OT: Anybody hear of these esoteric relegions in the Middle-East?

[Mas Judt]

Okay, I thought I've heard of most of the Middle eastern religions still around - but I can't find any reference on this one.

Anybody have any information on the Iziti religion?

[Oso]

just a reference downapage here:

http://www.wand.org/issuesact/060516/index.html

the google page for 'iziti'

http://www.google.com/search?num=50&hl=en&newwindow=1&safe=off&q=Iziti


i'm sure you did that but you got my curiosity up so I figured I'd post :)

[rogue]

What region?

[Mas Judt]

Iraq - I don't know WHERE, which is pretty big. I just heard a bit on the news today - did not hear entire sentance... peaked my interest.

[rogue]

Are they the Kurdish sect I heard about today?

[rogue]

I looked up info on the Kurds and found the same name that Oso did, so this may be it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yazidism


In the Yazidi worldview, God created the world, which is now in the care of a Heptad of seven Holy Beings, often known as Angels or heft sirr (the Seven Mysteries). Pre-eminent among these is Melek Taus (Tawûsê Melek in Kurdish), the Pea**** Angel, who is equated with Satan or Devil by some Muslims and Christians. According to the Encyclopedia of the Orient, "The reason for the Yazidis reputation of being devil worshipers, is connected to the other name of Melek Taus, Shaytan, the same name as the Koran's for Satan."[2] However, according to the Kurdish linguist Jamal Nebez, the word Taus is most probably derived from the Greek and is related to the words Zeus and Theos, alluding to the meaning of God. Accordingly, Malak Ta'us is God's Angel, and this is how Yezidis themselves see Melek Taus or Taus-e-Malak ([3], page 21).

Yazidis believe that Melek Ta’us is not a source of evil or wickedness. They consider him as the leader of the archangels, not a fallen angel. Also they say that the source of evil is in the heart and spirit of humans themselves, not in Melek Ta’us. The active forces in their religion are Melek Ta’us and Sheik Adii. The Kitêba Cilwe (Book of Illumination) which claims to be the words of Melek Ta’us, and which presumably represents Yazidi belief, states that he allocates responsibilities, blessings and misfortunes as he sees fit and that it is not for the race of Adam to question him. Sheikh Adii believed that the spirit of Melek Ta’us is the same as his own, perhaps as a re-incarnation. He is believed to have said : "I was present when Adam was living in Paradise, and also when Nemrud threw Abraham in fire. I was present when God said to me: (You are the ruler and Lord on the Earth). God, the compassionate, gave me seven earths and throne of the heaven."

Yazidi accounts of creation differ from that of Christianity and Islam. They believe that God first created Melek Ta’us from his own illumination (Ronahî in Kurdish) and the other seven archangels were created later on. God ordered Melek Ta’us not to bow to other beings. Then God created the other archangels and ordered them to bring him dust (Ax) from the Earth (Erd) and build the body of Adam. Then God gave life to Adam from his own breath and instructed all archangels to bow to Adam. All archangels obeyed except Melek Ta’us. As God inquired, Malak Ta’us replied, "How can I submit to another being! I am from your illumination while Adam is made of dust." Then God praised him and made him the leader of all angels and his deputy on the Earth. Hence the Yazidis believe that Melek Ta’us is the representative of God on the face of the Earth, and comes down to the Earth on the first Wednesday of Nisan (March/April). Yezidis celebrate this day as the New Year's day. God created Melek Ta’us from his illumination (Ronahî ) on this day. Yazidis argue that the order to bow to Adam was only a test for Melek Ta’us, since if God says something then it happens (Bibe, dibe). In other words, God could have made him submit to Adam, but gave Ta’us the choice as a test. They believe that their respect and praise for Melek Ta’us is a way to acknowledge his majestic and sublime nature. This idea is called "Knowledge of the Sublime" (Zanista Ciwaniyê ). Sheikh Adii has observed the story of Melek Ta’us and believed in him.[4]

One of the key creationism beliefs of Yazidism is that all Yazidis are descendants of Adam rather than Eve.

Yazidis believe that good and evil both exist in the mind and spirit of human beings. It depends on the humans, themselves, which one they choose. In this process, their devotion to Melek Ta’us is essential, since it was he who was given the same choice between good and evil by God, and chose the good.

Yazidis, which have much in common with those of the Ahl-e Haqq (in western Iran), state that the world created by God was at first a pearl. It remained in this very small and enclosed state for some time (often a magic number such as forty or forty thousand years) before being remade in its current state. During this period the Heptad were called into existence, God made a covenant with them and entrusted the world to them. Besides Melek Ta’us, members of the Heptad (the Seven), who were called into existence by God at the beginning of all things, include Sheikh Adii Ibn Musafir, his companion Shaikh Hasan, and a group known as the four Mysteries, Shamsadin, Fakhradin, Sajadin and Naserdin. The Yazidi holy books are the Kitêba Cilwe (Book of Revelation) and the Mishefa Reş (Black Book).

Two key and interrelated features of Yazidism are: a) a preoccupation with religious purity and b) a belief in metempsychosis. The first of these is expressed in the system of caste, the food laws, the traditional preferences for living in Yazidi communities, and the variety of taboos governing many aspects of life. The 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 guhorîn in Kurdish (changing the garment). Alongside this, Yazidi mythology also includes descriptions of heaven and hell, and other traditions incorporating these ideas into a belief-system that includes reincarnation.

[Mas Judt]

This might be it, as the bit I heard referred to '[someone] says they are satan worshippers.'

THe story of Melek is very similar to the fall of lucifer or the story of iblis in the quran. So I can see where the different perceptions come from...

[Black Jack II]

Yeah, your thinking about the Yazidis. It's a very unusual religon that people seem to confuse with classical satanism due to their use of the word “Shaitan".

If it satanism...who knows. Does not matter, do some research into Allah and there is a wealth of info there about its true history of violence and occultism.

[Mas Judt]

Already have.

I'm just looking at the story - some Christian and certainly some Islamic groups portray 'lucifer', 'satan' and 'shaitan' as the angel who would not bow down. In the case of these guys the guy who would not bow down is the hero - given domion over the Earth. Wherreas many Christians beleive 'Satan' has been given dominion over the Earth.

The archetypal relationships are very interesting. I can't claim any great understanding here, but you can see why at a superficial glance, why they might be viewed as 'satanists' by Christians and Muslims. Not so much the name, but the story.

[Oso]

that reminds me of something I just saw on...Discovery, or History...about the Book/Gospel of Enoch.

here's something mebbe

http://www.meta-religion.com/World_Religions/Other_religions/yezidism.htm


whups...CAUTION...that site is a little ad-laden w/ popups, sorry didn't notice all the blocked popups at first.

[Black Jack II]

http://pat-pk.com/newsdesk/news_2002a/20040306_pat_news.htm

Mas,

Here is an article on the group I found. Seems to be some sort of crytpo-pagan society that is often underground. Who knows if anything can be more darker than the pathological death cult which is Islamofascism.

If one does not think those cats don't practice human sacrifice than they have never heard of Daniel Pearl.

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

i thought it said estrogen religions of the world and i was confused.

[Mas Judt]

From: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~zarathus/deen33f.html

Since some time, certain individuals have been regaling the community in India and abroad with colourful stories about "millions" of Zoroastrians in Kurdistan or Tajlklstan.

In the Bombay Samachar of March 21, 1993, Dr. Pallan R. lchaporia had stated, "Recent research has revealed that even among those who called themselves 'Izedis/Yezedi', the faith is a mixture of extremely corrupt form of Zoroastrianism (can hardly be recognized as the Zoroastrian religion) and the other alien religious beliefs... if some insist on believing that there are Zoroastrians in the Kurdish nation, they are welcome to live in the dream world."

Supporting lchaporia's views, the Editor had stated, "All in all, it is advisable for the Zoroastrians to concentrate upon their own community in India, U.K. and U.S.A."

But who are the Yazidis (also spelt Yezidi, Azidi or lzdi)'?

'The Encyclopaedia Britannica 1986' explains : "The Yazidi religion is a syncretic combination of Zoroastrian, Manichaean, Jewish, Nestorian Christian and Islamic elements. The Yazidi themselves are thought to be descended from supporters of the Umayyad Caliph Yazid 1. They themselves believe that they are created quite separately from the rest of mankind, not even being descended from Adam, and they have kept themselves strictly segregated from the people among whom they live. Although scattered and probably numbering fewer than 1,00,000, they have a well-organized society, with a chief shaykh as the supreme religious head and an amir, or prince, as the secular head.

The chief divine figure of the Yazidi is Malak Taus ('Pea**** Angel'), worshipped in the form of a pea****. He rules the universe with six other angels, but all seven are subordinate to the supreme God, who has had no direct interest in the universe since he created it. The seven angels are worshipped by the Yazidi in the form of seven bronze or iron pea**** figures called sanjaq, the largest of which weighs nearly 700 pounds.

Yazidi are anti-dualists; they deny the existence of evil and therefore also reject sin, the devil, and hell. The breaking of divine laws is expiated by way of metempsychosis, or transmigration of souls, which allows for progressive purification of the spirit. The Yazidi relate that when the devil repented of his sin of pride before God, he was pardoned and replaced in his previous position as chief of the angels; this myth has earned the Yazidl an undeserved reputation as devil worshippers. Shaykh Adi, the chief Yazidi saint, was a 12th century Muslim mystic believed to have achieved divinity through metempsychosis.

The Yazidi religious centre and object of the annual pilgrimage is the tomb of Shaykh 'Adi, located at a former Christian monastery in the town of Ash-Shaykh 'Adi, north of Mosul. Two short books written in Arabic, Kitab al-jilwah ('Book of Revelation') and Mashaf rash ('Black Writing'), form the sacred scriptures of the Yazidi, and an Arabic hymn praise of Shaykh 'Adi is held in great esteem."

According to the 'Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics': "The name of Yezldis has been given to a religious sect numbering about 50,000 persons, scattered from Mossul to the Caucasic region (districts of Mossul, Van, Diarbekr, Bitlis). They call themselves Dasni and speak a Kurdish dialect.

"At the head of the community is a khalifah, who is a descendant of Shaikh Adi. Under him are shaikhs, kavvals, and faqirs. Priesthood is hereditary. Morality is above the average in that part of the world. They are brave and shrewd. Their temperament is cheerful but calm. They have cleanly habits. Their women are not veiled and may receive strangers. They feel great repulsion for the colour blue. Being completely illiterate, they handed down their traditions orally. Their greatest festival is on 10th Aug., when a procession of flagellants takes place in the village of Ba'adri. There is the grave of their great saint, Shaikh Adi ben Musafir, who died in A.D. 1155. All around fires of naphtha and bitumen are kept burning.

"The origin of the word Yezidi been much discussed. Most probably it is related to Av. Yazata, 'deity,', Pers. Yazdan, 'God'. It was given to them in contrast either to the Zoroastrians or to the Muhammadans. Although their priesthood is of the Muhammadan type and they recognize Muhammad and Abraham as prophets, they are far from being a Mubammadan sect. Nor are they Nestorians, although they have baptism and regard Christ as an angel in human form. In fact, they perpetuate with various admixtures a doctrine of the Magian type, combining Iranian and Assyrian elements. Their cult of fire is Iranian. They profess that the devil is a creative agent of the supreme God, inasmuch as he produced evil. Hence he deserves our adoration.

"The Yezidis say that God made the world beautiful. Then Malik-Taus appeared before him and said that there could be no light without darkness, no day without night, and accordingly he caused night to follow day."

Dr. R. C. Zaehner in 'The Hutchinson Encyclopaedia of Living Faiths,' considers the Yezidi faith as an "aberrant form of the Sufi movement".

Joseph T. Parfit writes in his book, 'Marvellous Mesopotamia', "The Yezidees or 'Devil-worshippers' inhabit a number of unkempt villages near Mosul and in the Sinjar Mountains. They seem to belong to a Kurdish stock, and speak Kurdish as well as Arabic. There are probably some forty thousand Yezidees in Mesopotamia and six thousand in the Caucasus. Their headquarters are at Sheikh Adi, a weird place North-East of ancient Nineveh. They have many excellent characteristics, though they are profoundly ignorant and superstitious... It is hardly correct to call the Yezidees 'Devil worshippers', for they all believe in a great God who created the universe; but they pay deference to the 'Prince of this world', lest they should suffer his vengeance. They avoid the use of words that begin with the same letter as Satan's name, and instead of using the common Arabic words for the devil, they speak of him as the 'Prince of Darkness', 'Lord of the Evening' or the 'Exalted Chief'. Many of the Yezidees practise baptisms; they make the sign of the cross, and kiss the threshold of Christian Churches."

The Kurds today are an oppressed people, but there was a time when they were the oppressors. Rev. W. A. Wigram and Sir Edgar Wigram in 'The Cradle of Mankind - Life in Eastern Kurdistan' (1922') write, -The Arabs though equally keen robbers, were not found such practised butchers as the Kurds".

Joseph Parfit in 'Marvellous Mesopotamia - The World Wonderland' adds, "Kurds are generally vicious, heartless, cruel and cowardly to the last degree... they are robbers and murderers pure and simple... The Kurds for the most part are destitute of religious belief,,,, but as nominal Mohammedans, they were permitted to be armed by the Turks, who finding it impossible to subdue them, caused them to be enrolled as irregular cavalry and practically confided to them the duty of robbing and enslaving their Christian neighbours."

Coming back to the Yezidis, Wigram and Wigram write, "The Yezidis or 'Devil Worshippers' congregate principally in the vilayet of Mosul. 'Devil worshippers' they are indeed, for they themselves do not scruple to admit that the being whom they seek to propitiate is actually identical with the 'Sheitan' of the Christians and Moslems and Jews. But, fortunately for the morals of the neighbourhood, their homage stops short of imitation. Theirs is a religion of faith, and not of works. They are under no obligation to make evil their good according to the boast of Milton's Satan, but only to 'respect the great place' of their divinity, and see to it that he is sometime honoured for his burning throne.... The Yezidis form one of the recognized 'millets' or subject religious sects, existing in the Turkish empire. But recognition in their case by no means implies toleration. They are universally abhorred as outcasts - almost as untouchables... the Yezidis possess no systematized religion woven by some great teacher into one harmonious whole. They make shift instead with a bewildering agglomeration of superstitions pieced together into an amazing patchwork.... The Yezidis believe in a Supreme Being - Yazdan, the most high. But to him, they pay no worship. He is the Lord of Heaven and takes no account of earth. From his name in all probability, they derive their own appellation of Yezidis; though the Moslems (or at least, the Shiites) declare that they inherit it from Yezid ibn Mo'auriya, the murderer of Hosein, and see in it an additional argument for persecuting them."

[Mas Judt]

According to Yezidi belief, from Yazdan emanated 7 great spirits, of whom Malek Taus was the first and most powerful. To him was committed the creation of the world, and the governance of it for 10,000 years of which 4,000 still remain to run. Malek Taus is an evil and a fallen spirit; but not fallen beyond redemption. He is a sort of celestial Absalom - vicious, tyrannical, rebellious, but secure of ultimate pardon and rehabilitation. Shall there not at length come a time when the Chief of the Archangels shall be restored to his first pre-eminence? And will he not then be mindful of the poor Yezidis, who alone of all mankind never cursed him in his disgrace?, is every devout Yezidi's belief.

There is something distinctly quaint in this picture of a reclaimed Satan, still cherishing a faint grudge against those who denounced him in his unregenerate days.

The Yezidis have a regular hierarchy of seven orders of Priesthood. They hold a great annual feast at Sheikh Adi in October; which is continued for eight days, and is attended by all the faithful who can come. Pilgrimage to Sheikh Adi is incumbent on every Yezidi, but he is not commanded to pray, and he leaves that duty to his priests. Fasting can also be performed by deputy, and a group of Yezidis will select one of their number to do all their fasting for them, confessing to him the acts which need expiation and paying him a capitation fee for carrying out the corresponding penances.

E. S. Stevens in his book, 'By Tigris and Euphrates', describes the shrine of 'Sheikh Adi' (the holiest place of worship for the Yezidis) as follows, "The courtyard before the entrance contains various small buildings and mulberry trees through which the sun casts chequered patterns on the facade. The door is to the extreme left of the wall, which is interesting on account of its curious magical signs cut in low relief on the stones, the principal being the great vertical snake, carefully black-leaded. to the right of the doorway. Pilgrims kiss this emblem of Satan. Within the temple is dark, dirty and shabby... the floor is greasy, with drippings from the oil lamps. On the north side of the temple a chapel, which they call Sheikh Hassan, contains an arkshaped chest or tomb, entirely covered with draperies and from this, again, a low door communicates with a second chapel in which is the tomb of Sheikh Adi himself."