yazidi

5/21/2018 Yazidi

1/10

Yazidis on the mountain of Sinjar, Iraq/Syrian

border, 1920s.

Total population

700,000[1][2][3]

Regions with significant populations

Iraq 650,000[4]

Germany 60,000[1][5]

Syria 50,000[6][7]

Russia 40,586[8]

Armenia 35,272[9]

Georgia 20,843 (18,000 in Tbilisi)[10]

Sweden 4,000[5]

Turkey 377 (Not including the

refugees.)[11]

Denmark 500[12]

Religions

Iranian religions

Scriptures

Yazidi Book of Revelation (Kitba Cilwe)

Yazidi Black Book (Mishefa Re)

Languages

Kurdish and Arabic

Yazidi

zidt

YazidiFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Yazidi(also Yezidi,zid, Yazdani, Arabic: #$%&'%)Ayziyan, Armenian: !"#$%&Ezdiner, Russian: *,-./Ezidy) are mostly a Kurdish-speaking ethnoreligious group who practice a syncretic religion that combines

Shia and Sufi Islam with indigenous regional folk traditions.[13]These traditions include elements shared withthe mystic, Christian and Mandaean communities of the Near East, as well as with more ancient Gnostic,

Marcionite, Zoroastrian and early Mesopotamian religions.[14][15][16]They live primarily in the NinevehProvince of northern Iraq, a region once part of ancient Assyria. Additional communities in Armenia, Georgiaand Syria have been in decline since the 1990s as a result of significant migration to Europe, especially to

Germany.[17]The Yazidis believe in God as creator of the world, which he has placed under the care of seven"holy beings" or angels, the "chief" (archangel) of whom is Melek Taus, the "Peacock Angel." The PeacockAngel, as world-ruler, causes both good and bad to befall individuals, and this ambivalent character isreflected in myths of his own temporary fall from God's favor, before his remorseful tears extinguished thefires of his hellish prison and he reconciled with God. This myth builds on Sufi mystical reflections on theangel Iblis, who proudly refused to violate monotheism by worshipping Adam and Eve at God's express

command.[18]Because of this connection to the Sufi Iblis tradition, some followers of other monotheistic

religions of the region equate the Peacock Angel with their own unredeemed evil spirit Satan,[19][20]whichhas incited centuries of persecution of the Yazidis as "devil worshippers." Persecution of Yazidis hascontinued in their home communities within the borders of modern Iraq, under both Saddam Hussein and

fundamentalist Sunni Muslim revolutionaries.[21]In August 2014 the Yazidi were targeted by the IslamicState of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIS, in its campaign to "purify" Iraq and neighboring countries of

non-Islamic influences. [22]

Contents

1 Demographics

2 Origins

3 Religious beliefs

4 Organization

5 Religious practices

5.1 Prayers

5.2 Festivals

5.3 Pilgrimage

5.4 Purity and Taboos

5.5 Customs5.6 Folklore

6 In other cultures

6.1 Muslim antipathy

6.1.1 Persecution by Islamic State (ISIL)

6.2 In Europe

6.3 In Western theological references

6.4 In Western literature

7 References

8 See also

9 Further reading

10 External links

Demographics

Historically, the Yazidi lived primarily in communities in locales that are in present-day Iraq, Syria, and Turkey, and also had significant numbers in Armenia

and Georgia. However, events since the 20th century have resulted in considerable demographic shift in these areas as well as mass emigration.[5]As a result,

population estimates are unclear in many regions, and estimates of the size of the total population vary.[1]

The bulk of the Yazidi population lives in Iraq, where they make up an important Iraqi minority community.[1]Estimates of the size of these communities varysignificantly, between 70,000 and 500,000. They are particularly concentrated in northern Iraq in the Nineveh Province. The two biggest communities are inShekhan, northeast of Mosul, and in Sinjar, at the Syrian border 80 kilometres (50 mi) west of Mosul. In Shekhan is the shrine of Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir at

Lalish. During the 20th century, the Shekhan community struggled for dominance with the more conservative Sinjar community.[1]The demographic profile has

probably changed considerably since the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003 and the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime.[1]

Yazidi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wik

1 of 10 8/13/2014
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidi

5/21/2018 Yazidi

2/10

Yazidi leaders and Chaldean

clergymen meeting in Mesopotamia,

19th century.

Yazidi men

Yazidi men in Mardin, late 19th

century.

Yazidis in Syria live primarily in two communities, one in the Al-Jazira area and the other in the Kurd-Dagh.[1]

Population numbers for the Syrian Yazidi community are unclear. In 1963, the community was estimated at about 10,000,

according to the national census, but numbers for 1987 were unavailable.[23]There may be between about 12,000 and

15,000 Yazidi in Syria today,[1][24]though more than half of the community may have emigrated from Syria since the

1980s.[5]Estimates are further complicated by the arrival of as many as 50,000 Yazidi refugees from Iraq during the Iraq

War.[5]

The Turkish Yazidi community declined precipitously during the 20th century. By 1982 it had decreased to about 30,000,and in 2009 there were fewer than 500. Most Turkish Yazidis have emigrated to Europe, particularly Germany; those who

remain reside primarily in their former heartland of Tur Abdin.[1]Population estimates for the communities in Georgiaand Armenia vary, but they too have declined severely. In Georgia the community fell f rom around 30,000 people to

fewer than 5,000 during the 1990s.[5]The numbers in Armenia may have been somewhat more stable; there may be

around 40,000 Yazidi still in Armenia.[25]Most Georgian and Armenian Yazidi have relocated to Russia,[5]which

recorded a population of 31,273 Yazidis in the 2002 census.[8]

This mass emigration has resulted in the establishment of large diaspora communities abroad. The most significant ofthese is in Germany, which now has a Yazidi community of over 40,000. Most are from Turkey and, more recently,

Iraq and live in the western states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony.[1]Since 2008 Sweden has seen

sizable growth in its Yazidi emigrant community, which had grown to around 4,000 by 2010,[5]and a smaller

community exists in the Netherlands.[1]Other diaspora groups live in Belgium, Denmark, France, Switzerland, theUnited Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Australia; these have a total population of probably less than

5,000.[1]

In August 2007, some 500 Yazidis were killed in a coordinated series of bombings in Qahtaniya that became thedeadliest suicide attack since the Iraq War began. In August 2009, at least 20 people were killed and 30 wounded in adouble suicide bombing in northern Iraq, an Iraqi Interior Ministry official said. Two suicide bombers with explosivevests carried out the attack at a cafe in Sinjar, a town west of Mosul. In Sinjar, many townspeople are members of the

Yazidi minority.[26]

The Salafist militant group Islamic State, which considers the Yazidi devil-worshippers, captured Sinjar in August 2014following the withdrawal of Peshmerga troops, forcing up to 50,000 Yazidis to flee into the nearby mountainous

region.[27]Threatened with death at the hands of militants, they faced starvation in the mountains, and their plight

received international media coverage,[28]leading American President Obama to authorize humanitarian air drops offood and water onto Sinjar Mountain and US airstrikes against militants in support of the beleaguered religious minority.

American humanitarian assistance began on 7 August 2014,[29]with the British air force subsequently contributing to

the relief effort.[30]At an emergency meeting in London, Australian prime minister Tony Abbott also pledged humanitarian support,[31]while European nations

resolved to join the US in helping to arm Peshmerga fighters aiding the Yazidi with more advanced weaponry.[32]Although Kurdish troops managed to rescue

several thousand Yazidi refugees via a humanitarian corridor,[33]helping them cross the Tigris into Syria, one relief worker in the evacuation operation described

the conditions on Mount Sinjar as "a genocide", having witnessed hundreds of corpses.[34]

Origins

The Yazidi are Kurdish-speaking people who adhere to a religion rooted in Persian religions blended with elements of pre-Islamic Mesopotamian/Assyrianreligious traditions, Mithraism, Christianity and Islam. In addition to Kurdish, there are significant Yazidi communities who speak Arabic as their native

language.[35]Their ethnicity is obscure despite they mostly speak in Kurdish.[36]Their principal holy site is in Lalish, northeast of Mosul. The Yazidis' ownname for themselves iszidorzdor, in some areas,Dasin(the latter, strictly speaking, is a tribal name). Some scholars have derived the name Yazidi fromOld Iranianyazata(divine being), and Yazidis themselves believe that their name is derived from the word Yezdanorzid"God", denying the widespread idea

that it is a derivation from Umayyad Caliph Yazid I (Yazid bin Muawiyah), revered as Sultan Ezi.[37]The Yazidis' cultural practices are observed in Kurdish, andalmost all speak Kurmanj with the exception of the villages of Bashiqa and Bahazane, where Arabic is spoken. Kurmanj is the language of almost all the orallytransmitted religious traditions of the Yazidis.

The religion of the Yazidis has many influences: Sufi influence and imagery can be seen in their religious vocabulary, especially in the terminology of their

esoteric literature, but much of the theology is non-Islamic. Their cosmogonies apparently have many points in common with those of ancient Persian religions.Early writers attempted to describe Yazidi origins, broadly speaking, in terms of Islam, or Persian, or sometimes even pagan religions; however, publications

since the 1990s have shown such an approach to be simplistic.[1]

The origin of the Yazidi religion is now usually seen by scholars as a complex process of syncretism, whereby the belief system and practices of a local faith hada profound influence on the religiosity of adherents of the 'Adawiyya Sufi order living in the Yezidi mountains, and caused it to deviate from Islamic normsrelatively soon after the death of its founder, Shaykh 'Ad0ibn Musafir, who is said to be of Umayyad descent. He settled in the valley of Lali(some thirty-sixmiles north-east of Mosul) in the early 12th century. 3x Ad himself, a figure of undoubted orthodoxy, enjoyed widespread influence. He died in 1162, and his

tomb at Laliis a focal point of Yazidi pilgrimage.[38]

According to the Yezidi calendar, April 2012 marked the beginning of their year 6,762 (thereby year 1 would have been in 4,750 BC in the Gregorian

calendar).[39]


2 of 10 8/13/2014

5/21/2018 Yazidi

3/10

Yazidi man in traditional

clothes

During the fourteenth century, important Yezidi tribes whose sphere of influence stretched well into what is now Turkey (including,for a period, the rulers of the principality of Jazira) are cited in h istorical sources as Yazidi.

According to Mo5ammed A-ahrastani, "The Yezidis are the followers of Yezd bn Unaisa, who [said that he] kept friendship with

the first Muhakkama before the Azari7a"[40]"It is clear, then, that A-ahrastani finds the religious origin of this interesting peoplein the person of Yezd bn Unaisa. ... We are to understand, therefore, that to the knowledge of the writer, bn Unaisa is the founder of

the Yezidi sect, which took its name from him."[41]"Now, the first Muhakkamah is an appellative applied to the Muslim schismatics

called Al-9awarij. ... According to this it might be inferred that the Yezidis were originally a 9arijite sub-sect."[42]"Yezid

moreover, is said to have been in sympathy with Al-Aba

5/21/2018 Yazidi

4/10

Temple entry at Lalish

Tomb of Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir (3x

Ad) in Lalish

second is crucial; Yazidis traditionally believe that the Seven Holy Beings are periodically reincarnated in human form, called a koasasa.

A belief in the reincarnation of lesser Yazidi souls also exists. Like the Ahl-e Haqq, the Yazidis use the metaphor of a change of garment to describe the process,which they call kiras guhornin Kurmanji (changing the garment). Spiritual purification of the soul can be attained via continual reincarnation within the faithgroup, but it can also be halted by means of expulsion from the Yazidi community; this is the worst possible fate, since the soul's spiritual progress halts and

conversion back into the faith is impossible.[15]Alongside this notion of continuous rebirth, Yazidi theology also includes descriptions of heaven and hell, with

hell extinguished, and other traditions incorporating these ideas into a belief system that includes reincarnation.[45]

Organization

Yazidi society is hierarchical. The secular leader is a hereditary emir or prince, whereas a chief sheikh heads the religious hierarchy. The Yazidi are strictlyendogamous; members of the three Yazidi castes, the murids, sheikhs and pirs, marry only within their group, marriage outside the caste is considered a sin

punishable by death to restore lost honour.[14]

The current hereditary emir of the world's Yazidi is Prince Tahseen Said.[48]

The current religious leader of the Yazidi, the Baba Sheikh, is Khurto Hajji Ismail.[49]

Religious practices

Prayers

Yazidis have five daily prayers:[50]

Nivja berspd (the Dawn Prayer), Nivja rojhilatin (the Sunrise Prayer), Nivja nvro (the Noon Prayer), Nivja var(the Afternoon Prayer), Nivja rojavabn (the Sunset Prayer). However, most Yezidis observe only two of these, thesunrise and sunset prayers.

Worshipers should turn their face toward the sun, and for the noon prayer, they should face toward Lali. Such prayer should beaccompanied by certain gestures, including kissing the rounded neck (gervan) of the sacred shirt (kiras). The daily prayerservices must not be performed in the presence of outsiders, and are always performed in the d irection of the sun. Wednesday is

the holy day, but Saturday is the day of rest.[50][51]There is also a three-day fast in December.[45][50]

Festivals

The Yazidi New Year falls in Spring (somewhat later than the Equinox). There is some lamentation by women in thecemeteries, to the accompaniment of the music of the Qewals, but the festival is generally characterized by joyous events: themusic of dehol(drum) andzorna(shawm), communal dancing and meals, the decorating of eggs.

Similarly, the village Tawaf, a festival held in the spring in honor of the patron of the local shrine, has secular music, dance and meals in addition to the

performance of sacred music.Another important festival is the Tawsgeran(circulation of the peacock) where Qewals and other religious dignitaries visit Yazidi villages, bringing thesenjaq,sacred images of a peacock made from brass symbolising Taws Melek. These are venerated, taxes are collected from the pious, sermons are preached and holywater distributed.

The greatest festival of the year for ordinary Yazidis is the Cejna Cemaiya"Feast of the Assembly" at Lalish, a seven-day occasion. A focus of widespreadpilgrimage, this is an important time for social contact and affirmation of identity. The religious center of the event is the belief in an annual gathering of theHeptadin the holy place at this time. Rituals practiced include the sacrifice of a bull at the shrine of 3x Shams and the practice ofsema.

Pilgrimage

The most important ritual is the annual seven-day pilgrimage to the tomb of Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir (3x Ad) in Lalish,

north of Mosul, Iraq.[50][52]A sacred microcosm of the world, as it were, it contains not only many shrines dedicated tothe koasasa, but a number of other landmarks corresponding to other sites or symbols of significance in other faiths,includingPirra selat"Serat Bridge" and a mountain called Mt. Arafat. The two sacred springs are called Zamzam and

Kaniya Sip"The White Spring".

If possible, Yazidis make at least one pilgrimage to Laliduring their lifetime, and those living in the region try to attendat least once a year for the autumnFeast of the Assemblywhich is celebrated from 23 Ayl>l (September) to 1 Tashr0n(October). During the celebration, Yazidi bathe in the river, wash figures of Taws Melek and light hundreds of lamps inthe tombs of 3x Ad and other saints. They also sacrifice an ox, which is one reason they have been connected toMithraism, in addition to the presence of the dog and serpent in their iconography. The sacrifice of the ox is meant todeclare the arrival of fall and to ask for precipitation during winter in order to bring back life to the Earth in the nextspring. Moreover, in astrology, the ox is the symbol of Tashr0n.

Purity and Taboos

The Yazidis' concern with religious purity, and their reluctance to mix elements perceived to be incompatible, is shown in not only their caste system, but alsovarious taboos affecting everyday life. Some of these, such as those on exogamy or on insulting or offending men of religion, are widely respected.


4 of 10 8/13/2014

5/21/2018 Yazidi

5/10

The Chermera or "40 Men" Temple

on the highest peak of the Sinjar

Mountains in northern Iraq. The

temple is so old that no one

remembers how it came to have that

name, but it is believed to derive from

the burial of 40 men on themountaintop site

Wikisource has originaltext related to this article:

Mishefa Re


Kitba Cilwe

The purity of the four elements Earth, Air, Fire and Water is protected by a number of taboos, e.g. against spitting on earth, water or fire. Some discouragespitting or pouring hot water on the ground because they believe that spirits or souls that may be present would be harmed or offended by such actions if theyhappen to be hit by the discarded liquid. These may also reflect ancient Iranian preoccupations, as apparently do taboos concerning bodily waste, hair andmenstrual blood.

Too much contact with non-Yazidis is also considered polluting. In the past, Yazidis avoided military service which would have led them to live amongMuslims, and were forbidden to share such items as cups or razors with outsiders. A resemblance to the external ear may lie behind the taboo against eating headlettuce, whose name koasresembles Yazidi pronunciations of koasasa. Additionally, lettuce grown near Mosul is thought by some Yazidi to be fertilized withhuman waste, which may contribute to the idea that it is unsuitable for consumption. However, in a BBC interview in April 2010, a senior Yazidi authority stated

that ordinary Yazidis may eat what they want, but holy men refrain from certain vegetables (including cabbage) because "they cause gases".[53]

Yazidis refrain from wearing the colour blue (or possibly green as stated in Soldier Poet and Rebelby Miles Hudson). The origins of this prohibition areunknown, but may either be because blue represents Noah's flood, or it was possibly the colour worn by a conquering king sometime in the past. Alternatively,the prohibition may arise from their veneration of the Peacock Angel and an unwillingness to usurp His colour.

Customs

Children are baptized at birth and circumcision is common but not required. Dead are buried in conical tombs immediately after death and buried with handscrossed.

Yazidi are dominantly monogamous but chiefs may be polygamous, having more than one wife. Yazidi are exclusively endogamous; clans do not intermarryeven with other Kurds and accept no converts. They claim they are descended only from Adam and not from Eve.

A severe punishment is expulsion, which is also effectively excommunication because the soul of the exiled is forfeit.

In 2007, an incidence of honour killingthe stoning of Du'a Khalil Aswadmade world headlines.[54]

Folklore

The tale of the Yazidis' origin found in the Black Book gives them a distinctive ancestry and expresses their feeling ofdifference from other races. Before the roles of the sexes were determined, Adam and Eve quarreled about which of themprovided the creative element in the begetting of children. Each stored their seed in a jar which was then sealed. WhenEve'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 asson of Jargrew 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. [55]

In other cultures

Muslim antipathy

As a demiurge figure, Taws Melek is often identified by orthodox Muslims as a Shaitan (Satan), a Muslim termdenoting a devil or demon who deceives humans. The Islamic tradition regarding the fall of "Shaitan" from Grace is infact very similar to the Yazidi story of Malek Taus that is, the Jinn who refused to submit to God by bowing to Adam iscelebrated as Taws Melek by Yazidis, but the Islamic version of the same story curses the same Jinn who refused to

submit as becoming Satan.[46]Thus, the Yazidi have been accused of devil worship. Because of this and due to theirpre-Islamic beliefs, they have been oppressed by their Muslim neighbors. Treatment of Yazidis was exceptionally harsh during the rule of the Ottoman Empire.

Massacres at the hand of Ottomans and Kurdish princes almost wiped out their community in the 19th century.[56][57]Several punitive expeditions wereorganized against the Yazidis by the Ottoman governors (W@li) of Diyarbakir, Mosul and Baghdad. These operations were legitimized by fat@wa from Islamic

clerics.[58]The objective of these persecutions was the forced conversion of Yazidis to the Sunni Hanafi Islam of the Ottoman Empire.[59]

Persecution by Islamic State (ISIL)

In 2014, with the territorial gains of the the Islamic State of I raq and the Levant (ISIL) there was much upheaval in theIraqi Yazidi population. In early August the town of Sinjar was nearly deserted as Kurdish Peshmerga forces were nolonger able to keep ISIL forces from advancing. ISIL had previously declared the Yazidi to be devil worshippers and had

taken the two nearby small oil fields and the town of Zumar as part of a plan to try to seize Mosul's hydroelectric dam.[60]

In Sinjar, ISIL destroyed a Shiite shrine and demanded that the remaining population convert to their version of Islam,payjizya(a religious tax) or be executed. Up to 200,000 people (including an estimated 40,000 Yazidi[61]) fled the city before it was captured by ISIL forces,

giving rise to fears of a humanitarian tragedy.[60]Alongside the local Yazidis fleeing Sinjar were Yazidis (and Shiites) who fled to the city a month earlier when

ISIL captured the town of Tal Afar.[60]

Most of the population fleeing Sinjar retreated by trekking up nearby mountains with the ultimate goal of reaching Dohuk in Iraqi Kurdistan (normally afive-hour drive by car). Concerns for elderly and those of fragile health were expressed by the refugees, who told reporters of their lack of water. Reportscoming from Sinjar s tated that sick or elderly Yazidi who could not make the trek were being executed by ISIL. Yazidi parliamentarian Haji Ghandour told

reporters that "In our history, we have suffered 72 massacres. We are worried Sinjar could be a 73rd." [60]UN groups say at least 40,000 members of the Yazidisect, many of them women and children, have taken refuge in nine locations on Mount Sinjar, a craggy, mile-high ridge identified in local legend as the final

resting place of Noah's ark, facing slaughter at the hands of jihadists surrounding them below if they flee, or death by dehydration if they stay.[62]United StatesPresident Barack Obama has authorised "targeted airstrikes" against Islamic militants to protect American military personnel and airdrops of meals and water to


5 of 10 8/13/2014

5/21/2018 Yazidi

6/10

Image fromA journey from London

to Persepolis, 1865

thousands of religious minorities trapped on the mountaintop in northwest Iraq.[63]Between 20,000 and 30,000 Iraqis, most of them women and children,besieged by Isis, escaped from the mountain after US air strikes. Yazidi minority surrounded by Islamist militants on Mount Sinjar were escorted back to Iraqi

Kurdistan by The Kurdish Peshmerga forces after fleeing via Syria, Kurdish officials have said.[64]

In Europe

Feleknas Uca, a Yezidi Member of the European Parliament for Germany's Party of Democratic Socialism, was the world's only Yazidi parliamentarian until theIraqi legislature was elected in 2005. European Yazidis have contributed to the academic community, such as Khalil Rashow in Germany and Jalile Jalil inAustria.

In May 2012, five members of a Yazidi family living in Detmold, Germany, were convicted for having murdered their sister in a so-called "honour killing" andsentenced to terms ranging from five-and-a-half years to li fe in prison. The victim was 18-year-old Arzu zmen (also spelled Ozmen outside Germany), whofell in love with a German journeyman baker and ran away from her family, violating the exogamy taboo. In November 2011, her siblings abducted her and

brother Osman killed her with two shots in the head.[65]

In Western theological references

As the Yazidi hold religious beliefs that are mostly unfamiliar to outsiders, many non-Yazidi people have written about them and ascribed to their beliefs factsthat have dubious historical validity.

The Yazidis, perhaps because of their secrecy, also have a place in modern occultism. George Gurdjieff wrote about his encounters with the Yazidis several timesin his bookMeetings with Remarkable Men, mentioning that they are considered to be "devil worshippers" by other ethnicities in the region. Also, in PeterOuspensky's book "In Search of the Miraculous", he describes some strange customs that Gurdjieff observed in Yezidi boys: "He told me, among other things,that when he was a child he had often observed how Yezidi boys were unable to step out of a circle traced round them on the ground" (p. 36)

The Theosophical Society, in its electronic version of theEncyclopedic Theosophical Glossarystates:

Yezidis(Arabic) [possibly from Persian yazdan god; or the 2nd Umayyad Caliph, Yazid (r. 680683); or Persian city Yezd] A sect dwellingprincipally in Iraq, Armenia, and the Caucasus, who call themselves Dasni. Their religious beliefs take on the characteristics of their surroundingpeoples, inasmuch as, openly or publicly, they regard Mohammed as a prophet, and Jesus Christ as an angel in human form. Points of resemblanceare found with ancient Zoroastrian and Assyrian religion. The principal feature of their worship, however, is Satan under the name of Muluk-Taus.However, it is not the Christian Satan, nor the devil in any form; their Muluk-Taus is the hundred- or thousand-eyed cosmic wisdom, pictured as a

bird (the peacock).[66]

Idries Shah, writing under the pen-nameArkon Daraul, in the 1961 book Secret Societies Yesterday and Today, describes discovering a Yazidi-influenced secretsociety in the London suburbs called the "Order of the Peacock Angel." Shah claimed that Taws Melek could be understood, from the Sufi viewpoint, as an

allegory of the higher powers in humanity.[67]

In Western literature

In William Seabrook's bookAdventures in Arabia, the fourth section, starting with Chapter 14, is devoted to the"Yezidees", and is titled "Among the Yezidees". He describes them as "a mysterious sect scattered throughout the Orient,strongest in North Arabia, feared and hated both by Moslem and Christian, because they are worshipers of Satan." In thethree chapters of the book, he completely describes the area, including the fact that this territory, including their holiest

city of Sheik-Adi, was not part of "Irak". [68]

In H.P. Lovecraft's story "The Horror at Red Hook", some of the murderous foreigners are identified as belonging to "the

Yezidi clan of devil-worshippers".[69]

In her memoir of her service with an intelligence unit of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division in Iraq during 2003 and2004, Kayla Williams (2005) records being stationed in northern Iraq near the Syrian border in an area inhabited by"Yezidis". The Yezidis were Kurdish-speaking, but did not consider themselves Kurds, and expressed to Williams afondness for America and Israel. She was able to learn only a little about the nature of their religion: she thought it very ancient, and concerned with angels. Shedescribes a mountain-top Yezidi shrine as "a small rock building with objects dangling from the ceiling", and alcoves for the placement of offerings. She reportsthat local Muslims considered the Yezidis to be devil worshippers.

In an October 2006 article in The New Republic, Lawrence F. Kaplan echoes Williams's sentiments about the enthusiasm of the Yazidis for the Americanoccupation of Iraq, in part because the Americans protect them from oppression by militant Muslims and the nearby Kurds. Kaplan notes that the peace and

calm of Sinjar is virtually unique in Iraq: "Parents and children line the streets when U.S. patrols pass by, while Yazidi clerics pray for the welfare of U.S.forces."[70]

A fictional Yazidi character of note is the super-powered police officer King Peacock of the Top 10series (and related comics).[71]He is portrayed as a kind,peaceful character with a broad knowledge of religion and mythology. He is depicted as conservative, ethical, and highly principled in family life. An incrediblypowerful martial artist, he is able to perceive and strike at his opponent's weakest spots, a power that he claims is derived from communicating with Malek Ta'us.

The Yazidi play a significant role in the thriller Genesis Secret, by Tom Knox, which was an international bestseller in 2006, published in 23 languages. In thebook the Yazidi are portrayed as ancient guardians of the megalithic site, Gobekli Tepe, in Kurdish Turkey.

Tony Lagouranis comments on a Yazidi prisoner in his bookFear Up Harsh: An Army Interrogator's Dark Journey through Iraq:

There's a lot of mystery surrounding the Yazidi, and a lot of contradictory information. But I was drawn to this aspect of their beliefs: Yazidi don'thave a Satan. Malak Ta'us, an archangel, God's favorite, was not thrown out of heaven the way Satan was. Instead, he descended, saw the suffering


6 of 10 8/13/2014

5/21/2018 Yazidi

7/10

and pain of the world, and cried. His tears, thousands of years' worth, fell on the fires of hell, extinguishing them. If there is evil in the world, it doesnot come from a fallen angel or from the fires of hell. The evil in this world is man-made. Nevertheless, humans can, like Malak Ta'us, live in this

world but still be good.[72]

References

^ abcdefghijklmAllison, Christine (2004-02-20). "Yazidis i: General"

(http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/yazidis-i-general-1).Encyclopdia

Iranica. Retrieved August 20, 2010. "There are probably some 200,000300,000

Yazidis worldwide."

1.

^"Yezidi" (http://adherents.com/Na/Na_670.html#4286). Adherents.com.

Retrieved 2008-03-31. Cites estimates between 100,000 and 700,000.

2.

^"Deadly Iraq sect attacks kill 200" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east

/6946028.stm). BBC News. 2007-08-15. Retrieved 2008-03-31.

3.

Îraq Yezidis: A Religious and Ethnic Minority Group Faces Repression and

Assimilation (http://www.aina.org/reports/yezidiscpt.pdf)By Christian

Peacemaker Teams in Iraq (25 September 2005)

4.

^ abcdefghMegalommatis, Muhammad Shamsaddin (February 28, 2010).

"Dispersion of the Yazidi Nation in Syria, Turkey, Armenia, Georgia and

Europe: Call for UN Action" (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles

/view/143737).American Chronicle. Retrieved August 20, 2010.

5.

^"Yazidi in Syria Between acceptance and marginalization"

(http://kurdwatch.org/pdf/kurdwatch_yeziden_en.pdf).KurdWatch.kurdwatch.org. p. 4. Retrieved 1 April 2014.

6.

Ândrea Glioti (18 October 2013). "Yazidis Benefit From Kurdish Gains in

Northeast Syria" (http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/10/syria-

yazidi-minorities-kurds.html#). al-monitor. Retrieved 1 April 2014.

7.

^ ab"BDFHJDD-LDMNOPFHFP-DQRNDFSFR-O2010 T. UNV-JRNSQR/LDJDWNX

RNDFSFR-OYJDD-LDMJL[F.FHNV--" (http://demoscope.ru/weekly

/ssp/rus_nac_10.php).Demoscope. Demoscope. Retrieved 26 October 2013.

8.

^2011 Armenian census (http://armstat.am/file/article/sv_03_13a_520.pdf)9.

^http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Georgia_Census_2002-

_Ethnic_group_by_major_administrative-territorial_units.pdf

10.

^http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/pazar/6891240.asp11.

^"Irakisk politiker: Vi har kun f dage til at forhindre massedd p bjerg"

(http://politiken.dk/udland/ECE2362352/irakisk-politiker-vi-har-kun-faa-

dage-til-at-forhindre-massedoed-paa-bjerg/) (in Danish). Politiken. Retrieved 9

August 2014.

12.

Âsatrian, Garnik S.; Arakelova, Victoria. The Religion of the Peacock Angel.

Acumen. ISBN 9781844657612.

13.

^ ab"Background: the Yezidi" (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/aug

/15/iraq). The Guardian. 2007-08-15. Retrieved 2014-08-09.

14.

^ ab"Who, What, Why: Who are the Yazidis?" (http://www.bbc.com

/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-28686607). BBC World News. Retrieved

2014-08-08.

15.

^Palmer, Michael D.; Burgess, Stanley M. (2012-03-12). The Wiley-Blackwell

Companion to Religion and Social Justice(http://books.google.com

/books?id=ptYpOSKPCgMC&pg=PA404). John Wiley & Sons. p. 405.

ISBN 9781444355369. Retrieved 25 February 2014.

16.

^Reeves, Bob (2007-02-28). "Lincoln Iraqis call for protection from terrorism"(http://journalstar.com/articles/2007/02/28/news/local

/doc45e4c4211d311953438645.txt).Lincoln Journal Star. Retrieved 2007-02-28.

17.

Âsatrian and Arakelova 2014, 26-2918.

^http://www.thewire.com/global/2014/08/a-very-brief-history-of-the-yazidi-

and-what-theyre-up-against/375806/

19.

^"Iraq crisis: who are the Yazidis and why is Isis hunting them?

(http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/07/who-yazidi-isis-iraq-religion-

ethnicity-mountains)". The Guardian. August 8, 2014.

20.

^The Devil worshippers, of Iraq. "The Devil worshippers of Iraq"

(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1560714/The-Devil-worshippers-

of-Iraq.html). The Telegraph. Retrieved 7 July 2014.

21.

^{{cite web|title=Who Are the Yazidi, and Why Is ISIS Targeting

Them?|url=http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/iraq-turmoil/who-are-yazidi-

why-isis-targeting-them-n175621

22.

^Federal Research Division. Syria. "Chapter 5: Religious Life"

(http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/sytoc.html). Library of Congress Country Studies.

Accessed August 20, 2010.

23.

^Commins, David Dean (2004).Historical Dictionary of Syria

(http://books.google.com/?id=_EhACvcqVXkC&printsec=frontcover&q).

Scarecrow Press. p. 282. ISBN 0-8108-4934-8. Retrieved August 20, 2010.

24.

Ârmenia (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook

/geos/am.html) entry at The World Factbook1.3% of 2,971,650 (July 2007 est.)

= 38631.45.

25.

^"At least 20 killed in Iraq blast" (http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast

/08/13/iraq.violence/index.html). CNN.com International. August 13, 2009.Retrieved August 13, 2009.

26.

^http://gulfnews.com/news/region/iraq/isil-militants-execute-dozens-

from-yazidi-minority-1.1367034

27.

^"Iraqi Yazidis: 'If we move they will kill us' " (http://www.aljazeera.com

/news/middleeast/2014/08/iraqi-yazidis-if-move-they-will-kill-us-

20148513656188206.html). Al Jazeera. August 5, 2014. Retrieved August 8,

2014.

28.

^"Obama authorises Iraq air strikes on Islamist fighters" (http://www.bbc.com

/news/world-middle-east-28699832). BBC World News. August 8, 2014.

Retrieved August 8, 2014.

29.

^"Britain's RAF makes second aid drop to Mount Sinjar Iraqis trapped by Isis

video" (http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2014/aug/12/raf-drop-aid-

mount-sinjar-iraqis-trapped-isis-video). The Guardian. August 12, 2014.

Retrieved August 12, 2014.

30.

^"Iraq crisis: Tony Abbott says Australia's role in Iraq only humanitarian 'at this

stage'; UN calls for 'urgent' international action" (http://www.abc.net.au

/news/2014-08-12/australia-only-playing-humanitarian-role-in-iraq-at-this-stage

/5666856). ABC News. August 13, 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2014.

31.

^"Europe pledges aid, equipment to Iraq" (http://abcnews.go.com/International

/wireStory/europe-pledges-northern-iraq-24942503). ABC News. August 12,

2014. Retrieved August 12, 2014.

32.

^"Kurds rescue Yazidis from Iraqi mountain" (http://www.aljazeera.com

/news/middleeast/2014/08/kurds-rescue-yazidis-from-iraq-mountain-

201489135227783157.html). Al Jazeera. August 10, 2014. Retrieved August 12,

2014.

33.

^"Thousands of Yazidis 'still trapped' on Iraq mountain" (http://www.bbc.com

/news/world-middle-east-28756544). BBC World News. August 12, 2014.Retrieved August 12, 2014.

34.

^Betts, Robert (2013). The Sunni-Shi'a Divide: Islam's Internal Divisions and

Their Global Consequences.

35.

^Stafford, R.S. The Tragedy of Assyrians(http://www.aina.org/books/tota.pdf).

p. 15.

36.

^ abcdEncyclopaedia Iranica:Yazidis (http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles

/yazidis-i-general-1)

37.

^Late Antique Motifs in Yezidi Oral Traditionby Eszter Spt. Ch. 9 "The Origin

Myth of the Yezidis" section "The Myth of Shehid Bin Jer" (p. 347)

38.


7 of 10 8/13/2014
http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/yazidis-i-general-1)http://adherents.com/Na/Na_670.html#4286)http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_easthttp://www.aina.org/reports/yezidiscpt.pdf)http://www.americanchronicle.com/articleshttp://kurdwatch.org/pdf/kurdwatch_yeziden_en.pdf)http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/10/syriahttp://demoscope.ru/weeklyhttp://armstat.am/file/article/sv_03_13a_520.pdf)http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Georgia_Census_2002http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/pazar/6891240.asphttp://politiken.dk/udland/ECE2362352/irakisk-politiker-vi-har-kun-faahttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/aughttp://www.bbc.com/http://books.google.com/http://journalstar.com/articles/2007/02/28/news/localhttp://www.thewire.com/global/2014/08/a-very-brief-history-of-the-yazidihttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/07/who-yazidi-isis-iraq-religionhttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1560714/The-Devil-worshippershttp://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/iraq-turmoil/who-are-yazidihttp://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/sytoc.html)http://books.google.com/?id=_EhACvcqVXkC&printsec=frontcover&q)https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbookhttp://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/measthttp://gulfnews.com/news/region/iraq/isil-militants-execute-dozenshttp://www.aljazeera.com/http://www.bbc.com/http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2014/aug/12/raf-drop-aidhttp://www.abc.net.au/http://abcnews.go.com/Internationalhttp://www.aljazeera.com/http://www.bbc.com/http://www.aina.org/books/tota.pdf)http://www.iranicaonline.org/articleshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidihttp://www.iranicaonline.org/articleshttp://www.aina.org/books/tota.pdf)http://www.bbc.com/http://www.aljazeera.com/http://abcnews.go.com/Internationalhttp://www.abc.net.au/http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2014/aug/12/raf-drop-aidhttp://www.bbc.com/http://www.aljazeera.com/http://gulfnews.com/news/region/iraq/isil-militants-execute-dozenshttp://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/measthttps://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbookhttp://books.google.com/?id=_EhACvcqVXkC&printsec=frontcover&q)http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/sytoc.html)http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/iraq-turmoil/who-are-yazidihttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1560714/The-Devil-worshippershttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/07/who-yazidi-isis-iraq-religionhttp://www.thewire.com/global/2014/08/a-very-brief-history-of-the-yazidihttp://journalstar.com/articles/2007/02/28/news/localhttp://books.google.com/http://www.bbc.com/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/aughttp://politiken.dk/udland/ECE2362352/irakisk-politiker-vi-har-kun-faahttp://www.hurriyet.com.tr/pazar/6891240.asphttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/Georgia_Census_2002http://armstat.am/file/article/sv_03_13a_520.pdf)http://demoscope.ru/weeklyhttp://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/10/syriahttp://kurdwatch.org/pdf/kurdwatch_yeziden_en.pdf)http://www.americanchronicle.com/articleshttp://www.aina.org/reports/yezidiscpt.pdf)http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_easthttp://adherents.com/Na/Na_670.html#4286)http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/yazidis-i-general-1)

5/21/2018 Yazidi

8/10

^Yazidis celebrate New Year in Iraq (http://www.youtube.com

/watch?v=wdNoWVVAE5A), Al Jazeera (YouTube), 28 April 2012. Retrieved

Dec 2012.

39.

^Joseph 1919, p. 11940.

^Joseph 1919, p. 12041.

^ abJoseph 1919, p. 12142.

Âllison C 1998 The Evolution of Yazidi Religion From Spoken Word to

Written Scripture. ISIM Newsletter.https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream

/handle/1887/16757/ISIM_1_The_Evolution_of_the_Yezidi_Religion_From_Spoken_Word_to_Written_Scripture.pdf?sequence=1

43.

Âllison C 1998 The Evolution of Yazidi Religion From Spoken Word to

Written Scripture. ISIM Newsletter.https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream

/handle/1887/16757

/ISIM_1_The_Evolution_of_the_Yezidi_Religion_From_Spoken_Word_to_Written_Scripture.pdf?sequence=1

44.

^ abcdKjeilen, Tore. "Yazidism" (http://i-cias.com/e.o/uyazidism.htm).

Encyclopaedia. LookLex. Retrieved 2008-03-31. "Malak Taus filled 7 jars of

tears through 7,000 years. His tears were used to extinguish the fire in hell.

Therefore, there is no hell in Yazidism."

45.

^ abIslam: Satan, sin, and repentance (http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-

69144/Islam) atEncyclopdia Britannica

46.

^"Yezidi Reformer: Sheikh Adi" (http://www.yeziditruth.org

/yezidi_reformer_sheikh_adi). The Truth about the Yezidis. YezidiTruth.org, A

Humanitarian Organization, Sedona, Arizona.

47.

Înternational Newsagency (AINA),Iraqi Yazidi MP: We Are Being Butchered

Under the Banner of 'There is No God But Allah', 06.08.2014

(http://www.aina.org/news/20140805220106.htm%7CAssyrian)

48.

^Salih, 'Islamic Extremists Pose New Risks for Religious Minorities in Iraq',

New York Times (24.06.2014) (http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06

/24/islamic-extremists-pose-new-risks-for-religious-minorities-in-iraq

/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0%7CCale)

49.

^ abcd"Yezidi Religious Tradition" (http://www.yeziditruth.org

/yezidi_religious_tradition). The Truth about the Yezidis. YezidiTruth.org, A

Humanitarian Organization, Sedona, Arizona.

50.

^MacFarquhar, Neill (2003-01-03). "Bashiqa Journal: A Sect Shuns Lettuce and

Gives the Devil His Due" (http://query.nytimes.com

/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B00E5DF1E3FF930A35752C0A9659C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all). The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-31.

"Yazidis pray three times a day, at dawn, midday and sunset, facing the direction

of the sun each time. 'The sun is very holy to us,' said Walid Abu Khudur, the

stocky, bearded guardian of the temple built in honor of a holy man here. 'It is

like the eye of God, so we pray toward it.'... They have adopted Christian rituals

like baptism and a smattering of practices from Islam ranging from circumcision

to removal of their shoes inside their temples. The importance of fire as a divine

manifestation comes from Zoroastrianism, the ancient Iranian faith that forms

the core of Yazidi beliefs. Indeed their very name is likely taken from an old

Persian word for angel."

51.

^Hedges, Chris (1993-05-31). "Sheik Adi Journal: Satan's Alive and Well, but

the Sect May Be Dying" (http://query.nytimes.com

/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE5DA133FF932A05756C0A965958260&

sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all). The New York Times. Retrieved 2007-07-21.

"The Yazidis, who are part of Iraq's Yazidi minority, had 100 of 150 villages

demolished during the counterinsurgency operation against the Kurdish rebel

movement that reached its peak in 1988. The campaign, which moved hundreds

of thousands of people to collective villages, saw 4,000 Yazidi villages

dynamited into rubble. ... The sect follows the teachings of Sheik Adi, a holyman who died in 1162, and whose crypt lies in the shrine in the Lalish Valley,

about 15 miles east of Mosul. The shrine's graceful, fluted spires poke above the

trees and dominate the fertile valley. ... Like Zoroastrians they venerate fire, the

sun and the mulberry tree. They believe in the transmigration of souls, often into

animals. The sect does not accept converts and banishes anyone who marries

outside the faith. Yazidis are forbidden to disclose most of their rituals and

beliefs to nonbelievers."

52.

^"Richness of Iraq's minority religions revealed" (http://news.bbc.co.uk

/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8598970.stm) from the BBC

53.

^Lattimer, Mark (2007-12-13) "Freedom Lost (http://www.guardian.co.uk

/world/2007/dec/13/gender.iraq)", The Guardian, London.

54.

Âllison, Christine (2001). The Yazidi Oral Tradition in Iraq

(http://books.google.com/?id=8B1g3YUhYU0C&printsec=frontcover&q).

Psychology Press. p. 40. ISBN 0-7007-1397-2. Retrieved August 20, 2010.

55.

^Commins, David Dean.Historical Dictionary of Syria. Scarecrow Press.

p. 282. ISBN 0-8108-4934-8.

56.

^Ghareeb, Edmund A. (2004).Historical Dictionary of Iraq. Scarecrow Press.

p. 248. ISBN 0-8108-4330-7.

57.

Êdmonds, C.J. (1967).A Pilgrimage To Lalish. Routledge. p. 60.

ISBN 0-947593-28-4.

58.

^Hastings, James (2003).Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics Part 18.

Kessinger. p. 769. ISBN 0-7661-3695-7.

59.

^ abcdLoveday Morris. "Islamic State seizes town of Sinjar, pushing out Kurds

and sending Yazidis fleeing" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/islamic-

state-seize-town-of-sinjar-pushing-out-kurds-and-sending-yazidis-fleeing

/2014/08/03/52ab53f1-48de-4ae1-9e1d-e241a15f580e_story.html). The

Washington Post.

60.

^Bram Janssen & Sameer N. Yacoub (August 4, 2014). "Iraq Air Force to Back

Kurds Fighting Islamists" (http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/sunni-

insurgents-seize-small-towns-iraqs-north-24826322). Associated Press.

61.

^{{cite web|title=40,000 Iraqis stranded on mountain as Isis jihadists threaten

death|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/07/40000-iraqis-

stranded-mountain-isis-death-threat

62.

^{{cite web|title=Obama orders air strikes on Iraq

death|url=http://www.rediff.com/news/report/obama-orders-air-strikes-on-iraq

/20140808.htm

63.

^{{cite web|title=20,000 Iraqis besieged by Isis escape from mountain after US

air strikes|url=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/10/iraq-yazidi-

isis-jihadists-islamic-state-kurds

64.

^"The Role of the Father - Honor Killing Verdict Has Prosecutors Wanting

More (English)" (http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/prosecutors-focus-on-father-in-german-honor-killing-case-a-834752.html). Spiegel Online.

2012-05-24. Retrieved 2012-05-27.

65.

^"Yezidis" (http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/etgloss/ya-yz.htm).

Encyclopedic Theosophical Glossary. Theosophical University Press. 1999.

66.

^Shah, Idries (1964). The Sufis. Anchor Doubleday. pp. 437438.

ISBN 0-385-07966-4.

67.

^Seabrook, W.B.,Adventures in Arabia, Harcourt, Brace, and Company, 1927.68.

^Lovecraft, H.P., The Complete Fiction, Barnes & Noble, 2008. ISBN

978-1-4351-2296-3

69.


8 of 10 8/13/2014
http://www.youtube.com/https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstreamhttps://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstreamhttp://i-cias.com/e.o/uyazidism.htm)http://www.britannica.com/eb/articlehttp://www.yeziditruth.org/http://www.aina.org/news/20140805220106.htm%7CAssyrian)http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06http://www.yeziditruth.org/http://query.nytimes.com/http://query.nytimes.com/http://news.bbc.co.uk/http://www.guardian.co.uk/http://books.google.com/?id=8B1g3YUhYU0C&printsec=frontcover&q)http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/islamichttp://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/sunnihttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/07/40000-iraqishttp://www.rediff.com/news/report/obama-orders-air-strikes-on-iraqhttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/10/iraq-yazidihttp://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/prosecutorshttp://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/etgloss/ya-yz.htm)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidihttp://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/etgloss/ya-yz.htm)http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/prosecutorshttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/10/iraq-yazidihttp://www.rediff.com/news/report/obama-orders-air-strikes-on-iraqhttp://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/aug/07/40000-iraqishttp://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/sunnihttp://www.washingtonpost.com/world/islamichttp://books.google.com/?id=8B1g3YUhYU0C&printsec=frontcover&q)http://www.guardian.co.uk/http://news.bbc.co.uk/http://query.nytimes.com/http://query.nytimes.com/http://www.yeziditruth.org/http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06http://www.aina.org/news/20140805220106.htm%7CAssyrian)http://www.yeziditruth.org/http://www.britannica.com/eb/articlehttp://i-cias.com/e.o/uyazidism.htm)https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstreamhttps://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstreamhttp://www.youtube.com/

5/21/2018 Yazidi

9/10

Wikimedia Commons hasmedia related to Yazidism.


Yazidi

^Kaplan, Lawrence F. (2007-10-31). "Sinjar Diarist: Devil's Advocates"

(http://direct.bl.uk/bld/PlaceOrder.do?UIN=197238985&ETOC=RN). The New

Republic235(4790): 34. Not accessible: original (http://www.tnr.com

/doc.mhtml?i=20061106&s=diarist110606). Cited at PDPBR for October

31November 1 (http://uscpublicdiplomacy.com/index.php/newsroom

70. /johnbrown_detail/061101_pdpbr/).

^Moore, Alan and Ha, Gene (19992000) Top Ten issues 1-12,71.

^Lagouranis, Tony (2007).Fear Up Harsh: An Army Interrogator's Dark

Journey through Iraq. New American Library. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-451-22112-4.

72.

See also

2007 Qahtaniya bombingsManichaeism

Minority politics in Iraq

Yezidian Academy

Yazidis in Armenia

Further reading

Acikyildiz, Birgul. The Yezidis: The History of a Community, Culture

and Religion. London: I.B.Tauris (2014, ISBN 9781784532161)

Cumont, Franz. Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism. New York:

Dover Publications, 1956, p. 152-153.

Drower, E.S. [E.S. Stevens].Peacock Angel. Being Some Account of

Votaries of a Secret Cult and their Sanctuaries (http://www.avesta.org

/yezidi/peacock.htm). London: John Murray, 1941.

Joseph, I. "Yezidi Texts". The American Journal of Semitic Languages

and Literatures, 19081909/XXV, 2, pp. 111156.

Kreyenbroek, F.G. "Yezidism - its Background, Observances and

Textual Tradition". Texts and Studies in Religion, 62. Lewiston,

Queenston and Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press, 1995.

Kurdoev, K.K. "Ob alfavite ezidskikh religioznykh knig" (Report on the

alphabet of the Yezidi religious books). Pis'mennye pamiatniki i

problemy istorii kul'tury narodov Vostoka. VIII godichnaia nauchnaia

sessiia LO IV AN SSSR. Leningrad, 1972, pp. 196199. In Russian.

Kurdoev, K.K. "Ob avtorstve i iazyke religioznykh knig kurdov XIXII

vv. predvaritel'noe soobshchenie" (Preliminary report on the Yezidireligious books of the eleventh-twelfth centuries: their author and

language). VII godichnaia nauchnaia sessiia LO IV AN SSSR.

Leningrad, 1971, pp. 2224. In Russian.

Marie, A. 1911. "La dcouverte rcente des deux livres sacrs des

Yzdis".Anthropos, 1911/VI, 1. pp. 139.

Menzel, Th. "Yazidi, Yazidiya" inEncyclopaedia of Islam.

Omarkhali, Kh. "Yezidizm. Iz glubini tisyachaletiy" (Yezidism. From the

early millennia). Sankt Peterburg, 2005. In Russian.

Omarkhali, Kh. "Yezidism: Society, Symbol, Observance". Istanbul,

2007. In Kurdish.

Reshid, T. Yezidism: historical roots (http://www.findarticles.com

/p/articles/mi_m0SBL/is_1-2_19/ai_n15954362),International Journal

of Yezidi Studies, January 2005.

Reshid, R., Etnokonfessionalnaya situasiya v sovremennom Kurdistane.

Moskva-Sankt-Peterburg: Nauka, 2004, p. 16. In Russian.

Rodziewicz, A., Yezidi Eros. Love as The Cosmogonic Factor and

Distinctive Feature of The Yezidi Theology in The Light of Some

Ancient Cosmogonies,Fritillaria Kurdica (http://www.kurdishstudies.pl

/files/Fritillaria_Kurdica_2014_03_04%5B1%5D.pdf), 2014/3,41,

pp. 42105.

Rodziewicz, A., Tawus Protogonos: Parallels between the Yezidi

Theology and Some Ancient Greek Cosmogonies,Iran and the

Caucasus, 2014/18,1, pp. 2745.

Wahbi, T., Dn Caran Kurd, Gelawej Journal, N 11-12, Baghdad, 1940,

pp. 5152. In Kurdish.

Williams, Kayla, and Michael E. Staub. 2005.Love My Rifle More ThanYou. W.W. Norton, New York. ISBN 0-393-06098-5

Ph.G. Kreyenbroek in collaboration with Z. Kartal, Kh. Omarkhali, and

Kh.J. Rashow. Yezidism in Europe: Different Generations Speak about

their Religion. Wiesbaden, 2009.

Omarkhali Khanna in collaboration with Kovan Khanki. A method of

the analysis of the Yezidi Qewls: On the example of the religious hymn

of Omar Khala and Hesin Chineri. Avesta, Istanbul, 2009.

Salman H Haji, Pharmacist, Lincoln NE US

External links

"Who, What, Why: Who are the Yazidis?" BBC News Magazine Monitor, 7 August 2014 (http://www.bbc.com

/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-28686607?ocid=socialflow_gplus)

Les Ezidis de France (http://ezidi.fr/)

Der Jesidismus ein Beispiel fr religisen Synkretismus (http://www.academia.edu/3168582

/George_Grigore_Der_Jesidismus_ein_Beispiel_fur_religiosen_Synkretismus_Analele_Universitatii_din_Bucuresti_-

_Limbi_si_literaturi_straine_nr._2_Bukarest_Editura_Universitatii_din_Bucuresti_2012_.83-94)

An Inquiry into the Religious Tenets of the Yezeedees (http://www.sacred-texts.com/asia/rty/index.htm)by George Percy Badger (1852).

Devil Worship: The Sacred Books and Traditions of the Yezidiz (http://www.sacred-texts.com/asia/sby/index.htm)by Isya Joseph (1919).

Fritillaria Kurdica (http://www.kurdishstudies.pl/files/Fritillaria_Kurdica_2014_03_04%5B1%5D.pdf)free issue of bulletin devoted to Yezidis (2014).


9 of 10 8/13/2014
http://direct.bl.uk/bld/PlaceOrder.do?UIN=197238985&ETOC=RN)http://www.tnr.com/http://uscpublicdiplomacy.com/index.php/newsroomhttp://www.avesta.org/http://www.findarticles.com/http://www.kurdishstudies.pl/http://www.bbc.com/http://ezidi.fr/)http://www.academia.edu/3168582http://www.sacred-texts.com/asia/rty/index.htm)http://www.sacred-texts.com/asia/sby/index.htm)http://www.kurdishstudies.pl/files/Fritillaria_Kurdica_2014_03_04%5B1%5D.pdf)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidihttp://www.kurdishstudies.pl/files/Fritillaria_Kurdica_2014_03_04%5B1%5D.pdf)http://www.sacred-texts.com/asia/sby/index.htm)http://www.sacred-texts.com/asia/rty/index.htm)http://www.academia.edu/3168582http://ezidi.fr/)http://www.bbc.com/http://www.kurdishstudies.pl/http://www.findarticles.com/http://www.avesta.org/http://uscpublicdiplomacy.com/index.php/newsroomhttp://www.tnr.com/http://direct.bl.uk/bld/PlaceOrder.do?UIN=197238985&ETOC=RN)

5/21/2018 Yazidi

10/10

Yezidism: Its Background, Observances and Textual Tradition (http://web.archive.org/web/20050110091415re_/www.mellenpress.com

/emp/mellenpress.cfm?bookid=1585&pc=9)by Philip G. Kreyenbroek (1995). ISBN 0-7734-9004-3.

Shaikh 'Adi, Sufism and the Kurds (http://www.pen-kurd.org/englizi/zorab/zorab-SheikhAdi-Sufizm.html), by Dr. Zourab Aloian.

"Al-Hallaj in Yezidi Tradition (http://web.archive.org/web/20051214055638re_/www.lalish.com/helac.htm)", essay on al-Hallaj, presented by Dr. Zorab

Aloian at the 35th International Congress of Asian and North African Studies, Budapest (July 1997).

"Being Yezidi (http://www.oneworld.am/journalism/articles/yezidi.html)", on Yezidi identity politics in Armenia, by Onnik Krikorian, first published by

Transitions Online (2004).

Lost in Translation (http://michaelyon.blogspot.com/2005/06/lost-in-translation.html), interviews with Yazidi by Michael Yon in Yezdinar Village, Iraq

(June 6, 2005).

The Beginning of the Universe (http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/001064.html), photos and a description of Yezidi life in Lalish, Iraq, by Michael J.

Totten (February 22, 2006).

"Armenia: Yezidi Identity Battle (http://www.iwpr.net/?p=crs&s=f&o=325045&apc_state=henh)" by Onnik Krikorian, in Yerevan, Institute for War &

Peace Reporting (2 November 2006).

Yazidi and Yazdani (http://www.shaikhsiddiqui.com/yazdani.html)

Yezidi Web (http://web.archive.org/web/20031026113221/http://www.yezidi.net/)(via the Wayback Machine)

"[1] (http://web.archive.org/web/20071202102940/http://altreligion.about.com/library/faqs/bl_yezidism.htm)", Alternative Religions profile at About.com.

Rubin, Alissa J. (2007-10-14). "Persecuted Sect in I raq Avoids Its Shrine" (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/world/middleeast/14iraq.html). The New

York Times. Retrieved 2009-08-04.

"Murder of Yezidi woman - Arzu .'s brother faces life in prison (German)" (http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/ehrenmord-in-detmold-bruder-

von-arzu-oe-soll-lebenslang-in-haft-a-833535.html). Spiegel Online. 2012-05-16. Retrieved 2012-05-27.

"The Role of the Father - Honor Killing Verdict Has Prosecutors Wanting More (English)" (http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/prosecutors-

focus-on-father-in-german-honor-killing-case-a-834752.html).Spiegel Online. 2012-05-24. Retrieved 2012-05-27.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yazidi&oldid=621083551"

Categories: Ethnic groups in Iraq Ethnoreligious groups Iranian religions Monotheistic religions Mysticism Religion in Iran Religion in Iraq Yazidi

Ethnic groups in Germany Ethnic groups in Georgia (country) Ethnic groups in Russia Ethnic groups in Syria Ethnic groups in the Middle East

This page was last modified on 13 August 2014 at 16:44.Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms ofUse and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.


10 of 10 8/13/2014
http://web.archive.org/web/20050110091415re_/www.mellenpress.comhttp://www.pen-kurd.org/englizi/zorab/zorab-SheikhAdi-Sufizm.html)http://web.archive.org/web/20051214055638re_/www.lalish.com/helac.htm)http://www.oneworld.am/journalism/articles/yezidi.html)http://michaelyon.blogspot.com/2005/06/lost-in-translation.html)http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/001064.html)http://www.iwpr.net/?p=crs&s=f&o=325045&apc_state=henh)http://www.shaikhsiddiqui.com/yazdani.html)http://web.archive.org/web/20031026113221/http://www.yezidi.net/)http://web.archive.org/web/20071202102940/http://altreligion.about.com/library/faqs/bl_yezidism.htm)http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/world/middleeast/14iraq.html)http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/ehrenmord-in-detmold-bruderhttp://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/prosecutorshttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yazidi&oldid=621083551http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidihttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Yazidi&oldid=621083551http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/prosecutorshttp://www.spiegel.de/panorama/justiz/ehrenmord-in-detmold-bruderhttp://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/world/middleeast/14iraq.html)http://web.archive.org/web/20071202102940/http://altreligion.about.com/library/faqs/bl_yezidism.htm)http://web.archive.org/web/20031026113221/http://www.yezidi.net/)http://www.shaikhsiddiqui.com/yazdani.html)http://www.iwpr.net/?p=crs&s=f&o=325045&apc_state=henh)http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/001064.html)http://michaelyon.blogspot.com/2005/06/lost-in-translation.html)http://www.oneworld.am/journalism/articles/yezidi.html)http://web.archive.org/web/20051214055638re_/www.lalish.com/helac.htm)http://www.pen-kurd.org/englizi/zorab/zorab-SheikhAdi-Sufizm.html)http://web.archive.org/web/20050110091415re_/www.mellenpress.com

yazidi

Documents