Yazidism

Overview

Yazidism is a monotheistic faith, carried mainly by oral tradition among Kurdish-speaking communities of northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, Syria and the Caucasus. Yazidis hold that after creating the world, God entrusted its care to a Heptad of seven holy beings, chief among them Tawûsî Melek, the "Peacock Angel." Outsiders have long and wrongly equated this figure with Satan, giving rise to the false and damaging label "devil worshippers." The faith's distinctive shape owes much to Sheikh ʿAdi ibn Musafir, a 12th-century Sufi whose tomb at Lalish, in the mountains of northern Iraq, is the religion's holiest site. Yazidi society is organized into hereditary, endogamous groups, and the community does not accept converts. In August 2014, the Islamic State attacked the Yazidi homeland of Sinjar in a campaign later found to constitute genocide.^{[1–3, 5–6, 8–10]}

History

Sheikh ʿAdi and the shaping of the faith early–mid 12th century

A Sufi of Umayyad descent, Sheikh ʿAdi ibn Musafir, settled at Lalish in the early 12th century and founded a Sufi order, the ʿAdawiyya. His own teaching remained orthodox Sufi Islam, but the beliefs of his followers soon blended with older local traditions to produce a distinct faith; Yazidi tradition holds that Sheikh ʿAdi himself attained divine status, and a recognizable Yazidi community is attested in historical sources by the mid-12th century. He died in 1161 or 1162, and his tomb at Lalish became the center of Yazidi devotion.^{[3, 5]}

Branded as apostates 15th–19th centuries

After an attack on Sheikh ʿAdi's tomb in 1414, neighboring Muslim rulers increasingly treated the Yazidis as apostates and political rivals, and clashes and massacres recurred for centuries, reducing Yazidi numbers through killing and forced conversion.^[11]

The 2014 genocide 2014–present

On 3 August 2014, fighters of the Islamic State (ISIS) attacked Sinjar and the surrounding Yazidi towns and villages in northern Iraq. Men and older boys who refused to convert to Islam were killed, and thousands of women and girls were abducted into sexual slavery. In June 2016 the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic concluded, in a report titled "They Came to Destroy," that the Islamic State's campaign against the Yazidis amounted to genocide as well as crimes against humanity and war crimes.^[9–10]

Beliefs

Heftaxa · حفتایه

the Heptad of seven holy beings

God created the world and then entrusted its ongoing care to seven holy beings, often called angels, foremost among them Tawûsî Melek, the Peacock Angel. The group is understood to include Sheikh ʿAdi himself alongside other holy figures.^[2]

Tawûsî Melek · طاووس ملك

the Peacock Angel

Tawûsî Melek is revered as the foremost of the seven holy beings, not as a fallen or evil angel. Outsiders have long mistaken him for the Judeo-Christian Satan, a confusion that produced the false and damaging description of Yazidis as devil worshippers.^[8]

Separate creation

Yazidis believe their community descends from Adam but not from Eve, having been created apart from the rest of humanity. The belief underwrites a strict rule of endogamy: marriage outside the faith is forbidden.^[1]

Ritual purity

A concern with purity and with keeping sacred and profane things separate runs through Yazidi life, producing taboos such as avoiding the name of Satan and words that sound like it, and discouraging blue clothing and eating lettuce.^[12]

Practice

Hereditary religious castes

Yazidi society divides into endogamous, hereditary groups: a lay majority, the morid, and two hereditary religious orders, sheikhs and pirs. Every morid is linked by birth to a particular sheikh lineage and pir lineage, and the resulting network of ties binds the whole community together.^[6]

Pilgrimage to Lalish

Every Yazidi is expected to visit Lalish at least once in their lifetime. Pilgrims walk barefoot through the valley's sacred precincts, visit the tomb of Sheikh ʿAdi, and take part in rites tied to the site's many shrines.^[5]

Purity taboos

Everyday life is shaped by taboos meant to preserve purity: the name of Satan and similar-sounding words are avoided, and some Yazidis decline to wear blue or eat lettuce, especially when religious figures are present.^[12]

People

Scripture

Kitāb al-Jilwah · كتاب الجلوة

19th-century compilation

The "Book of Revelation," a short Arabic text that is one of Yazidism's two named scriptures. Most scholars now think it was compiled by non-Yazidis in the 19th century, drawing on genuine Yazidi oral tradition.^[4]

Mashaf Resh · مصحف رش

19th-century compilation

The "Black Book," a short cosmological text and, with the Kitāb al-Jilwah, one of Yazidism's two named scriptures; alongside both stands a large body of sacred hymns (qewls) transmitted orally in Kurdish.^[4]

Places

Lalish

IRQ

A mountain valley in northern Iraq holding the tomb of Sheikh ʿAdi ibn Musafir; it is Yazidism's holiest site and the destination of a pilgrimage every Yazidi is expected to make at least once.^[5]

Sinjar

IRQ

A town and district in northern Iraq that was the heart of the Yazidi homeland and the site of the Islamic State's August 2014 attack, in which thousands of Yazidis were killed or kidnapped.^[9]

Numbers

Followers

c. 200,000–700,000 (estimates vary widely)^[7]

Britannica gives 200,000 to 1,000,000; the Gale Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures gives 100,000 to 500,000. No reliable census exists for this dispersed minority.

National censuses

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2021, 'Religious affiliation in Australia' (Table 4), CC BY 4.0. Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0

Common misconceptions

Glossary

Tawûsî Melek · طاووس ملك

The "Peacock Angel," foremost of Yazidism's seven holy beings; wrongly identified by outsiders with Satan.^{[2, 8]}

Morid · مريد

A lay Yazidi, the largest of the faith's hereditary groups, bound by birth to a particular sheikh and pir.^[6]

Lalish

The mountain valley in northern Iraq holding Sheikh ʿAdi's tomb, Yazidism's holiest site and place of pilgrimage.^[5]

Mashaf Resh · مصحف رش

The "Black Book," one of Yazidism's two named scriptures, now thought to have been compiled by non-Yazidis in the 19th century from oral tradition.^[4]

Sheikh ʿAdi ibn Musafir

The 12th-century Sufi whose teaching and tomb at Lalish shaped Yazidism; Yazidi tradition holds he achieved divine status.^[3]

Sinjar

The town and district in northern Iraq that formed the heart of the Yazidi homeland and was the site of the Islamic State's 2014 genocide against the Yazidis.^[9]