He placed the white pearl on the back of the bird, and dwelt on it for forty thousand years. The yazidi holy books are written in the kurmanji dialect of the kurdish language. Anecdotal evidence of the existence of yazidi groups in northwestern persia has not yet been proven. Acikyildizs journey to iraq and other yazidi territories, the first half of the book was a particularly enjoyable read. They shared the same fate as the kurds when the areas were islamized in the 7th century. Who are the yazidis and what do they believe about god, satan. The yezidi or yazidi religious minority has been lifted from obscurity for the very worst reason. The yazidi religion is believed to be around 6,000 years old in fact. Bibliography a new dictionary of religions wiley online library. The two religious books of the yazidis have arabic text. As the yazidis hold religious beliefs that are mostly unfamiliar to outsiders, many. Yazidis, a heterodox kurdish religious minority living predominantly in northern iraq, syria, and southeast turkey, with wellestablished communities in the caucasus and a growing european diaspora.
Shinto, also known as kaminomichi, is a religion originating from japan. Firts of all, you have to understand that yazidism is to certain extent an obscure religion because yazidis are quite secretive. Australia brazil canada china france germany india italy japan. 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 had a profound influence on the religiosity of adherents of the adawiyya sufi order living in the yezidi mountains, and caused it to deviate from islamic norms relatively soon after the death of its founder, shaykh adi ibn musafir. The name comes from the ancient city of yazd in iran, which still has an operating fire temple.
Then on the first day, sunday, it created an angel called izrael. The majority of yazidis live in the northwest of iraq, in areas surrounding shingal7 mountain and shekhan district. Their cultural practices are observed in kurdish, which is also the language of almost all the orally transmitted religious traditions of the yazidis. History, facts and traditions of iraqs persecuted minority.
Translation of yazidi book of revelation in english. The kurds are usually identified as an iranian ethnic group descended from the medes. Alhallaj ad 858922 was a sufi mystic from 900 years after the time of jesus. Spam or selfpromotional the list is spam or selfpromotional. He was enamored of the jesus he knew of, but his own sources and influence were primarily islamic and his idea of who jesus was matches the nondivine prophet of islamic teaching rather that the divine savior of christianity. Yezidi mythology creation, floods, and a large black snake. The yazidi book of revelation kiteba cilwe in kurdish. Yazidism is an ancient faith, with a rich oral tradition that integrates some islamic beliefs with elements of zoroastrianism, the ancient persian. The yazidi also yezidi are a ethnoreligious group with indoiranian roots. The yazidi live predominantly in present day northern iraq. So far there are two parts roughly translated the revelation and the black book. Yazidi black book in english the yazidi black book mishefa res or meshaf resh is one of two books on the yazidi religion written in the style of a holy book in the kurmanji dialect of the kurdish language, the other being the book of revelation kiteba cilwe.
It is now generally accepted that the manuscripts of the yazidi sacred book s. The yazidi religion is monotheistic and can be traced back to ancient mesopotamian religions and it also has some similarities with abrahamic religions. In the three chapters of the book, he completely describes the area, including the. It blends elements of ancient mesopotamian religions, zoroastrianism, islam, christianity and judaism and is a religion specifically tied to the yazidis, who are an ethnoreligious group with roo. Yazidis settle in nebraska, but roots run deep in iraq the. Aug 15, 2014 the basis of the yazidis holy scriptures are two books the book of revelation not to be confused by the christian text with the same name and the black book. Yazidi women and girls were often forced to work as domestic servants in the fighters houses, cooking, cleaning, and taking care of their children. Some yezidi mythology has been translated into english and other languages. Meefa res is one of two book s written in the style of a holy boo k of the yazidi s in northern kurdish, the other being the yazidi book of revelatio n kiteba jilwe. They use the term zid or zd to refer to themselves. The yazidi is an ancient arabkurdish community whose religion is linked to zoroastrianism and other ancient mesopotamian religions.
He told me their main religious text, meshaf i resh or the black book, doesnt allow them to eat lettuce or butter beans, wear dark blue, wash alone in the bath or urinate standing up this. The yazidis cultural practices are observably kurdish, and almost all speak kurmanji northern kurdish, with the exception of the villages of bashiqa and bahazane in northern iraq, where arabic is spoken. However, the presence of a textual black bo ok and book of revelation alone may be enou gh to alter the yazid i religion to become more consistent and coherent across. A yazidi girl has spoken of the horrors she suffered at the hands of isis after being held captive as a sex slave. African american books christian book distributors. Where yazidi women and children are injured by rapes or beatings, isis fighters do not permit them access to medical care. Its leaders both reside in the iraqi town of ain sifni. Preserving yazidi heritage and identity british council. Two short books, kitab aljilwah book of revelation and maafrash black book, form the sacred scriptures of the yazidis.
Isis seized sinjar city and the surrounding villages in a few hours, kidnapping and killing the yazidis who could not flee. He was recognized for his work covering events in sudan by world press photo in 20 and in sudan, egypt. Who are the yazidis, the ancient, persecuted religious minority. Inappropriate the list including its title or description facilitates illegal activity, or contains hate speech or ad hominem attacks on a fellow goodreads member or author.
The region was home to approximately 400,000 yazidis, the members of an ancient and oftenpersecuted religious minority whose beliefs and practices incorporate elements of christianity, islam, and other monotheistic religions. More people are in transcaucasia, armenia, turkey, and syria. The religious community professing yazidism consists of between 200,000 and 300,000 people. Kurmanji is the language of almost all the orally transmitted religious traditions of the yazidis. Yezidi religious belief and practice peacock angel. Unhcr tracks yazidi women welcomed back to the faith. The yazidi black book or meshaf resh is one of the two holy books of the yazidi religion, the other being the book of revelation. Yazidi women struggle to return to daily life after enduring islamic state brutality pbs, december 18, 2017. Religions of the world part 1 the yazidi branch of yazdnism. Yezidi religion multidisciplinary view of the religious. As evidence they referred to mass killings of yazidi men and boys who were shot in their head or had their throats slit often in the presence of their family.
Contrary to inaccurate reports, the yazidis are a kurdish religious group and not an ethnic group following the fall of saddam hussein in 2003, the kurds asked for the yazidis to be entirely recognise as belonging to their people. The yazidi religious centre and object of the annual pilgrimage is the tomb of sheikh. The yazidis call themselves dasin, while the term yazidism probably comes from the persian word ized, angel. Yazidis are sometimes classed with zoroastrians, as they have retained from ancient times or reborrowed some practices and concepts from the zoroastrians. It should be kept in mind that, when this book was written, the gnostics were virtually unknown, save from opposing views in early christian writings. Also called yezidi, daasin, or ezidi, the yazidi are a kurdishspeaking ethnoreligious community based in northern iraq who practice a syncretic religion influenced by preislamic assyrian traditions, sufi and shiite islam, nestorian christianity, and zoroastrianism.
Yezidi theology, oral tradition, rituals, and rites of passage. Mashaf res the black book in the beginning god created the white pearl out of his most precious essence. Who are the yazidis and what do they believe about god. Others tie the name yazidi to an old avestan word yazata for angel.
Yazidi simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Their religion blends monotheism with zoroastrianism and the religions of ancient mesopotamia they mostly live in the nineveh province of northern iraq. The religious practices of the yazidi community are some of the oldest in the world, and with so many. The outer garment worn by a priest, usually colored black, red, or light blue, is the ho, or the ikan. The yazidis perceptions of reconciliation and conflict yazidis are one of the oldest ethnic and religious communities indigenous to the middle east. Best documentary the yazidis are an ethnically kurdish religious community or an ethnoreligious group indigenous to. A specialist in medieval islamic and ottoman art and architecture, and an expert on yezidi religion and culture, birgul acikyildiz is professor of the history of art at mardin artuklu university. The yazidis have their own religion called yazidism. The history of a community, culture and religion library of modern religion.
The yazidi religion is monotheistic and can be traced. In her images, hayashi portrays sacrifices made necessary by the hasty escape, and the attempt to make a new life in the confines of their refugee life. In northern iraq, followers of one of the worlds most colourful religions are in danger of being wiped out by islamic state jihadists and now the. Much confusion surrounds their beliefs, but scholars say yazidi. The yazidi holy books were said to be the kiteba cilwe book of revelation and the mishefa res black book. Since then it has garnered much critical attention by ethnologists and theologians, receiving condemnation in some quarters as a fake, and in others a nod of approval as being possibly the only legitimate text along with the book of the revelation that gives some insight into these remarkable people and their beliefs. The two alleged yazidi holy books translated below are in fact forgeries, produced at an uncertain date by outsiders, incorporating genuine yazidi material but mixed in with outside elements.
The branding of the yezidis as devil worshipers has, in fact, a basis in their religious practices, although they are nothing at all like the satanic cults one associates with this label. If the boo k is in tigris, it is unknown if the origina l black book is simply a kurdish translation of the english and a rabic black books, or if it is a different text entirely. And it created a bird upon whose back it placed the pearl, and there he dwelt for forty thousand years. According to yazidi lore, one of the angels, malak tawous, was sent to earth after refusing to bow to adam, explains the economist.
Who are the yazidi people, and what are their beliefs. Books of interest to african americans and people of color. Yezidis believe the black book originated when the lord descended black mountain. Hunted by militants from the islamic state, thousands of people from the yazidi community have fled to the slopes of iraqs mount sinjar, where they are caught between the prospect of death by dehydration and murder at the hands of the group formerly called isis. Some yazidis also live in armenia, turkey, iran, georgia, and syria. The rise of islamic fundamentalism more broadly has pushed thousands of yazidis to seek asylum in europe. They have been brought to the attention of the international world because of the cruelty and slaughter that came upon them in the form of the islamic state. The religious minority is once again threatened by genocide in iraq. Mashaf res the black book mashaf res the black book appendix to part i the poem in praise of seih adi the principal prayer of the yezidis seven classes of yezidis articles of faith part ii. According to some estimates, 70,000 people, or about 15% of the yazidi population in iraq.
Practice, in terms of careful adherence to rules governing all aspects of life, is more important than the role of. Matthew barber, a scholar of yazidi history at the university of chicago, later stated to have compiled a list of 4,800 captured yazidi women and children, and estimated that the overall number could be up to 7,000. Yazidi women struggle to return to daily life after. The secular leader is a hereditary emir or prince, whereas a chief sheikh heads the religious hierarchy. In the months since its rise, the sunniidentified islamic state has gone after many religious and ethnic minorities in iraq and. History, facts, and traditions of iraqs persecuted minority by yasmine hafiz. Yazidi women, who were sold as sex slaves by islamic state militants, are now returning to their families from formerly isiscontrolled territories.
It is now widely suspected that both volumes were compiled by. In the beginning the invisible one brought forth from its own precious soul a white pearl. The history of a community, culture and religion library of modern religion acikyildiz, birgul on. Who are the yazidi, and why is isis targeting them. Three series of books have been published on religion around the world with wide. The complex, secret beliefs of yazidis, their legends and their social structures, including their caste system, set them apart from other religions in the region. Encyclopaedia iranica religious belief and practice. Its rooted in iranian religions blended with elements of preislamic ancient mesopotamian religious traditions and zoroastrianism. The yazidis, isolated in a remote iraq region, are misunderstood and persecuted by their neighbours. Yazidi women struggle to return to daily life after enduring islamic state brutality. The yazidi holy books are claimed to be the kiteba cilwe book of revelation and the mishefa res black book. Although some yazidi religious practices found in the black book are similar to islam, the book also describes a detailed caste system and includes doctrines. The yezidi have a strong ethical code and customs like those of many other agricultural tribal people, as is apparent from the ethnological sketch which rounds out this book.
Yazidi refugees also live in europe specifically in germany and the united states. Yet throughout their long history they have faced 72 genocides and soon they may unfortunately be facing genocide number 73 at the hands of the group formerly known as isis which now calls itself the islamic state. They are a separate branch of the abrahamic religion tree. The yazidi speak primarily kurdish except in some areas like the villages of bashika and bashane where they speak a dialect of arabic with some words of turkish, kurdish, and syrian origin. Further, in my manuscript aljilwah immediately follows the. The revelation mainly consists of god speaking to the yezidi about who he is and who they are in relation to him. Only those born into the yezidi community can belong to the religion. Aug 07, 2014 is this the end for the yazidis of iraq. Yet not just their religious and material culture but now their entire existence is in peril. The black book of the yezidis was first published in english over 120 years ago. The current crisis in iraq has brought the plight of minority groups into the spotlight, with the mention of one religious cohort that many americans had likely never heard of before.
The yazidis are a small, misunderstood and longpersecuted religious sect. Yazidi are a small minority who practice a religion based on a mix of christian, islamic, and ancient mesopotamian beliefs. Book of revelation, the black book, and an appendix. Jan 01, 2010 the book was well written, i enjoyed reading about dr.
The second part focussed mostly on arts and architecture surrounding the yazidi buildings and their faith. The yezidis and over 8 million other books are available for amazon kindle. Researchers believe that the yazidi creed has elements from zoroastrianism, manicheism, judaism, christianity, and islam. The yazidis also yezidi, ezidi, yazdani are a kurdish ethno religious community whose syncretic but ancient religion yazidism, a kind of yazdanism, is linked to zoroastrianism and ancient mesopotamian religions. A major conceptual focus in shinto is ensuring purity by cleansing practices of various types. There are probably some 200,000300,000 yazidis worldwide. Sep 08, 2015 yazidis settle in nebraska, but roots run deep in iraq sheikh hassan hassan, a yazidi, at his home in lincoln, neb. The yazidi holy books are the kiteba cilwe book of revelation and the mishefa res black book. The black book is significantly shorter than other abrahamic religions holy texts, but still contains an eclectic array of directives and. Most are from a christian perspective biographies, devotionals, bibles, childrens books, urban christian fiction. What are the beliefs and history of the yezidi religion. Incorrect book the list contains an incorrect book please specify the title of the book. On death mountain, the yazidis faced a desperate struggle.
Fighters routinely beat yazidi women and girls in their possession. Religious texts are texts related to a religious tradition. Throughout the book, the yazidis learn religious practices like the five daily prayers as well as how to avoid sins against the earth. Yazidis are kurdish ethnoreligious community predominantly living in northern iraq with large communities in sinjar and shekhan, where a number of their holy sites are located, turkey, iran and some of them are scattered in the european w. Yazidism is the religion of a kurdish peoplegroup that lives primarily in iraq.
Fourth way goddess japanese jediism modekngei neopaganism. The majority of yazidis remaining in the middle east today live in iraq, primarily in the nineveh and dohuk governorates. Yazidis believe in one god who is represented by seven angels. In the prayer of the yazidis, japanese photojournalist noriko hayashi tells the.
The book of revelation and black book remain, however, the most prominent texts associated with the socalled devil worshipers of mesopotamia. It is now widely suspected that both volumes were compiled by nonyazidis in the 19th century and then were passed off as ancient manuscripts but that their contents do in fact reflect authentic yazidi oral tradition. Yazidi community leaders were pressuring some of these women to give interviews because they thought if they tell the world about what happened, someone will help them, she adds. In the prayer of the yazidis, japanese photojournalist noriko hayashi tells the stories of yazidi families who have fled when the daesh isis attacked their home, the sinjar region in iraq, to their eventual refugee shelter in germany. In addition, members of the three yazidi castes, the murids, sheikhs and pirs, marry only within their group. Mashaf res the black book internet sacred text archive. It is one of three yazdani religions, alevism and ahle haqq being the others.
She called the decision by yazidi religious authorities to welcome the women back into the faith unprecedented. It is the location of the tomb of sheikh adi ibn musafir, a central figure of the yazidi faith. The yazidi are kurdish speakers who have lived for centuries as farmers and cattle breeders, scattered about in turkey, syria, iraq and the former soviet union. However, scholars generally agree that the manuscripts of both books published in 1911 and 19 were forgeries written by non yazidis in response to western travelers and scholars interest in the yazidi religion.