimulation depends on the concentration of Alevis and whether Alevis feel confident to be open about their background. No doubt this is a culture of siege that has faced centuries of persecution.

In fact, Judaism and Yazdanism are the only classical religions of the Mediterranean region that have survived the political and religious imperialism of the Christian and Islamic cultures. While the respective literatures of Judaism and Yazdanism are open to students, they cannot be properly understood without deliberate tutoring by a religiously knowledgeable person who knows the particular modes of writing. Islam, Judaism and Yazdanism have similar strategies for dealing with outsiders. Moral essence is emphasized over law and seemingly unattractive aspects are deliberately downplayed. Adherents are encouraged not to tell certain matters to outsiders who are generally viewed with some suspicion.

The Dِnme of Istanbul are an interesting case as they exist in the intersection of Judaism, Yazdanism and Islam. To outsiders, the Dِnme who are Turkish-speaking Jews claim to be secular Muslims while many of them are also members of the Alevi Bektashi order. The six-edged star is ironically also the symbol of that particular Yazdani order as well as of rabbinical Judaism.

Whether or not there will be a Yazdani nativist movement where post-Muslim Kurds return to renewed Yazdani practices, Kurds need to know their religious heritage which belongs to all Kurds irrespective of their current denominational affiliation. The KRG should consider declaring Yazdanism as the “national religion” of the Kurds and Kurdistan. Knowledge about Kurdish heritage, including Yazdanism is critical if the Kurdish national movement is to be effective. The Kurds should also consider whether political dissimulation (which involves withholding general information from the public) is appropriate for a de facto independent Kurdish State. Democracy requires free exchange of information and vigorous and well-informed public debate. Dissimulation is necessary under tyranny but redundant when there is freedom from fear.
http://danielbart.com/articles/The%20Ku ... ligion.htm

[Diri]

I read that article with great interest and also read some more of Daniel Bart's articles about Kurdistan and Jews... I am VERY impressed by his persuessive rhetoric...

I like him! He is good for Kurdish Israeli relations... He is absulutly right! We should do MUCH more lobbying...


And as for Yazdanism - It is important for us to remember our roots and YES we SHOULD declare Yazanism as our NATIONAL RELIGION - This has nothing to do with religion... it is POLITICS - Yes- most Kurds re Muslim, BUT MOST Kurds follow Yazdani tradition and way of life... it is in our culture... if it hadn't been for our yazdani roots we would have had a culture similar to the Arabs,Turks and Persian... So we must EMBRACE that we are a different CULTURE AND PEOPLE - only way to do this is declaring Yazdanism our national Religion!

LONG LIVE DANIEL BART!

[kassem]

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[Diri]

I'll tell you why - Because Alevism is a branch of Yêzîdîsm - just like Yarsanism - it is also a branch of Yêzîdîsm... BUT they have taken different routs... While Yêzîdî followers have kept their original religion - The Alevi have to some extent become more envolved in Islam... Sure - the Yêzîdî also accept Muhammed and Ali as Avatars... BUT they don't belive in God like Muslims do or like Christians do.. they believe in a "spirit"... And they believe in reincarnation... do Alevi believe in reincarnation? I don't think so... do you?

[kassem]

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[Diri]

Kassem - Like you said that there are probably thousands of ways to believe in Alevism... There are probably thousands of ways to believe in Yêzîdism too... so probably SOME don't mind getting married to a boy/girl from a different religion... And some may be very orthodox... point being that people believe individually...

[Vladimir]

There are only 100,000 Yezidi, not millions like muslim believers, so it's logical they trie to preserve their religion.