Yezidism – its background observances and textual tradition

2019/08/84084-1567165613.jpg
Read: 3217     16:30     30 Август 2019    

Philip G. Kreyenbroek


Part 1

The Yezidis are a small  religious group. Estimates of their numbers in Iraq vary between 100,000 and 250,000; there are perhaps 40,000 or more in Armenia and Georgia, and 5,000 in Syria. A majority of the 10,000 Yezidis who once lived in Turkey found refuge in Germany during the 1980s, as life in their homeland had become unbearable. In spite of their small numbers, the Yezidis and their faith have fascinated many Western travellers and scholars since the middle of the last century, and they have been the subject of a large number of publications. This intensive academic interest has, however, so far failed to produce a satisfactory account of the Yezidi faith. Scholars are now agreed, on the whole, on the main points of the history of the Yezidi community and there is a corpus of known facts concerning its beliefs and practices. However, in the course of the history of the study of Yezidism, scholars' definitions of the true nature of the faith have become progressively more arid and remote from contemporary realities, which eventually led to a marked decline in academic interest.

One of the reasons for this impasse is probably to be sought in the fact that, until recently, the only known texts of a religious nature whose authenticity was generally accepted were a few Arabic poems ascribed to Sheykh Adi which contained practically no information about the faith as such. Two highly informative texts, the 'Sacred Books', came to light around the turn of the century. These, however, failed to meet the criteria normally adopted to judge the authenticity of written traditions, and were therefore regarded as suspect. Yezidism was thus believed to lack a substantial textual tradition, and to possess at most a number of distinctive observances. The ideas and methods of most researchers, moreover, derived from the study of written religious traditions. This meant that it was assumed that the Yezidi tradition, like those of other religions of the Middle East, was based on an articulate, monolithic body of authoritative teachings. The views of contemporary Yezidis, which did not appear to reflect such a tradition, were therefore regarded as proof of the corrupt state of the contemporary religion.

It was understandable, in view of this apparent lack of reliable data derived from modem Yezidism itself, that students should have shown great interest in the origins of the sect. What was perhaps unfortunate was that, almost from the beginning, such interests came to predominate. Early publications suggest that theories about the roots of Yezidism, however vague, were felt to be at least as valuable as hard-won and meticulous descriptions of its realities. The same tendency can be seen in the debates of the 1930s. Modern Yezidism, therefore, was widely thought of as the debased form of an older and more impressive cult which scholars—consciously or unconsciously—set out to reconstruct. Theories about roots, in short, were not used to elucidate modern Yezidism; that faith was studied largely in order to shed light on its hypothetical forerunners. The question of origins came to be perceived as being so central that the work of one scholar, M. Guidi, who laid emphasis on the Islamic roots of the sect, led to a general view of Yezidism as an aberrant form of Islam. Since it was also realised that the modern cult has relatively little in common with that religion, a deadlock seemed to have been reached.

Earlier researchers had examined a wide range of religions and sects which could have given rise to Yezidism, and some stressed the possibility of Iranian roots. Several later scholars—including Guidi himself—also thought that the non- Islamic substratum of beliefs which can be detected in the cult was of Iranian or "Kurdish" origin. It is ironic, therefore, that the links between Yezidism and the religions of ancient Iran do not appear ever to have been seriously investigated. Plainly, few Islamists would have had the training or the inclination to do so, while Iranists seemed to have little reason to turn their attention to a cult of 'devil- worshippers' of allegedly Islamic origin which, moreover, was not based on a body of authoritative texts. Things might of course have been different had it been recognised that the contents of the 'Sacred Books' could be valid even if these were not based on a lengthy written tradition. The failure to realise this is one instance among many of the disregard of the value of the oral tradition of Yezidism. This tendency—regarding the non-literate character of the Yezidi faith as a sign of the corrupt state of the modern cult, rather than one of the chief characteristics of that religion—was arguably one of the factors which contributed to the decline of academic interest in Yezidism.

 

To be continued…….





Tags: #yazidisinfo   #yazidi   #yezidi   #aboutyazidis  



Yezidism – its background observances and textual tradition

2019/08/84084-1567165613.jpg
Read: 3218     16:30     30 Август 2019    

Philip G. Kreyenbroek


Part 1

The Yezidis are a small  religious group. Estimates of their numbers in Iraq vary between 100,000 and 250,000; there are perhaps 40,000 or more in Armenia and Georgia, and 5,000 in Syria. A majority of the 10,000 Yezidis who once lived in Turkey found refuge in Germany during the 1980s, as life in their homeland had become unbearable. In spite of their small numbers, the Yezidis and their faith have fascinated many Western travellers and scholars since the middle of the last century, and they have been the subject of a large number of publications. This intensive academic interest has, however, so far failed to produce a satisfactory account of the Yezidi faith. Scholars are now agreed, on the whole, on the main points of the history of the Yezidi community and there is a corpus of known facts concerning its beliefs and practices. However, in the course of the history of the study of Yezidism, scholars' definitions of the true nature of the faith have become progressively more arid and remote from contemporary realities, which eventually led to a marked decline in academic interest.

One of the reasons for this impasse is probably to be sought in the fact that, until recently, the only known texts of a religious nature whose authenticity was generally accepted were a few Arabic poems ascribed to Sheykh Adi which contained practically no information about the faith as such. Two highly informative texts, the 'Sacred Books', came to light around the turn of the century. These, however, failed to meet the criteria normally adopted to judge the authenticity of written traditions, and were therefore regarded as suspect. Yezidism was thus believed to lack a substantial textual tradition, and to possess at most a number of distinctive observances. The ideas and methods of most researchers, moreover, derived from the study of written religious traditions. This meant that it was assumed that the Yezidi tradition, like those of other religions of the Middle East, was based on an articulate, monolithic body of authoritative teachings. The views of contemporary Yezidis, which did not appear to reflect such a tradition, were therefore regarded as proof of the corrupt state of the contemporary religion.

It was understandable, in view of this apparent lack of reliable data derived from modem Yezidism itself, that students should have shown great interest in the origins of the sect. What was perhaps unfortunate was that, almost from the beginning, such interests came to predominate. Early publications suggest that theories about the roots of Yezidism, however vague, were felt to be at least as valuable as hard-won and meticulous descriptions of its realities. The same tendency can be seen in the debates of the 1930s. Modern Yezidism, therefore, was widely thought of as the debased form of an older and more impressive cult which scholars—consciously or unconsciously—set out to reconstruct. Theories about roots, in short, were not used to elucidate modern Yezidism; that faith was studied largely in order to shed light on its hypothetical forerunners. The question of origins came to be perceived as being so central that the work of one scholar, M. Guidi, who laid emphasis on the Islamic roots of the sect, led to a general view of Yezidism as an aberrant form of Islam. Since it was also realised that the modern cult has relatively little in common with that religion, a deadlock seemed to have been reached.

Earlier researchers had examined a wide range of religions and sects which could have given rise to Yezidism, and some stressed the possibility of Iranian roots. Several later scholars—including Guidi himself—also thought that the non- Islamic substratum of beliefs which can be detected in the cult was of Iranian or "Kurdish" origin. It is ironic, therefore, that the links between Yezidism and the religions of ancient Iran do not appear ever to have been seriously investigated. Plainly, few Islamists would have had the training or the inclination to do so, while Iranists seemed to have little reason to turn their attention to a cult of 'devil- worshippers' of allegedly Islamic origin which, moreover, was not based on a body of authoritative texts. Things might of course have been different had it been recognised that the contents of the 'Sacred Books' could be valid even if these were not based on a lengthy written tradition. The failure to realise this is one instance among many of the disregard of the value of the oral tradition of Yezidism. This tendency—regarding the non-literate character of the Yezidi faith as a sign of the corrupt state of the modern cult, rather than one of the chief characteristics of that religion—was arguably one of the factors which contributed to the decline of academic interest in Yezidism.

 

To be continued…….





Tags: #yazidisinfo   #yazidi   #yezidi   #aboutyazidis