Sep 12, 2017 in a spring at the yazidi holy site of lalish, in northern iraq, turkia hussein is accompanied by her children as she gives thanks for being reincorporated as yazidi again after being captured by. It is in this mistaken form that they find entry into the world of fringe history and weird fiction, appearing in theosophy and in works such as h. Most expensive yazidi sex slave shares shocking story of life. The yazidis open research exeter university of exeter. Earlier, yazidi civil activist khoder khallat told sputnik with reference to his sources in the iraqi armed forces, that the army freed several women from sexual slavery after entering the city of mosul. Yazidis are primarily kurdish speaking, and most live in the mosul region of northern iraq.
Life after isis slavery for yazidi women and children. A 20yearold yazidi woman taken hostage by isis tried to kill herself on multiple occasions. Saad salloum minorities in iraq memory, identity and challenges masarat for cultural and media development 20 3. He lifted up his voice and the sea became solid and became the earth. Recent weeks in northern iraq have again seen fundamentalists exercising the kind of zealotry that leaves monuments of. The religion is rather difficult to study closely, and the translations of texts are not entirely complete, as the yezidi practitioners are understandably cautious about outsiders. Inappropriate the list including its title or description facilitates illegal activity, or contains hate speech or ad hominem attacks on a fellow goodreads member or author. The term yezidi or yazidi is also very close to the persionzoroastrian word yazdan, meaning god, and yazata, meaning divine or angelic being. Minorities in iraq memory, identity and challenges 1. The black book of the yezidis was first published in english.
One response to descendants of izasjesus yazidis suffer genocide of. Yazidis on the mountain of regions with significant populations iraq 650,000, germany armenia 35,272, georgia denmark 500, yazidi book of revelation yazidi black book the yazidis also yazidi, ezidi, yazdani community whose syncretic but ancient religion yazidism a kind of zoroastrianism and ancient mesop. Aug 31, 2017 life after isis slavery for yazidi women and children. Aug 08, 2014 a very brief history of the yazidi and what theyre up against in iraq. I have had some contact with other yazidis but not on an ongoing basis.
It is one of three yazdani religions, alevism and ahle haqq being the others. Pdf the mass violence inflicted by the radical islamist fighters of the islamic. Yazidi women tell of rape and enslavement at hands of isis. The last girl, by nadia murad, is an autobiography of a young yazidi woman who was captured by isis and passed around as a sex slave until she escaped. The rise of islamic fundamentalism more broadly has pushed thousands of yazidis to seek asylum in europe. Girls and boys from a yazidi religious school sing hymns and prayers in front of the yazidis holiest temple in lalesh, situated in a valley near dahuk, 267 miles 430 kms northwest of the iraqi.
Yazidis are kurdish ethnoreligious community predominantly living in northern iraq with large communities in sinjar and shekhan, where a number of their holy sites are located, turkey, iran and some of them are scattered in the european w. Score a books total score is based on multiple factors, including the number of people who have voted for it and how highly those voters ranked the book. With your help, global fund for women can provide critical support to womens groups in lebanon, iraq, and jordan working directly with women and children refugees to create safe spaces, meet unique needs like healthcare, and teach women their rights so they can drive lasting change. With the help of the most high god, and under his direction, we write the history of the. The yazidi book of revelation kit ba cilwe in kurdish. The book has a informative introduction detailing the history and of the meshaf resh and some background on the yezidis. The black book seems very clear that it was melek, or satan, that created the cosmos. Mar, 2010 i believe that the accounts of creation differ somewhat between the black book and the book of illumination. Yazidism is the religion of a kurdish peoplegroup that lives primarily in iraq. The book of revelation and black book remain, however, the most prominent texts associated with the socalled devil worshipers of mesopotamia. The history of a community, culture and religion library of modern religion acikyildiz, birgul on.
According to some estimates, 70,000 people, or about 15% of the yazidi population in iraq. After that he created a ship in which he rode thirty thousand years, after which melek taus came and lived among men in the city of lalish, where his temple remains to this day. The kurds are usually identified as an iranian ethnic group descended from the medes. Aug 05, 2015 new book by kurdish yazidi author aims to teach arabs of islamic state brutality posted on august 5, 2015 by editorial staff in yazidis displaced yazidi kurds, fleeing the violence from islamic state in the yazidi shingal area in northwest, august 2014. Then the great lord, melek taus, said to the angels, i want to create adam and eve and make them give rise to mankind. Spam or selfpromotional the list is spam or selfpromotional. Three women and child of yazidi origin were released from daesh captivity in gogjali area in the east of mosul, khallat said.
Duhok, kurdistan region iraq, it is because he owes it to the dozens of kurdish yazidi women he has spoken to regularly who were captives of the islamic state that kurdish journalist khidher domle says he wrote down their stories into a book his book, the black death, has been published to coincide with the first anniversary of the occupation of the yazidi region of shingal by isis. Pdf isis genocide against the yazidis and mass violence in the. According to yazidi activists, there are still at least 2,400 women and children in the hands of isis. Although some views and opinions expressed by participants in this study may have been taken over by events, the findings of this study nevertheless constitute a form of documentation of the plight of the yazidi community in iraq. Descendants of izasjesus yazidis suffer genocide of men and enslavement of women. Meefa res is one of two books written in the style of a holy book of the yazidis in northern kurdish, the other being the yazidi book of revelation kiteba jilwe it is now generally accepted that the manuscripts of the yazidi sacred books, the mas. The yazidi holy books are written in the kurmanji dialect of the kurdish language. The horrors of a yazidi woman kidnapped by isis the. The yazidis, perhaps because of their secrecy, also have a place in modern occultism. Theres a long history behind the yazidi community, and there are more.
Descendants of izasjesus yazidis suffer genocide of men. Book of revelation, the black book, and an appendix. The yazidi women held as sex slaves by is bbc news. Once enslaved by isis, these yazidi women are rebuilding. Yazidi women tell of sexslavery trauma jump to media player the yazidi minority in iraq say 3,500 women and girls are still being held by islamic state, many being used as sex slaves. I will write this up in a bit with cites in the article itself. The two religious books of the yazidis have arabic text. In a spring at the yazidi holy site of lalish, in northern iraq, turkia hussein is accompanied by her children as she gives thanks for being reincorporated as yazidi again after being captured by. Up to 400 abducted yazidi children are reportedly being trained as potential suicide bombers by isis. Yazidi women tell of rape and enslavement at hands. The yezidi or yazidi1 is a people that claim to be the result of a mix between adam and a goddess, whereas humans are mix between adam and eve. Theres a long history behind the yazidi community, and there are more than enough explainers out on the internet ready to. A slaughter of the yezidis occurred in april, 2007, when 23 of them were murdered by kurdish muslims.
Some yazidis also live in armenia, turkey, iran, georgia, and syria. A yazidi boy who was kidnapped by isis hugs his grandmother after being returned to his family, february 2017. Two short books, kitab aljilwah book of revelation and maafrash black book, form the sacred scriptures of the yazidis. For this reason scholars have theorized a persian origin for the yezidis. Preserving yazidi heritage and identity british council. Some yezidis maintain that it translates as followers of the true path.
A brief history of the yazidis of iraq jstor daily. It is claimed that the original text of the book of revelation is kept in the yazidi village of baidn and the original text of the yazidi. Researchers believe that the yazidi creed has elements from zoroastrianism, manicheism, judaism, christianity, and islam. Pdf the serpent symbolism in the yezidi religious tradition and.
Fighters routinely beat yazidi women and girls in their possession. Most expensive yazidi sex slave shares shocking story of. They undergo great discrimination and persecution, to the point of death, in northern iraq currently. One year on from the sinjar massacre, yazidis blast lack of action over hostages. Although there is a dearth of reliable statistics on demography, community estimates state there are about 550,000 600,000 yazidis in iraq. In her book, the girl who escaped isis, farida recounts the horrors she. In august of that year, four trucks driven by fanatical muslims and laden with explosives were driven into the yezidi town of sinjar and detonated. Yazidi women undergo a rebirth ceremony after isis. The 20thcentury history of the yazidis of syria and turkey is more obscure, with.
From the christian mobs destruction of sarapeum in alexandria in 391 ce to the talibans 2001 dynamiting of 6 th century buddha monuments at bamiyan, afghanistan, intolerance of religious idolatry has violently severed visceral connections to the humanitys past. While yazidis struggle for existence, the world does little to help. Christianity, integral philosophy, and politics yazidis and the original religion of the near east the horrific bombing in the kurdish regions around kirkuk death toll estimates currently at 400 targeted. Yazidi women and girls were often forced to work as domestic servants in the fighters houses, cooking, cleaning, and taking care of their children. The georgian community has declined significantly decreasing from 30,000 during the 1990s to an estimated 14,000 in 2008, while communities in armenia have been more stable some 40,000 according to 2001 census. Yezidis yazidis history yezidis yezidis international. Further, in my manuscript aljilwah immediately follows the. Meefa res is one of two books written in the style of a holy book of the yazidis in northern kurdish, the other being the yazidi book of revelation kiteba jilwe. Nonfiction, memoir and fiction about the yazidi yezidi, ezidi people. Since then it has garnered much critical attention by ethnologists and theologians, receiving condemnation in some quarters as a fake, and in others a nod of approval as being possibly the only legitimate text along with the book of the revelation that gives some insight into these remarkable people and their. There are traditional communities in transcaucasia, armenia, turkey, and syria, but these have declined since the 1990s, their. In the beginning the invisible one brought forth from its own precious soul a white pearl.
The book also has many notes, a extensive bibliography for further study, and a reproduction of the original arabic manuscript witten in the 1800s. Life after isis slavery for yazidi women and children the. It is now widely suspected that both volumes were compiled by. New book by kurdish yazidi author aims to teach arabs of. Incorrect book the list contains an incorrect book please specify the title of the book. Three women and child of yazidi origin were released from daesh captivity in. As the yazidis hold religious beliefs that are mostly unfamiliar to outsiders, many non yazidi people have written about them and ascribed to their beliefs facts that have dubious historical validity. But these overlaps are largely superficialmuslims dont consider yazidis to be a people of the book, or one of the abrahamic religions of christianity. It is thought that nebraska has the largest settlement an estimated number of at least 10,000 of yazidis in the united states, with a history of immigration to the state under refuge settlement programs starting in the late 1990s. The yazidi black book is one of two books written in the style of a holy book of the yazidis in. Yezidis believe the black book originated when the lord descended black mountain. However, according to yezidi lore and the black book, the ser pent, or at least.
Christianity, integral philosophy, and politics yazidis and the original religion of the near east the horrific bombing in the kurdish regions around kirkuk death toll estimates currently at 400 targeted the yazidis, a smallish kurdish but nonmuslim sect. The objective of this book will be met once it has prompted us. The majority of yazidis remaining in the middle east today live in iraq, primarily in the nineveh and dohuk governorates. The yazidi religious centre and object of the annual pilgrimage is the tomb of sheikh. Many yazidis now live in lincoln, nebraska and houston, texas. Yazidi survivors of isis captivity hold a candle lighting ceremony for the. Muhammad hamed reuters on august 3, 2014, the islamic state or isis attacked the region around mount sinjar in northwestern iraq, near the countrys border with syria. The sacred scriptures of the yazidis are two short books written in arabic.
That the islamic state has enslaved yazidi women and children it captured is an established fact. Those shrines have now been overrun, but yazidi clerics themselves remain figurative libraries. Aug 11, 2014 the rise of islamic fundamentalism more broadly has pushed thousands of yazidis to seek asylum in europe. Yazidis make up an important iraqi minority community. Sep 20, 2014 thus, the iraqi yazidis are still regarded as the guardians of the yazidi religious tradition and the keepers of the main yazidi places of worship. Additionally, there are some yazidi villages and towns in talkeef and bashiqa district, and in duhok governorate in the kurdistan region of iraq kri. The history of a community, culture and religion library of modern religion paperback october 16, 2014. I interviewed a pregnant 19yearold yazidi woman who escaped the islamic state with her young son after weeks of captivity and rape.
For example, a united nations report found that 300 yazidi women had been forced into slavery. They also claim to be the worlds oldest religion, and have over 40,000 years of history. The black book and the other socalled scriptures have been systematically debunked by scholars as being false. I have contact with one yazidi leader in ontario who is an advocate for the yazidi communities. Kitab aljilwah book of revelation supposed to have been written by sheikh adi himself, and mishaf rash black. Estimates of the size of the iraqi communities vary significantly, between 70,000 and 500,000. It is now widely suspected that both volumes were compiled by nonyazidis. The black book of the yezidis was first published in english over 120 years ago. The two alleged yazidi holy books translated below are in fact forgeries, produced at an uncertain date by outsiders, incorporating genuine yazidi material but mixed in with outside elements. This specific work covers the black book of the yezidis meshaf resh. Executive summary this report focuses on the yazidi community, one of the largest minority groups in iraq, and their perceptions on conflicts and future reconciliation following the islamic states is invasion in 2014. Saad salloum minorities in iraq memory, identity and challenges. Once used as sex slaves by isis, these yazidi women are rebuilding their lives.
1257 222 754 616 1003 750 601 281 574 330 1424 692 359 28 526 915 1054 1227 1571 995 373 347 128 1501 358 39 1034 311 468 924 1332 1056 1389 840 1432 1195 541 797 1363 938 529 1126 404 979 863 581 1498 614