Iraqi MP defends Lucifer

"Mr Prime Minister and ministers, my speaking out might seem strange to you, but we feel insulted when you repeatedly use the expression in your speeches and statements 'God protects us from the devil'.

"Each time the word is pronounced, my colleagues turn towards me as if I were a representative of the devil."

Yezidis followed a pre-Islamic religion, which some believed was founded in the 12th century by Sheikh Uday bin Masafel al-Amawi, although many scholars traced its origins to the Zoroastrian religion of ancient Persia.

Sheikh Uday was born in Damascus, but died in the town of Lalish, in northern Iraq, where his tomb had became the Yezidis' holiest shrine.

The community was still largely based in the foothills, north of Iraq's main northern city of Mosul, and in the Sinjar Mountains on the border with Syria.

But, followers of the faith could be found throughout the Kurdish diaspora, in neighbouring Syria and Turkey as well as the former Soviet republics of the Caucasus, or in Germany and Britain.

Said said: "There are 600 000 to 700 000 Kurdish yezidis and they feel insulted whenever you use that phrase and we call on all those in a position of authority to take account of this."

The Yezidis did not believe in heaven or hell, and did not regard Satan as evil. In fact, they worshipped him - but dare not say his name.

Three of Iraq's 275 MPs belonged to the sect whose members did not marry outside the faith. There were also two Yezidis in the 111-seat regional Kurdish parliament.

Jaafari said he meant no harm in using the expression, common among Muslims.

He said: "When we use this expression it is not to insult you or to provoke a minority.

"Even if religions are different, all agree on the need to respect one another, especially in this forum where respect for others is essential. But one must also respect the majority and the majority is Muslim."

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http://www.news24.com/News24/World/Iraq/0,,2-10-1460_1752074,00.html

MP defends the Devil
Baghdad – A Kurdish MP yesterday upbraided Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari for speaking ill of Lucifer. Kameran Khairi Said, a member of the minority Yezidi community, which worships the peacock angel, also known as Lucifer, angrily interrupted a parliamentary debate, saying: “We feel insulted when you repeatedly use the expression ‘God protects us from the Devil’ in speeches.”

http://www.thestar.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=132&fArticleId=2832691

The Yezidi or Yazidi (Kurdish; Êzidî) are adherents of a small Middle Eastern religion with ancient origins. They are primarily ethnic Kurds, and most Yazidis live near Mosul, Iraq with smaller communities in Syria, Turkey, Iran, Georgia and Armenia, and are estimated to number ca. 500,000 individuals in total. There are also Yazidi refugees in Europe.

In the region that is now Iraq, the Yazidi have been oppressed and considered devil worshippers for centuries. During the reign of Saddam Hussein, however, they were considered to be Arabs and maneuvered to oppose the Kurds, in order to tilt the ethnic balance in northern Iraq. Since the 2003 occupation of Iraq, the Kurds want the Yazidi to be recognized as ethnic Kurds.

Historically, the Yazidis are a religious minority of the Kurds. Purportedly, they have existed since 2000 BC. Estimates of the number of Yazidis vary between 100,000 and 800,000. The latter is the claim of their website. According to the same site, refugees in Germany number 30,000.

Feleknas Uca, a German Member of the European Parliament for the Party of Democratic Socialism was the world's only Yazidi parliamentarian until the Iraqi legislature was elected in 2005.

The Yazidi worship Malak Ta’us, apparently a pre-Islamic peacock angel who has fallen into disgrace. Malak Ta’us has links to Mithraism and, through it, to Zoroastrianism. The Yazidi maintain a well-preserved culture, rich in traditions and customs.

The Yazidi’s own name for themselves is Dasin. While popular etymology connects the religion to the Umayyad khalif Yazid I (680-683), the name Yazidi is perhaps most likely derived from the Pahlavi (Middle Persian) word "yazd," meaning angel, probably in reference to Malak Ta’us.

Yazidi faith contains elements of Zoroastrianism, Manicheism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Gnostic and local pre-Islamic beliefs. It might have originally been based on the original religion of the Kurds. In about 1162, Sheikh Adii Ibn Mustafa radically reformed the religion, so that some believe the previous form was a different religion from current belief. Different clans may also have different interpretations.

Yazidi believe in God, the creator, but his role stops there. The active forces in their religion are Malak Ta’us and Sheik Adii.

According to the Yazidi, Malak Ta’us is a fallen peacock angel who repented and recreated the world that had been broken. He filled seven jars with his tears and used them to quench the fire in Hell. Yazidism also includes minor deities and some clans venerate Sheikh Adii as a saint, subservient to Malak Ta’us. There are also 6 other minor deities that are honored.

The Yazidi holy books are the Book of Revelation and the Black Book. The latter forbids eating of lettuce or butter beans and wearing of dark blue. The historical status of the book is questionable.

Yazidi are exclusive and do not reveal most of their secrets to the uninitiated. The twice-daily prayer services must not be performed in the presence of outsiders, and are always performed in the direction of the sun. Wednesday is the holy day but Saturday is the day of rest. There is also a three-day fast in December.

The most important ritual is the annual six-day pilgrimage to the tomb of Sheikh Adii in Lalish, north of Mosul, Iraq. During the celebration, Yazidi bathe in the river, wash figures of Malak Ta’us and light hundreds of lamps in the tombs of Sheikh Adii and other saints. They also sacrifice an ox, which is one reason they have been connected to Mithraism.

Fiction and stereotypes

As a distant religious belief, many non-Yazidi people have written about them, and ascribed facts to their beliefs that have dubious historical validity. For example, horror writer H. P. Lovecraft made a reference to "... the Yezidi clan of devil-worshippers" in his short story "The Horror at Red Hook". The Yezidis have also been claimed as an influence on Aleister Crowley's Thelema. More notably, Anton Lavey drew upon the Yezidis for his own philosophy, LaVeyan Satanism, (e.g. The Law of the Trapezoid) in the "Satanic Bible" and "Satanic Rituals". In addition; The Order of the Peacock Angel, an obscure secret society based in the London suburb of Putney loosely based its rites on Yezidi beliefs as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yezidi