Who Are The Yezidi Really Pt. 5 - The Yezidi, Maybe Followers of Sultan Yazid, But Not An Islamic Sect

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Cultural Chair of Yezidiska Mr. Amo Şamsi has shown us the Persian origins of the Yezidi, it’s similarities and differences from both Mithraism and Zoroastrianism, but also the fact that the Yezidi religion is unique and not a sect of any other origin.  Now Mr. Hassan is ready to tackle the claim that the Yezidi are just a radical sect of Islam, one born of the fight between the (questionably Muslim) Sultan Yazdi and the descendants of the Prophet Muhammad.  While the Yezidi did indeed align with Sultan Yazidi, and he holds a prominent role in their traditions, he was by no means the founder of the faith, nor the spawner of a heretical Islamic sect.  Modern claims that the Yezidi are an Islamic sect are often brewed by Muslims themselves who want to culturally absorb the Yezidi or who know how to use sect politics to destroy their enemies.

The Yezidi, Maybe Followers of Sultan Yazid,
But Not An Islamic Sect
By Amo Şamsi, Cultural Chair Of Yezidiska

Firstly, this paper clarifies the alleged connection of the Yezidi religion as an emergence from the cult of personality of the Islamic Umayyad Caliph named Yezid Ibn Mu’awiya. On the other hand, I want to show the world through my writing that by no means is the Yezidi religion an Islamic sect, as is frequently proposed by Islamic historians, Arabs, Turks and Persians alike – many of whom were paid by the regimes of their home country to write histories which would absorb the Yezidi into Islam or cause sectarian violence, but always keeping the origins of the Yezidi religion classified. The assertion of these Islamic circles, that the Yezidis are the descendants of the Umayyad Caliph Yezid Ibn Mu’awiya, is without foundation. The Yezidis have neither a prophet nor a savior. Their religion is a pure angel religion. They worship an angel, the one they call Ta’usi Melek. This angel is at the center of their faith. Not even the legendary reformer of the Yezidi religion, Sheikh Adi (1060 n. Chr.), is regarded as a prophet or savior, although his reforms are closely adhered to and closely guarded today by an untouchable pyramidic system. He is venerated only as a guide who saved the Yezidi religion when it was then threatened with extinction.

Yezid Ibn Mu’awiya

Who was this Yezid Ibn Mu’awiya? What really connects us to him? He is erroneously regarded by many as the founder of Yezidentums. Is there a kinship?  Yezid Ibn Mu’awiya’s family tree shows that Yezid Ibn Mu’awiya was the son of Mu’awiya Ibn Abi Sufyan and his wife Meyssoun Bahdal Bint El-Kalbi. His father, Mu’awiya Ibn Abi Sufyan ibn Harb ibn Umayya Ibn Sakhir Abed Schemis Ibn Abed Menaf appears immediately after the conquest of Mecca by the Muslim armies who then became subject to the Prophet, to Islam. The Prophet transmitted to Mu’awiya Ibn Abi Sufyan and his family members numerous public offices and even marries his sister Ramla bint Abi Sufyan (رملة بنت أبي سفيان) also known as Umm Habiba.

During the era of Abu Bakirs, the first successor of the Prophet, there are the so-called El-Ridda Wars, a time when the soldiers of Islam became entangled in many bloody battles to prevent apostate Arabs from leaving the new religion of Islam. When Omar Ibn Khattab was crowned successor, he transferred Mu’awiya control of Bilad El-Sham (Greater Syria) in 637 AD. The Umayyad Dynasty differed in many ways from other Islamic dynasties: during the Umayyad rule, the Arab-Islamic state took a unique and progressive form for a period of time, in all areas of life. One can speak of this as the golden age of Arabism. This success was facilitated by the tolerance and acceptance of the Umayyad family of non-Islamic peoples, ethnic and religious minorities.

Damascus stood before the Islamic conquest under Byzantine rule. The new ruler, Mu’awiya benefited from the experience of the Byzantine state officials. Numerous Arab and non-Arab Orientalist confirm the peaceful coexistence of all peoples and religions in the Umayyad state. The people of Damascus were accustomed to the peaceful coexistence of Christians and non-Christians. When Arab invaders conquered the country under the Islamic flag, they continued with their once-existing conditions but now under Islamic rule. Dr. Muhammad Abed El-Jabiri makes in the second edition of his book El-Aqil El-Siyassi El-Arabi, published in Beirut in 1992, on page 237 the following comments: “When filling important positions in the Islamic Umayyad state the rulers preferred members of other faiths and non-Arab minorities against Arab officials. In their opinion, these people were more reliable and trustworthy than the Arab officials. “

Gradually there developed a rivalry between the Umayyad family in Damascus and the Ahil-El-Beyt-members, the so-called relatives of the Prophet of Islam, which was then presented in the person of Ali Ibn Abi Talib and his sons Hassan and Hussein.  The Ahil-El-Beyt had a negative impact on the spread of Islam in the north and east of Arabia and weakened the power of the Arabs in the region. This rivalry erupted with the murder of a successor of the Prophet, namely the violent and insidious death of Caliph Othman Ibn Affan, who was standing near the Umayyad family. Although the Ahil-El-Beyt had nothing to do with the death of Caliph, his murder was used on both sides as an excuse to seize power through legitimate succession itself. Thus arose the Umayyad family with their center of power in Damascus / Syria with their claim to the succession and thus the power in the Islamic world. The claim was not confirmed by the relatives of the Prophet, and so during these unclear times the question arose: “Who is the legitimate successor of the Prophet Muhammad?”

The first prominent victim of this leadership campaign was the last successor of the prophet, Ali Ibn Abi Talib, son and cousin of the Prophet in person. Each of the now hostile families began to fight to the death and to use all available means to overthrow their enemies and to consolidate their own power. To achieve this goal, they sought allies. These were mostly the neighboring peoples, often ethnic or religious minorities. These allies were either those people who were forcibly Islamized and thus only hated Islam, or were even desperately fighting to free themselves from these enforced conversions. Among the ethnic-religious minorities who lived under the rule of the Ali family and later under the Abbasid Dynasty, there was great dissatisfaction. They were set to charge or make reprisals under this pressure. Therefore, many of these people ran into the arms of the Umayyad family because they were treated better there.

In the same book by Arabic historian Dr. Muhammad Abed El-Jabiri on page 316, he explains that the Umayyad’s power was actually created by the harshness of other Arab regimes.  The Umayyads encouraged other non-Muslim religious and ethnic groups to migrate into their nation to escape the harshness of political Islam under the Prophet’s relatives, Ali and his son Hussein and Hassan.  There were also many “fake Muslims” who entered the Umayyad Empire, these were people that were forced to convert to Islam or who were made to pay the Jizya tax even though they had converted. The Umayyads established these extraordinary measures of tolerance so that Islam could not win the hearts of these people and therefore the commitment of the Umayyads to Islam has always been questioned. Indeed they have always been viewed as only Muslims in a superficial and external sense, that is not deeply rooted. In other words, they were never Muslims.

After the assassination of Caliph Ali Ibn’s last successor Abi Talib, his son Hussein took up the fight against the Umayyad and their successor, Sultan Yezid. Muslims in Iraq saw Hussein as the legitimate successor of the Prophet. He was the son of the last Caliph and the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. The people in Iraq encouraged him to take up the power and dominion over all Muslims in the region. However, numerous Islamic Arab historians and experts on Islam relay that the Muslims of Iraq were not very reliable, often changing sides, which demoralized the campaign against the Umayyad Empire.

However, things changed with the transfer of power from Mu’awiya to his son Yezid, for many reason this brought nothing but hatred from the many Muslims, who sparked outrage and discontent in the Arab world. Many favored the election of a successor of Mu’awiya by the Islamic Council (Board) because this method was also common in the Islamic hierarchy. Besides this, Mu’awiya’s son Yezid was charged with the enjoyment of alcoholic beverages, music and women. It was even said that Yezid invented an instrument called the Tembûr (a kind of lute). The lute is still referred to by some Yazidi today as “Saza Siltan Êzîd” and the enjoyment of liquor “Kasa Êzîd” – in German: the fine wines of Yezids. Yezid granted not only the followers of the religions of the book a lot of freedom, but also the followers of the ancient Yazidi religion. However, many felt it was much more important to keep the values of Islam and the perception of the Caliph dignity.

A general disdain for Sultan Yezid in the Islamic world forced a rapid change on Iraq. Fanatical fundamentalism sprouted and all those who dared to oppose Islam were killed mercilessly. Sultan Yezid knew, as no other, to mobilize the minority population living in abject poverty against his opponents. He went on to hold back conservative Islam and showed more tolerance towards minorities in his empire. He granted all living under the rule of the Umayyad dynasty full and complete religious freedom. This condition led to an unusual harmony between an Islamic regime in Damascus and the Yezidi people- who thus suddenly became allies of the Umayyad family against the relatives of the Prophet. Each side tried to find their own way, allies and supporters. However, Sultan Yezid was extremely unpopular in the Islamic world and he received no well wished from the Arab Muslims of Iraq. Many saw him as nothing but an apostate or heretic.

Whether it was his tolerance to the Yezidi people or other factors that played a decisive role in how well he was received by the Yezidi Kurds, no one knows for certain. It is at least claimed by some that his mother Meyssoun was of Kurdish origin. Maybe he even mastered the yezidish language. How else are there so many songs of praise to tell about him and his supernatural abilities? The Yezidis believe that Sultan Yezid ibn Mu’awiya was animated by the spirit of Ta’usi Melek, so he saved them from forcible conversion to Islam. The Yezidis regard prince Yezid as the savior of their Yezidi religion. This is supported by much evidence. Added to psalms of the Yezidis are his supernatural abilities. In the oral tradition of the Yezidi there is a song sung in yezidish called “Qadi Thero”; it is nothing more than the description of the supernatural powers and abilities Sultan Yezid. The song describes the showdown – divine skills course – and the battle of words between Sultan Yezid and the then Chief Justice of Religion in Damascus. The word Qadi or Qazi means about judges (qadi) and Shero comes from the Arab meaning Islamic law.

And so the Islamic world of the day was divided into two camps. Prior to the arrival of the Umayyad Dynasty and Sultan Yezid, the religious minorities were not spared. To survive, they to took sides, and it was, of course, in the arms of the more tolerant Sultan Yezid. The Yezidi religious reformer Sheikh Adi (1060 n. Chr.) Also commented positively about Yezid Ibn Mu’awiya and described him as the most tolerant Muslim leaders after the era of the Prophet. The support on the part of the Islamic leaders and scholars of his empire towards ethnic and religious minorities was numerous in history. The Sufist Hussein El-Hallajj defended the Yezidi theory of Ta’usi Melek, even though Ta’usi Melek was only known to the Yezidi and he has no place in Islamic doctrine. It should be noted here that this Sufi was a Muslim scholar of Islam and due to his open mind and compassionate behavior, he was executed by an Islamic court.

Manufacturing modern conflicts 

However, all good things must come to an end. The tolerant Umayyad Calph eventually declined with the death of the last Umayyad Caliph, Marwan Muhammad Marwan, in 750 AD. Upon his death the Umayyad Caliph collapsed and was replaced by the Abbasid Caliphate. After the breakup of the Umayyad hierarchy, the incursion of political Islam into Yezidi life also increased in harshness and intensity. This situation lasted until Islamic Sheikh Abdulkadir Geylani (a contemporary of the Yezidi Sheikh Adi’s) started his Islamic School (El-Medressa) in Iraq and forbade the persecution of the Yezidis. He expressed the hope that the Yezidis would come to Islam without force and bloodshed. Through this school there was for a long time peace and tranquility. This fact is recorded in the Psalm “Qewlê Þîxadî”. The friendship between the Islamic Sheikh Abdulkadir Geylani and Yezidi Sheikh Adi is historically proven.

It is unfortunate that certain circles in Turkey and the Arab world are trying to drive a wedge between the members of different religions and denominations in order to control them better. As an example I will mention the claim that the Yezidis are responsible for the death of the sons of Ali, Hassan and Hussein. It should be clarified, the then governor of Damascus, Mu’awiya Ibn Abi Sufiyan (634 AD) started wars with the fourth and last successor of the Prophet, Ali Ibn Abi Talib, so as to to be able to come to power. In the year 660 AD, the Caliph Ali (Kerrema Allahu Wejjhahu) was murdered in a house of worship by a Khewarijj – a so-called outsiders – named Abdul Rahman Ibn Meljjem. According to him, his eldest son Hassan should have accepted the Caliph, but Hassan abdicated the throne in favor of Mu’awiya of the Umayyad Dynasty. His younger brother Hussein however called for resistance against appointment of Mu’awiya as the new Caliph of Islam. He tried to mobilize Muslims to force Mu’awiya to his the knee.

In the year 681 n. Chr, Hussein and his entire family were murdered brutally. Hussein was beheaded and his head was brought to Damascus as a gift to Sultan Yezid (Mu’awiya). This massacre of Hussein and his family led indirectly to the collapse of the Umayyad Dynasty because it riled resentment against the Calphate on the part of the Arab Muslim population of the kingdom. This black day, the day of the murder of the family of the Prophet, has become a day of remembrance. In Karbala, in present-day Iraq, where the family was murdered, the Shi’ites go ostentatiously on the street and express their grief. The day is called Ashura. This politically motivated killing and many other atrocities were later blamed on the Yezidis (since they did align with Sultan Yazid). This is a falsification of history though, one which meant that the Yezidis would be persecuted and despised for centuries. This must finally come to an end. This is the purpose of an honest approach to the historical truth.

Concluding Remarks

In the final part of this article I would like to make it clear that the Yezidis may be the followers of the Caliph ummajjadischen Yezids, and it could be the source of their name, by no means are their left a few questions.  And it certainly stands to say that the Yezidi are in no way a Muslim sect!

How can they be Muslims, when they perform very different prayers? How can they be Muslims if they have other fast days? How can they be followers of an Islamic sect, when they glorify the sun as a visible sign of God in heaven and before Islam even as a deity? How can they be Muslims if they, their holy pilgrimage, is to Lalish? How can they be Muslims if they never take an outsider or someone of another religion in their faith community? How can they be Muslims, if they believe in the existence of an angel named Ta’usi Melek? How can they be Muslims, if they do not even believe in the existence of hell and an evil power? I believe that there is no plausible answers from the Muslims. And, if the Yezidis were already members of an Islamic creed, why they were fought by all means, to force them to Islam? Why were they managed as so, as non-Muslims?. Tyranny in the strongest terms, their women forced into marriage with Muslims?

And as for saying this religion emerged in Baghdad from the rivalry between the Ummajjaden in Damascus and the Abbasids, then why didn’t the Ummayad glorify the four elements of life, fire, air, water and earth? How could the Ummayad be followers of the Yezidi religion when they bury their dead? Today and historically, the Yezidis have regard themselves as members of an ancient, deep-rooted and pre-Islamic religion, their customs and traditions differ significantly from Islam. I hope that I have given you some thought-provoking information and questions, ones that the world and especially the Islamic world should be asking. The Yezidism begins to be accepted as an independent non-Islamic religion. However, it is also time among the Yezidis, especially the geschichtsunkundigen to dispel fundamental errors in order to keep a true and fair and clear identity in a multikuturellen world….