LALISH, IRAQ – In Northern Iraq there is a place called Lalish where the Yezidis say the universe was born. I drove south from Dohok on snowy roads through an empty land, seemingly to the ends of the earth, and found it nestled among cold hills.
I went there because the President of Dohok University told me to go. “I am a Muslim,” he said. “But I love the Yezidis. Theirs is the original religion of the Kurds. Only through the Yezidis can I speak to God in my own language.”
Yezidis are ancient fire-worshippers. They heavily influenced Zoroastrianism, and in turn have been heavily influenced by Sufi Islam. The temple at Lalish is their “Mecca.” Hundreds of thousands of remaining Yezidis – those Kurds who refused to submit to Islam – make pilgrimages there at least once in their lifetimes from all over the Middle East and Europe.
“They worship Satan,” my Kurdish-speaking driver said to me through my translator Birzo before we got out of the car. It sounded like ignorant bullshit to me, and not only because Saddam Hussein also said so. I would have to ask the Yezidis about that.
What are you doing reading this comment? Follow Michael's link up above! It's a freakin' amazing story.
And consider hitting his tip jar.
I was wondering what the comment was. I also wanted to say what a wonderful story! ANd you cannot find anything like it in the MSM.
Fantastic reporting, Michael.
Everybody, if you can - hit Michael's tipjar to keep this wonderful stuff coming.
Joe,
What are you doing reading this comment?
Because he banned me from his blog, of course! Funny you should ask.
Anyway, that was a truly fascinating essay by Michael. I'd never heard of the Yezedi before. I was almost inspired to hit the tip jar.
A commenter over at MJT's provided this link to Michael Yon's essay on the Yezidi.
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/wp/lost-in-translation.htm/
Yon gets into Yezedi theology in more detail than MJT. I found Yon's comment about the Yezidi share the caste system with Hinduism particularly interesting:
Not only do shards of Judeo-Christianity glint in this amalgam, but a close look also reveals pieces of Hinduism, especially in the prominence of castes. There are five Yezidi castes-depending on who one asks-the “most important” being the Pir, then Shaikh, Kawal, Murabby, and finally the Mureed (the follower). Descriptions of the Mureed are similar to the Dalits of Hinduism. The Yezidis are strictly forbidden to marry outside the Yezidi, and must marry within their caste.
Given that the caste system establishes a racial/ethnic pecking order in the Indian subconinent, it is surprising that such a system would be found among what I would assume is a fairly racially/ethnically homogeneous community like the Yezidi.