Yazidi religion and Gnostic Christianity

[NovaKart]

A few weeks ago I visited the most sacred Yazidi holy site, Lalish, in Northern Iraq. I've also met a few Yazidi people here, since many of the liquor store owners here are Yazidi. Actually it's possible that most of them are since I never ask their religion and the only ones who told me their religion are the ones who brought it up with me. There are few Yazidi in this city and they all seem to have come from the Duhok and Nineveh governorates.

Anyway, it got me interested to read about the religion. It's connected to Islam and Christianity but is different in many ways. They believe in 7 angels, the chief of which is Melek Tawus who is identified with Satan in Islam, which is why they've been called devil worshipers and suffered discrimination. There are certain beliefs and traditions connected to the prophets that are very different as well, like they believe there was a flood before Noah's flood and parts of the Adam & Eve story.

One of the sites that I read suggested they were influenced by Gnostic Christianity. I have little understanding of what Gnostic Christianity really is, which is part of what I'm asking. It seems a bit confusing. I always thought it referred to alternative beliefs by Christians in the very early period of Christianity before it became the dominant religion and that these beliefs had died out long before the coming of Islam and certainly before the Yazidi religion which originated later. Perhaps it was influenced by Manichaeism but I know even less about that. It's also often said that they were influenced by Zoroastrianism.

Actually, some Kurds say that the Yazidi religion was the original Kurdish religion which I don't believe is true. I think most Kurds were converted long before then to Islam. Early Kurdish history is a very obscure subject but I still think that's pretty far fetched.

Another interesting thing about the Yazidi religion is that they don't allow conversion and they don't allow intermarriage. There was a notorious incident back in 2007 when a Yazidi girl was involved with a Muslim boy, it's not clear whether they were in involved really or she was just spotted with him. She was stoned to death by a crowd of 200 people and it was caught on video. After that, there were terrorist attacks against Yazidis by Al Qaeda.

Another big component seems to be Sufi Islam and the Yazidi religion has taken a lot of religious vocabulary at least from Sufi Islam, such as words for religious leaders. Some people also mention more extreme sects of Shiism which sounds similar to the Ahli Haqq/Yarsan religion which also exists among Kurds in Iraq and Iran.

The last one is by either a Yazidi or someone very sympathetic to them but there are some things which are false, like claiming the Yazidi religion is the oldest in the world.

These are some links about the religion:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidi

http://www.sacred-texts.com/asia/sby/index.htm

http://www.yeziditruth.org/

 

[Core Imposter]

Thank you for your post. I am an evangelical Christian and I appreciate any civil discussion of any religion.

Unfortunately, I am basically ignorant of the Yazidi.

 

[cybrxkhan]

Gnosticism is a term used to describe a group of religions, mostly from antiquity and the early medieval era. While there's debate on whether the term is even useful or accurate in terms of grouping these various religions and sects together, they tend to share several similarities. First, there's some sort of belief in hidden (mystical?) knowledge (I think the Greek word gnosis has something to do with hidden, hence Gnostic, but someone can correct me if I'm wrong). That is, there is some ultimate truth that usually isn't accessible through the material world, or the normal means. Second, many of these gnostic religions had a very dualistic outlook on the world.

Depending on where the gnostic religions arose they were related to/influenced by/or even influenced Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism. As such when you refer to Gnostic Christianity you're probably referring to various early Christian sects who were influenced by gnostic ideas and I guess could be considered gnostic religions sometimes. I guess one could also say Shiite Islam may have taken some Gnostic influences as well.

Historically the most successful Gnostic religion was Manicheism, which at its height spread from Britain to China and was a major competitor to Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and Buddhism. It started in Mesoptamia/Persia, but probably died out in China in the 1600s (maybe - traces of it may live on in some parts of Chinese culture (I did a research paper on that, btw, a couple of years ago)). Other famous groups considered gnostic include the Cathars, who got themselves into quite a mess with the Catholic Church in the 1200s. The only group surviving to the modern day who are described as definitely Gnostic - unlike the Yazidi whom I've heard as heavily influenced by gnosticism at best - are the Mandaeans of Iraq, who are related to but separate from the historical Manicheans.

As to the actual influence of Gnosticism on the Yazidis, I'm not sure. Presonally I just think they were a syncretic blend of Islam, Zoroastrianism, Gnosticism, and local ancient beliefs.


For a scholarly and comprehensive but fairly accessible and readable treatment of the Yazidis and Gnosticism, I highly recommend the articles for them on encyclopedia iranica (it's one of the few reliable, good scholarly sources that's also completely free and something a (knowledgeable) layman can understand):

http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/yazidis-i-general-1
http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/yazidis-ii-initiation-in-yazidism
http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/gnosticism

 

[NovaKart]

OK, thanks for the information. I had not heard of Mandaeans before, and I suppose it's not surprising since they seem to traditionally live in just southern Iraq and there are just a few thousand of them left there according to wikipedia. The Christians in Kurdistan are Assyrian and Chaldean. Another strange thing about the Yezidi is that they have castes in their religion and people are not allowed to marry outside of that caste group. There are 3 castes. For a religion that does not allow intermarriage with other religions or conversion and consists of only about half a million people that really narrows down the marriage choices.

I wish I could talk with the Yazidi people I've met more to ask them about it but there's a real language barrier since I can only manage basic conversation in Kurdish.

 

[Tahuti]

I wish I could talk with the Yazidi people I've met more to ask them about it but there's a real language barrier since I can only manage basic conversation in Kurdish.

Isn't Farsi very close to Kurdish?

 

[Princeps]

I suspect that Kurds prior to Islam were mainly Christian and Zoroastrian and Yazidis emerged later, following the deterioration of the Islamic orthodoxy during all the Turkish and Mongol invasions.

 

[NovaKart]

Yes but they're not really mutually intelligible. Also yezidi people speak kurmanji Kurdish which is very different from sorani Kurdish which I'm more familiar with. They're really separate languages, however the yezidi I met here have learned to speak sorani so that's not an issue. When I went to Duhok it was confusing though, fortunately many people can speak at least a little Turkish there. I don't speak Farsi by the way.

 

[NovaKart]

I suspect that Kurds prior to Islam were mainly Christian and Zoroastrian and Yazidis emerged later, following the deterioration of the Islamic orthodoxy during all the Turkish and Mongol invasions.

It's an interesting idea. I'm not aware of anything really known for certain about pre-Islamic Kurds. It's normally assumed they were Zoroastrian and I don't know what other religion they would be unless it's some unknown form of paganism. It seems logical that some of them would have converted to Christianity but it's a bit strange that none of these Christian communities have survived. All of the Christian communities I'm aware of in Kurdistan have their own languages and identities - Assyrian and Armenian.

I was reading a paper about the Kurds by an Armenian author who rejects any connection between Yazidism and Zoroastrianism. He says that both Zoroastrians and Yezidis deny this and the supposed similarities like reverence for fire and bull sacrifice are common in many religions. I don't know what to think because I don't know enough about most religions and this particular author rejects a lot of commonly accepted things about Kurdish identity, like he doesn't see Zaza and Gorani/Hawrami speakers as Kurds. The author even seems to reject any connection between Kurds and Yazidi. They are an ethno-religious group that rejects intermarriage but it seems likely they share an origin with Kurds and they speak the same language. Of course speaking the same language doesn't make one related but I mean, where else did they come from? I haven't really asked the Yazidi people I've met whether they consider themselves Kurds but they do seem to be quite against Islam and expressed a solidarity with Christians, most likely because of a shared past oppression. My being from a Christian background may have played a part in this too, like an effort to be polite.

He doesn't really have any alternative explanation for the origins of Yazidi beliefs. It's possible they were a more extreme form of Shia Islam. This is similar to the Alevi and Yarsan/Ahl i Haqq religions which are like alternative versions of Shia Islam. There's also some influence from Sufi Islam. I don't know much about the Druze religion in Israel and Lebanon, I'm not suggesting a connection but it's interesting to note another Abrahamic religion in the mid-East with elements of Gnosticism.

 

[onejayhawk]

I suspect that Kurds prior to Islam were mainly Christian and Zoroastrian and Yazidis emerged later, following the deterioration of the Islamic orthodoxy during all the Turkish and Mongol invasions.

Mohamed was likely from a Christian family. That region of Arabia was Christian, but not of a flavor that found favor with the Church in Rome.

J

 

[NovaKart]

I was looking at one of the links I posted in the original post which I initially took to be a website either run by Yezidis or by someone in close contact with them. It's possible the individual is in close context with them and a lot of the factual information does seem to check out with what they really believe.

However, there are some parts of the website which are very bizarre. I first noticed this when I came across a video they had about Gnostic Knights Templars, which is apparently some organization that actually exists. I don't know if it's just a new-age cult or what. I don't know what kind of association this could possibly have with Yezidis.

They even claim to have an Ancient Order of the Peacock Angel which gives initiations in Sedona, Arizona. People can become associate members for a donation. The Yezidi religion does not allow conversion and I don't really know what membership in this group signifies. It claims to have been founded by Yezidi faqirs but the links for application and to join do not work and the newsletter link connects to something from the Gnostic Knights Templar.

It claims that donations help support Yezidis and they have a section on Yezidi Genocide. Yezidis have been targeted by Al Qaeda but I think to refer to it as a genocide is rather extreme and I don't know what donations would really do to assist them.

The contact e-mail for the site is the Gnostic Knights Templar. I can't really tell if it's just a scam, or a cult or what. I'm not aware of a website actually run by a Yezidi community.

This is the website:

http://www.yeziditruth.org/

 

[cybrxkhan]

Sounds like some weird new agey cult to me. Historically and in the present day I don't know of any connections between the Yazidi and the Knights Templar, and any claim that the Knights Templar were "mystical" or "gnostic" or had "hidden knowledge", etc., have to be taken with a grian of salt.

 

[NovaKart]

Yes, I don't believe there's any association between the two for a second. The guy who runs this seems eccentric to put it kindly. I think he's piggybacking on the Yezidi tradition to try and give some historical legitimacy to his new age cult.

I did a google search and there are some people who have made some consumer report complaints about his seminars saying that they had to cancel or something and they lost out on hundreds of dollars. However, I haven't found out anything very negative and it could be due to their own fault for not reading the fine print or something.

At first I was convinced that his website which claimed to assist Yezidis in danger of being targeted by terrorists was a scam but on looking more closely, he only links to legitimate aid organizations in that portion of the website and the only donations they take directly from the site are for joining their group. I e-mailed him about it and he responded very quickly to say that the donations go to building a center for Yezidis in Lincoln, Nebraska, which has the largest population of Yezidis in the USA and a portion of it goes to making a Yezidi TV station in Iraqi Kurdistan.

He's made some very bizarre claims, like he thinks the Yezidi originally came from India thousands of years ago, that they have the world's oldest spiritual tradition and that they were responsible for creating the Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian civilizations. He even connects all world religions with them, including American Indian and Aztec myths. I got that from this article.

http://www.examiner.com/article/the-templars-last-crusade-for-the-yezidis

He says he has few contacts in Iraqi Kurdistan but many in Nebraska. I'm really curious what they think about his latching on to their spiritual tradition and his interpretations.

Here's a link to his youtube video. I don't know if he just took the Da Vinci Code too seriously or what.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs34HebkhBw

I also found out that Sedona, Arizona, where their PO Box is located, is the center for New Age spirituality in America with all sorts of quacks and kooks.

 

[H4run]

They believe in 7 angels, the chief of which is Melek Tawus who is identified with Satan in Islam, which is why they've been called devil worshipers and suffered discrimination

This is the peacock isn't it? sorry but I don't have sufficient knowledge regarding the Yazidi. However I like to state that there no account in Islamic religious text, mean both Quran and Hadith regarding Melek Tavus. And to add more to the point the concept of "satan" in Islam is more into a state of being than a creature, pretty much difference with Christianity. Satan is a state of being that can inflict both Djinn and Human you can found this in Al-Baqarah or An Nas and many other surah, and there are so many alim who talk about this including Ibn Kathir in his Quranic tafsir.

Like in this passage:

And when they meet those who believe, they say: "We believe," but when they are alone with their satan, they say: "Truly, we are with you; verily, we were but mocking." (Al Quran, Al-Baqarah:14)

the satan here is not a demon or unhuman being or djinn, the satan that it refer here is a human, which enjoy injustice and corruption while hate justice and goodness. So when we said satan, it is an inner quality of something not a being. And angel is free from such quality, indifference with Christianity.

The parallel of Lucifer in Christianity in Islam we called it Iblis, Iblis is not an Angel it is a Djinn, and not all djinn are bad not all djinn are the devils (while devil and satan itself not an entity, remember), they are similar like us human, some are good some other are bad. While Angel unlike Djinn and Human they don't posses evil or bad quality, because they don't have free will, they just function themselves as their nature, while the only being that able to goes out from their nature or fitrah are only human and djinn.

Mohamed was likely from a Christian family. That region of Arabia was Christian, but not of a flavor that found favor with the Church in Rome.

J

Muhammad (saw) born in Makkah, there was Christian minority in Makkah just like there was Jewish minority in Madinah, but that doesn't mean all of the population in Makkah were Christian and the population in Madinah were Jewish. Depart of that there also the hanif in Makkah. And his father was not Christian, this is something agreeable.

The protestant orientalist used similar notion but not from the prophet family but from Khadijah, so you use it wrong if you want to use such notion you should accuse Khadijah family was roman catholic not Muhammad but I remind you it is false notion, because that notion itself conflicting with the historical fact and record. It is new invented version of conspiracy theory on how the catholic politicize and created Islam in Arabia as part of their sect. While apart from that the Catholic also accuse similar things to the protestant, that their movement was totally inspire by the Muslims. While we Muslims in the middle been pass around as an unwanted ball between the catholic and protestant to accuse each other. That show how the argument is highly force fitted for the particular motive and interest on clash between two Christian institution than a reflection of reality.

 

[NovaKart]

This is the peacock isn't it? sorry but I don't have sufficient knowledge regarding the Yazidi. However I like to state that there no account in Islamic religious text, mean both Quran and Hadith regarding Melek Tavus. And to add more to the point the concept of "satan" in Islam is more into a state of being than a creature, pretty much difference with Christianity. Satan is a state of being that can inflict both Djinn and Human you can found this in Al-Baqarah or An Nas and many other surah, and there are so many alim who talk about this including Ibn Kathir in his Quranic tafsir.

Like in this passage:

And when they meet those who believe, they say: "We believe," but when they are alone with their satan, they say: "Truly, we are with you; verily, we were but mocking." (Al Quran, Al-Baqarah:14)

the satan here is not a demon or unhuman being or djinn, the satan that it refer here is a human, which enjoy injustice and corruption while hate justice and goodness. So when we said satan, it is an inner quality of something not a being. And angel is free from such quality, indifference with Christianity.

The parallel of Lucifer in Christianity in Islam we called it Iblis, Iblis is not an Angel it is a Djinn, and not all djinn are bad not all djinn are the devils (while devil and satan itself not an entity, remember), they are similar like us human, some are good some other are bad. While Angel unlike Djinn and Human they don't posses evil or bad quality, because they don't have free will, they just function themselves as their nature, while the only being that able to goes out from their nature or fitrah are only human and djinn.




Muhammad (saw) born in Makkah, there was Christian minority in Makkah just like there was Jewish minority in Madinah, but that doesn't mean all of the population in Makkah were Christian and the population in Madinah were Jewish. Depart of that there also the hanif in Makkah. And his father was not Christian, this is something agreeable.

The protestant orientalist used similar notion but not from the prophet family but from Khadijah, so you use it wrong if you want to use such notion you should accuse Khadijah family was roman catholic not Muhammad but I remind you it is false notion, because that notion itself conflicting with the historical fact and record. It is new invented version of conspiracy theory on how the catholic politicize and created Islam in Arabia as part of their sect. While apart from that the Catholic also accuse similar things to the protestant, that their movement was totally inspire by the Muslims. While we Muslims in the middle been pass around as an unwanted ball between the catholic and protestant to accuse each other. That show how the argument is highly force fitted for the particular motive and interest on clash between two Christian institution than a reflection of reality.

Yes, Melek Tawus is the peacock angel. His story is the same as the story of Iblis but he is an angel, not a jinn, according to the Yezidi belief. The difference is that his refusal to boy to Adam was praised by God, not condemned and he was made the head of the angels. He's also called Shaitan but Yezidi are forbidden from speaking the word.

 

[H4run]

Yes, Melek Tawus is the peacock angel. His story is the same as the story of Iblis but he is an angel, not a jinn, according to the Yezidi belief. The difference is that his refusal to boy to Adam was praised by God, not condemned and he was made the head of the angels. He's also called Shaitan but Yezidi are forbidden from speaking the word.

Then it is as you stated, a combination between Islam and Christianity. In Christianity as far as I remember, Lucifer was the head of the Angel, like Melek Tawus, until he turn against God and lead 2/3 of the 999 Angel which is 666 (if I'm not mistaken) known as the fallen Angel to declare war against God.

In Islam, Iblis the exalted among Djinn because of his previous piety, question God command on respecting Adam (while other obey) because of arrogance, as he been created by fire while Adam from soil (he think fire much more superior than soil). He then cast from heaven (because heaven is not a place for those who are arrogance), however he beg God for a permission to delay his punishment so that he can lure Adam and his descendent from the path of God except those who are muhsin (total surrendering all of his affair to God) which he don't have any power against them, and he request is granted by God (as a test for human).

So looking at both of this story I think Melek Tawus is the combination between two of this narration. He refuse God command (like Iblis) then because of that he is been exalted and become leader of the Angel (like Lucifer), the story goes more anti-climax from the original story. I wonder when this religion start, I will read the article that you post when I have a free time.

 

[NovaKart]

The Yezidi have an interesting story about their origin:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidi

The tale of the Yazidis' origin found in the Black Book gives them a distinctive ancestry and expresses their feeling of difference from other races. Before the roles of the sexes were determined, Adam and Eve quarreled about which of them provided the creative element in the begetting of children. Each stored their seed in a jar which was then sealed. When Eve's was opened it was full of insects and other unpleasant creatures, but inside Adam's jar was a beautiful boychild. This lovely child, known as son of Jar grew up to marry a houri and became the ancestor of the Yazidis. Therefore, the Yazidi are regarded as descending from Adam alone, while other humans are descendants of both Adam and Eve

I've heard that they claim their religion is the oldest but they also revere Sheikh Adi who was a Sufi mystic in the 12th century. I don't know if that's the start of their religion and it seems difficult to trace the origins.

I think it's possible their religion came from Sufi mysticism or perhaps an extreme Shia group and then later through other influence, perhaps Zoroastrianism, Gnostic Christianity or native Kurdish beliefs became what it is today.

I just realized I typed boy to Adam when it should have been bow.

I was reading something else, a history of Kurdish people by Mehrdad Izady and it mentioned how almost all Kurds are Sunni of the Shafi school of Islam but Turks are Hanafi and Arabs in Iraq and Syria who are Sunni are mostly Hanafi too. It's interesting how Kurds are apart, also from Azeri and Persians who are mostly Shia. Only about 5-7% of Kurds are Shia. However, Alevi and Ahli Haqq religions are popular among some Kurds.

 

[H4run]

I already check some writing on the article that you submit however so far there seem to be no detail in reference of the origin of their teaching, more like a brief general summary of their believe (and also explain what is and what not about them). I really interest to know more just because of curiosity. Do they have somekind like holybook or book of tradition (like Hadith or Talmud or Zohar)?

 

[cybrxkhan]

I already check some writing on the article that you submit however so far there seem to be no detail in reference of the origin of their teaching, more like a brief general summary of their believe (and also explain what is and what not about them). I really interest to know more just because of curiosity. Do they have somekind like holybook or book of tradition (like Hadith or Talmud or Zohar)?

The Yazidis do have a holy book, but be careful when looking it up online - apparently one of their supposed holy books actually isn't, as it is an early 20th century fabrication. I forgot the name of it though.

 

[NovaKart]

This is the really strange thing, they have two holy books, the black book (msHefa resh) and the book of revelation (kteba jilwe) but they have not been published and the translations that exist today are said to be forgeries, although they are said to represent the real spiritual beliefs.

 

[NovaKart]

Actually, I'm also curious to know if any sacred scriptures of Zoroastrians have been published because I heard that they had a sacred scripture that was translated a long time ago but some people wondered if i was genuine because they felt like it was unimpressive.