The Yazidis
Christine Allison
https://tinyurl.com/y97q7n2m
Subject: Islamic Studies
DOI:10.1093/acrefore/9780199340378.013.254
Summary
One of the world’s most endangered religious minorities, the Yazidis are
a predominantly Kurdish-speaking group numbering some 500,000
souls, who once inhabited a wide area stretching across eastern Turkey,
northern Syria, northern Iraq, and western Iran. Of these territories, only
the community in Iraq still numbers in the hundreds of thousands. Most
come from two areas: Sheikhan, a collection of villages and towns to the
northeast of Mosul, and Sinjar, a mountain to the northwest close to the
border with Syria. Until recently these areas seemed stable; however, in
August 2014, the so-called Islamic State (Da‘esh) attacked the ancient
community of Yazidis of Mount Sinjar, massacring hundreds of men,
enslaving thousands of women and children, and driving the population
of some 350,000 Yazidis into camps for internally displaced persons in
the Kurdistan region. They are targeted because of their non-Abrahamic
religion; for many years they have been erroneously known as “devilworshippers.” In fact, their belief system incorporates visible elements
from the three “religions of the Book” (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam)
and traces of lesser-known religions, upon a substratum that may derive
from Iranian religions (Zoroastrianism or similar). It is not a proselytizing
faith, and religious relationships within the community are determined by
birth. Marrying out is traditionally forbidden.
Yazidis are relative newcomers to urban life and are often socially,
economically, and educationally disadvantaged. Internal pressures,
especially from the youth, to “modernize” the religion have existed at
least since the 1990s. However, the main drive toward change comes
now from the Yazidis’ loss of confidence in their safety in Iraq and their
consequent migration toward Europe and the stresses of diaspora life. At
the same time, an increasingly activist younger generation is demanding
justice. The future of Yazidism is unclear, but it will certainly never be the
same again.
E S DROWER ONLINE YEZIDI PHOTO EXHIBIT
Organized by her granddaughter and Christine Allison author of this essay]
E. S. Drower - Yezidi Photo Archive
https://www.yezidiphotoarchive.com › e-s-drower
The Yezidis lend colour to this by forbidding the word Shaitan to be spoken, but when I talked with a qawwal he was emphatic that the Peacock Angel was not the ...
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