Yazdânism

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Yazdânism is a term, introduced by Mehrdad Izady in his book called "Kurds - A Concise Handbook" (1992). The term is supposed to denote a group of native Kurdish monotheistic religions: Alevism, Yarsan and Yazidism. Even though Izady claims that the Yazdani faiths were the primary religion of the Kurds until their Islamicization in the 10th century, he has not been able to support his theory with any evidence. The alleged three "religions" of Yazdanism are primarily practiced in relatively isolated communities. The adherents of Alevism, Ahl-e Haqq and Yezidi are estimated to constitute about 1/3 of the Kurds.

Ziba Mir-Hosseini evaluates Izady's theory and states:

The most notable case is that of Izady (1992) who, in his eagerness to distance the Ahl-e Haqq from Islam and to give it a purely Kurdish pedigree, asserts that the sect is a denomination of a religion of great antiquity which he calls 'the Cult of Angels'. This 'Cult,' he sates, is 'fundamentally a non-Semitic religion, with an Aryan superstructure overlaying a religious foundation indigenous to the Zagros. To identify the Cult or any of its denominations as Islamic is simply a mistake born of a lack of knowledge of the religion, which pre-dates Islam by millennia.' He fails, however, to produce any evidence at all in support of his theory, and some of his assertions can only be called preposterous. He states, for example, that 'Hak or Haq' is a Kurdish word meaning 'universal Spirit', which has no connection with the Arabic Haqq; even more astonishingly, he claims that the founder of the Babi religion, which later evolved into Baha'ism, was among the three avatars of the 'Cult' in this century(Izady 1992: 137). ^[1]

Contents 1 Name 2 Principal beliefs 3 Adherents 4 See also 5 References 6 Further reading

[edit] Name

The name 'Yazdanism' derives from Kurdish yazdān, literally meaning "worthy of worship" and referring to a belief in a great heptad (seven) of divine beings (see detail below). The three Yazdani traditions are therefore also known as the Cult of Angels (the original כשדים).

Adherents themselves refer to the faith as rae haq, a reference to the primary deity or "universal spirit".

[edit] Principal beliefs

The principal feature of the Yazdani faiths is the belief in seven benevolent divine beings that defend the world from an equal number of malign entities. Another important feature of the religions is a doctrine of reincarnation.

[edit] Adherents

The adherents of the faith were referred to as the "Sabians of Harran" (of Carrhae) in Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed. The Sabians are also mentioned in the Qur'an and in Bahá'í writings.

The distribution of the three Yazdani religions follows geographic boundaries:

• the Alevites may be found in northwestern Iraq, Turkey and along the Syrian coast.
• the Yarsanis are located in the southernmost part of Iraq and in western Iran.
• the Yazidi come from the Turkish-Iraqi border region.

Mutual exchange and contacts between these branches are infrequent.

Anton LaVey wrote:

"The Yezidis, a sect of devil worshipers, take a different view point. They believe that God is all powerful yet also all forgiving, and so accordingly feel that it is the Devil whom they must please, as he is the only one who rules their lives while here on Earth."

[edit] See also

• Mandaeanism

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading