The Religion

 

 

Yezidis are monotheists, believing in one God, who created the world and entrusted it into the care of seven Holy Beings, often known as Angels or heft sirr (the Seven Mysteries). The seven angels are made from God’s emanation and  preeminent among them is Tawûsê Melek (frequently known as “Melek Taus” in English publications). Tawûsê Melek is translated as the Peacock Angel.

 

Yezidism is not an offshoot of another religion, but shows influence from many religions. Core YYezidi cosmology has a pre-Zoroastrian Iranian origin, but Yezidism also includes elements of ancient nature-worship as well as influences from Zoroastrianism.

 

Tawûsê Melek is often identified by Muslims and Christians with Shaitan (Satan of the Devil). However, Yezidis believe that Tawûsê Melek is not a source of evil or wickedness. They consider him to be the leader of the archangels and not a fallen angel. Yezidis are forbidden from speaking the name Shaitan, because in doing so, one creates an equal partner to God. God is the creator and the greatest force and it is wrong to say that there is an evil force that is equal to God.

 

Yezidis believe that good and evil both exist in the mind and spirit of human beings. It depends on the humans themselves as to which they choose--good or evil. In the process of choosing, their devotion to Tawûsê Melek is essential since it was he who was given the same choice between goodness and evil by God, and Tawûsê Melek chose goodness.

 

Nature

 

Yezidis believe in the oneness with nature. Yezidis worship three to five times each day and they face the sun when they pray. The Sun represents the source of energy or ultimate truth. The sun is considered to be a sacred emanation of God.

 

Creation

 

Yezidi accounts of creation differ from that of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Yezidis believe that God first created Tawûsê Melek from his own (God’s) illumination (Ronahî) and the other six archangels were created later. God ordered Tawûsê Melek 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 the archangels obeyed except Tawûsê Melek. In answer to God, Tawûsê Melek replied, “How can I submit to another being! I am from your illumination while Adam is made of dust.” Then God praised Tawûsê Melek and made him the leader of all the angels and made him

God’s deputy on the Earth.

 

Hence the Yezidis believe that Tawûsê Melek is the representative of God on the face of the Earth and that he comes down to the Earth on the first Wednesday of Nisan (April). Yezidis hold that God created Tawûsê Melek on this day and they  celebrate it as New Year’s Day. Yezidis argue that the order to bow to Adam was only a test for Tawûsê Melek, since if God commands anything then it must happen. (Bibe, dibe).

 

In other words, God could have made Tawûsê Melek submit to Adam, but instead, God gave Tawûsê Melek the choice as a test. Yezidis believe that their respect and praise for Tawûsê Melek is a way to acknowledge his majestic and sublime nature. This idea is called “Knowledge of the Sublime” (Zanista Ciwaniyê).

 

One of the key creation beliefs held by Yezidis is that they are the descendants of Adam through Adam’s son Shehid bin Jer rather than from Adam Eve.

 

Reincarnation

 

One of the important facets of the Yezidi religion is their belief in reincarnation. Reincarnation includes the belief that the soul is imperishable, is never born and never dies.  In Kurmanji, the Yezidi language, reincarnation is called Kiras Guhorin, which means changing of garments. In other words, after death, the soul receives another body.

 

Reincarnation is applicable even to the angels and implies that one’s personal angel is not greater, but is equal to others. That makes the Yezidis the most peaceful community in the middle east. The concept of reincarnation is spiritually instilled  in young Yezidis from an early age.

 

Yezidis believe that the Seven Holy Beings are periodically reincarnated in human form, called a koasasa. Each Yezidi, during his life, undergoes a ritual wherein s/he becomes bonded spiritually to a brother and sister of their faith from a family different from the one they are born into. The spiritual sibling relationship is established to assist the Yezidi soul into the next life. According to Yezidi beliefs, one’s heavenly brother and sister will be waiting to assist one’s soul when one departs from this world, and act as guide for the soul through its journey in the spiritual world.

 

Heaven and Afterlife

 

Yezidis believe that Melek Taus (the peacock angel) descended, saw the pain and suffering of the world and cried. His tears--thousands of years’ worth--fell on the fires of hell, extinguishing them. With hell extinguished, and together with the belief in reincarnation, the Yezidis believe that the soul is born again and again into perfection until it merges into heaven, based on a concept that is akin to Karma.

YYezidis also believe that bad Karma may result in expulsion from Yezidi society. Expulsion happens when one violates the regulative principles of the Yezidi faith and is considered to be the gravest of all punishments by  their chief angel Malek Taus. The threat of expulsion serves as an internal check within the society for the enforcement of ethical values of right and wrong.

 

Holy Books

 

The Yezidi holy books are the Kitêba Cilwe (Book of Revelation) and the Mishefa Reş (Black Book). Manuscripts of both books were published in 1911 and 1913, but they turned out to be forgeries written by non-Yezidis in response to Western travelers’ and scholars’ interest in the Yezidi religion. The material in these books is consistent with authentic Yezidi traditions, however, and true texts of those names used to exist.

 

The core texts of the Yezidi religion that exist today are the hymns known as qawls. The qawls have been orally transmitted during most of Yezidi history, but are now being collected for publication with the assent of the community, effectively transforming Yezidism into a scriptural religion.