The temple grounds in Lalish, Iraq. Source: Christian Chung
As misunderstood as Iraq is, there is perhaps no other group, and no other religion, more mysterious than the Yazidis. Simply mentioning the Yazidi faith to most Muslims in Iraq evokes an almost immediate condemnation of the “devil-worshipers in Ninawa” followed by a warning: don’t trust them and don’t eat their food.
An ancient blend of indigenous-Mesopotamian religion with strong Islamic, Sufi and Christian influences, Yazidism centers its worldview in the belief that after creating the world, God left its care to seven Holy Beings, the most eminent of which, and the central figure of the Yazidi faith, is called Melek Taus. Melek Taus is also central in Islam and Christianity, where the mystical Peacock Angel, as Melek Taus is depicted, was said to have refused to bow to the authority of Adam, which is the source of Islamic and Christian claims that Melek Taus becomes Satan. The Yazidis, on the other hand, believe that God first created Melek Taus in self-emulation, commanded him not to bow down to any other creature. This contradiction has fueled an age-old and inaccurate depiction of Yazidism as “devil worshipping.”
As a consequence, the Yazidis have been the victims of hundreds of years of persecution and genocide, starting with the ancient Ottoman Empires and continuing well into the reign of Saddam Hussein. Their dwindling population, numbering roughly 500,000 in Iraq, is today only a fraction of its strength years ago.
Tensions with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), and continued communal enmity from ever-present cultural and religious misconceptions seem to ensure that this small and endangered—yet hospitable and proud—people will continue to struggle in a hostile state as a stark indication that cultural biases may very well contradict KRG goals for freedom and democracy. The vitriol with which many demonize the mostly Kurdish people of this minority religion is surprising, especially when it comes from Kurdish Sunnis who have long suffered oppression by the secular Ba’athists.
I knew I wanted to explore this complicated group in further detail as soon as I got to Iraq, and with the help of a friend with connections in the Yazidi community, I was off with my driver to visit the central city home to the main temple, in a small city named Lalish about 50 kilometers north of Mosul.
Lalish is as secluded a city as they come, even by Iraqi standards: getting to the first gate on the one and only road to enter the small community involves driving for an hour on a long, windy road with little traffic. The guards, both suspicious of outsiders and equally eager to welcome them and share the story of the Yazidi people, have a right to be concerned given the history of violence against the community.
The son of the Baba Sheikh, the religious leader of the community at Lalish, met us as our driver parked the car and nervously followed us into the temple grounds. Touring the sacred worshipping grounds showcased the unique attributes of the Yazidi faith, including a spring water well thought to contain water from the founding of the earth, and clothes tied with hundreds of knots, where tradition holds that one makes a wish by tying a knot, and then untying a knot to grant someone else their wish.
Touring the temple grounds with the son of the Baba Sheikh. Source: Christian Chung
The community was beautiful and the atmosphere was festive, and after our tour, the Baba Sheikh’s son invited us for lunch. Immediately, our driver and guard protested, saying that they would not eat here and instead that we should find a restaurant in the next town. Beyond shocked at the lack of appreciation for the hospitality offered, I tried to apologize, but the elders had a look of familiarity on their face. No, they were used to such intolerance, they told me.
After taking tea, the driver began to question and challenge the son of the Baba Sheikh on the major tenants of Yazidism: did they really worship a devil? Why are they secluded from society?
As we departed, I could not help but be amazed at the callousness of the way my Kurd driver and guard interacted with the Yazidis we met. In many ways, the Kurds and the KRG have a tendency to portray the region as a bastion of democracy in a country where dictatorial rule and intolerant policies rule over the minority communities. Yet how truly credible is this argument in the face of historical and continued social, cultural and religious intolerance of minority groups such as the Yazidi community? In many ways, the progress Iraq and the KRG make in how it approaches this issue from a policy and social-psychological perspective will be the litmus test for the prospects of a truly pluralistic democracy. The world, in turn, should hold them to the test.
Christian Chung is a sophomore in Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. He is currently working in northern Iraq as the Security and Political Reporter for the English language section of Rudaw News, with a focus on Iraqi political and security developments, Arab-Kurd relations, the political challenges faced by Iraqi ethnic groups, and security throughout the country since the American withdrawal.
Betty Smith anger, I fear, comes from someone with views set in concrete and not about to change.
I have lived in Iraq for almost a year and regularly hear from Kurds about how grateful they are that George Bush deposed Saddam Hussein and freed them from relentless persecution. Of course that persecution has now been recognised internationally as genocide.
I don’t believe there will be be any immediate solution to the clashing of factions in Iraq. But it is really important that we keep up the international profile of the Kurds as they finally start to develop their own environment and hopefully, one day, their own country. That at least would ensure their release from interference/domination by their southern countrymen.
Betty-
Have you ever been to Iraq? Have you ever met the yazidis people? Ever stepped foot on mt sinjar? I highly doubt it. But could be wrong. And I have witnessed first hand democracy in Iraq. Marked by purple thumped voters. Al Qaida does thrive in Iraq and if you open a news paper you would see that that they still do. To be plain and simple your argument lacks any ceditibility. Iran does not support Iraq and vice versa. They are rivals to be blunt. Your argument is fallacious and until false by all accounts.
Corey.
Hi Ms. Smith,
Thanks for commenting. A few replies to your message:
Of course my experience is limited and is only my own. I try not to generalize, and the general perception of most Iraqi Muslims I spent time with and spoke to during my summer there of the Yazidi faith is not a positive one, unfortunately. Of course, there are a significant number of Sunni and Shia Muslims who are accepting and tolerant of their fellow Iraqi-Yazidis, but unfortunately my (self-admittedly limited) experience was that more times than not this was the exception, and not the rule. I tried to get this across in my post as best I could.
My post here was not intended to present any one complete view of the Yazidi community; indeed, I saw only one part of the community, in Lalish, during the time that this post deals with. Nor do I insinuate or argue that Iraq is a “democracy” or that the democratic process is strong. In fact, in other places (here: http://journal.georgetown.edu/2012/07/30/the-political-future-of-iraqi-kurdistan-by-christian-chung/ here:http://journal.georgetown.edu/2012/07/11/iraq-after-an-american-departure-a-different-battle-continues/ here: http://journal.georgetown.edu/2012/07/18/the-iraqi-trust-gap-a-missed-opportunity/ and here:http://theamericanexceptionalist.wordpress.com/2012/07/18/crisis-in-iraq-an-opportunity-to-restore-americas-credibility/), I try to get out the news of a rapidly deteriorating situation, as you mention. It is true that there is a real and credible threat to the political institutions and democratic processes that have come since the fall of Saddam; it is no secret the extent to which the Maliki government, and Talabani’s PUK I would argue, is influenced by Iran, as you also mention. Instead, I tried to take one part of Iraqi society, the Yazidi community, and argue that in the midst of this broader political crisis, the social and political treatment and perception of this, and other, minority community can be and is a test of the progress that Iraq’s democratic institutions have made and can continue to make.
I actually visited the the town you’re referring to, in the incident with the stoning of Du’a Khalil Aswad following her romantic relationship with the young Sunni Arab. It’s a small city called Bashiqa near the violent Sunni Arab area of Mosul, where there is a significant Yazidi and Christian community presence. I wanted to explore that terrible tragedy and find out whether the social and cultural undercurrents that caused that violent reaction still existed. This included also exploring the effects of the 2007 bombings in Qahtinya and Jazeera, in which Al Qaeda retaliated by killing over 700 people of all religions including Yazidis and wounding over 1000; not sure if you knew, but it was the single worst terrorist incident in Iraq during the war and the second deadliest terrorist incident worldwide, following 9/11.
However, as I said, my object in this post was not to paint the Yazidi community with one large brush; like everything in Iraq, the complexity is something I don’t think I or any outsider can ever really understand completely. Instead, I wanted to show that a community who has historically been persecuted has the potential to show, or not show, the progress made by Iraqi political and civil society institutions.
Hope this answers your post and thanks again for commenting!
First of all, how many “Muslims” did this author talk to before reporting this juicy description? SOME Muslims may say that, but most do not, to most they are Yazidis. Any mention to what might happen to a Yazidi girl who might run off with a Muslim man? wait, we have video, they are stoned to death as happened repeatedly and publicly over the time the US invited itself into Iraq, a country that did not attack our homeland, and take sides among the Iraqi people, installing quotas never heard of before, enabling known terrorists to run our ‘democracy’ while exterminating people we, who could never come up with WMDs, chose to blame Saddam’s behavior for. This whole time, Americans waved flags and cheered as ‘we fought Al-Qaida’ that did not even exist in Iraq during Saddam’s day. Meanwhile, the individuals who were behind our attack, lived to old age, safely in Pakistan & Afghanistan.
Second of all, what Democratic process in Iraq? you mean the process put in place by murdering and intimidating those who are not loyal to Iran or Dawa party??
it is simply amazing how clueless most Americans are not only to the new dictatorship we installed in Iraq, carefully run as a puppet of the Iranian government, but also the fact that we did anyone a favor by removing Saddam, and installing “democracy.” It is one thing if the government does not want to acknowledge the disaster, it is a whole other issues when the media, that practices ‘freedom of speech’ keeps the fake sens of satisfaction we have going!