The historical stages of the Yazidis

 

Part 2: The historical stages of the Yazidis

The first stage: It is known as the stage of reverence for natural phenomena, where the Yazidis like the rest of the ancient peoples of the East, believed and paid reverence for the natural wonders such as the sun, moon, rain, thunder and floods. They have a special name called ‘God” (Khudan- in Kurdish) for each type of these natural elements and the different names to this day are still widely traded amongst the Yazidis.

The second stage: Known as the stage of orientation towards the oneness through the identification of the One creator of this Universe. The Yazidis reach the stage of conviction that there is a supernatural force that created all these natural phenomena’s and he is the One who created himself, created the universe, created the human being and all. The creator was called (Ez-dan) which means the one create-me and (Kho-da) the one created him-self, and this clearly manifested in the book Mazdaha Rosh meaning the ‘Gift-of-the-Sun’. The Prophet Ibrahim Khalil had adopted this idea, the idea of the oneness of the Creator, and invited people to adopt this idea when he said, "He who created the Sun, created the Moon and created Me, he is the Creator."

The third stage: An important stage that represents a historical turn and a golden stage for the Yazidis. This stage is related to the coming of the Yazidi religious reformer Sheikh Adi bin Mujaffer and his presence among the Yazidis in the holiest place which is the luminous Lalish Temple.

The reforms undertaken among the people of this religion, including renewing religious beliefs and the setup up a new religious class system (Sheikh, Peer and Murid) and the definition of their duties and tasks of each class. Meaning clarifying religious principles and how to apply and preserve them and to strengthen the bonds of the spiritual relationship among the Yazidis by relying on dignities, gratitude and Sufism methods. Also at this stage, the ancient religious ideas and beliefs of Yazidism were reorganized into a template of regular religious texts and in a distinctive literary context then they were recorded in a book called the black book (Mus-hafa Rash) meaning the holly book. For this purpose they formed a group of presenters (Kalo or Qawwal) to preserve these religious verses and recite them with religious music of the tambourine and flute while touring in the areas of Yazidis in ceremonies called the tour of the symbol of Angle ( Tawos Gerran). The tour of Baba Sheikh clarified and explained these religious ideas and beliefs in the Book of Jalwa l and transmitted them from generation to generation by oral transmission and preserved it until this day. They have been saved despite the seventy-four extermination campaigns against the Yazidis. This change was led by a group of saints, righteous and godly men of Yazidis such as Sheikh Adi II, and with the help of Sheikh Shams, Sheikh Fakhraddin Al Aadani, Sheikh Hasan, Peer Hasen Maman, Sharaf al-Din and others. It was for the first time in history they would record religious texts that has been memorized by clergy men since the burning of all their religious books during the genocides they faced.

 

Shamo Qasim,

Head of the Cultural Department at Lalish Center