NOTES ON THE YEZIDI RELIGIOUS SYNCRETISM VICTORIA ARAKELOVA Caucasian Centre for Iranian Studies, Yerevan
Despite its unique and the extremely original character, Yezidism re veals a number of striking strikin g parallels parall els with other syncretic syncret ic religions, religi ons, in particular, with the heterodox Shi‘a sects. A part of these parallels are certainly the common elements, derived from the Islamic Mysticism and, probably, Gnostic teachings (for some Extreme Shi‘a doctrines, like the Isma’ili, the latter is quite certain: they have been formed under a direct influence of the Christian Gnosticism). As to the proper Extreme Shi‘a elements in the Yezidi religion, they can be the result of a later influence. t (‰ul" t-i • 3‘a), The Extreme Shi‘a sects, generally known as Ghul " "t are distinguished, at least formally, by their specific attitude towards ‘Ali (i. e., ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, the Fourth Caliph, cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet), glorifying him as an object of worship, as of supreme worth. However, in some of them, ‘Ali is rather a fairly marginal figure, with the obvious traits of an epical hero. Among these sects, the largest number of parallels with Yezidism is found with the Ahl-i Haqq (People of the Truth) and in the religion of the Zazas. One of the main analogies is, first and foremost, the religious institution of “Brother and Sister of the Next World”, 1 as well as a number of common characters (‘Ali, Fatima, etc.) deified by the heterodox Sh‘ites and marked in Yezidism. With regard to the Ahl-i Haqq in Iran, one of the sect’s autonymics is Y"res"n (the Iraqi Ahl-i Haqq are named Kak "3 3 )2, while the Yezidi " ) self-denomination is * zd zd 3 x x" na n a , i. e., “the abode of the Yezidis”. The 3 " term Y"res "n is perhaps going back to y to y" rest rest " "n , “the abode of those in 1
See G. S. Asatrian, “The Holy Brotherhood: The Yezidi Religious Institution of the the Brother and the Sister of the Next World ”, Iran & the Caucasus , vols. 3-4 (1999-2000): 79-97. 2 K"k" (k", gag H, ga H, etc.) is a common term (along with bar "dar, bir ", etc.) for “brother” in the vernacular Persian, as well as in Kurdish, Gurani, and Luri. As to the name of the sect, it may be conditioned by the Christian influence (see W. Ivanow, The Truth-Worshippers of Kurdistan, Kurdistan, Leiden, 1953: 56). Br B rill, Leiden, 2004
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Iran and the Caucasus, 8.1
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love (with God)”, with the suffix - st "n indicating “place”, and y" r “beloved”. The formation of these two terms, *zd 3x"n" and Y"res(t)"n, in fact, is based upon one and the same principal concept—the idea of community as the abode (home) of co-religionists (the faithful). Like the Yezidis, the Ahl-i Haqq must have spiritual masters—with the latter these are pirs and dalils from among the hereditary caste of religious leaders or seyyeds , thus shaping the x "n d " n, or families, comprising the spiritual tutors and their disciples from among the caste of laymen or mur 3d s . The similar hierarchy, social structure of society and the institution of spiritual tutorship is also observable among the other heterodox Shi‘ites, the Alevi Zazas. 3 Parallels are also traced in the cosmogony of the Ahl-i Haqq and of the Yezidis: The One God, the primeval Creator initially created a pearl, which contained all elements of the Universe. In the religious doctrine of the Ahl-i Haqq there are seven images— h afttan, being effectively analogous to the seven avatars of Malak-Tawus in the Yezidi religion. In both cases, they are the seven great angels; particularly visible is the position of the four angels governing the four elements: fire, water, earth, and wind. The concept of the seven angels penetrated to Yezidism from the Biblical-Muslim tradition; in a very similar form and functional meaning it occurs in the religious beliefs of the Extreme Shi‘a sects in general.4 In Gnostic tradition, too, there is an idea of the Seven Creator Angels, though associated with the Seven Days of Creation, 5 the latter being a matter of interpretation only. Of special interest is the problem of reincarnation. In the contemporary Yezidism the concept of tan" sux (reincarnation, re-embodiment) is somewhat vague—it is existent, though not
3
See G. Asatrian, “Dim(i)li”,Encyclopaedia Iranica , VII/IV, New York, 1995: 405-411. See V. F. Minorskij, Materialy dlya izu¢eniya persidskoj sekty “Lyudi istiny” ili Ali-ilahi , part 1, Moscow, 1911: 4, 81; M. Mokri, N H r Ali-sh " h El " h 3 . L’ésoterisme kurde: Aperçus sur le secret gnostique des Fidèles de Vérité . Traduction, introduction, commentaries et notes par M. Mokri, Paris, 1966: 2226; idem, Cycle des fidèles compagnons a l’époque de Buhl H l: Études d’hérésiologie islamique et de thémes mythoreligieux iraniens, Paris, 1974: 29-30. 5 J. Duchesne-Guillemin, “On the Origin of Gnosticism”, A Green Leaf: Papers in Honour of Prof. J. P. Asmussen (Acta Iranica-XII), Leiden, 1988, 349-364: 351. On the meaning of figure seven in different traditions, including the Old Iranian religions, as reflected in Z oroastrianism (cf. seven Ameshaspentas) see A. Schimmel, The Mystery of Numbers , New York, 1993: 145-150. 4
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dominating.6 This idea, of course, is antagonistic itself to the tradition of paradise and hell, as the latter rules out the need for reincarnation. However, this type of syncretism converging the inconsistencies is a phenomenon rather typical of Yezidism.7 The idea of reincarnation, surprisingly coexistent with the tradition of paradise and hell, excluding the need for reincarnation, is widely spread in the esoteric trends of Islam, in particular, in a number of Extreme Shi‘a sects. In the concept of Ahl-i Haqq the human beings have to pass through a thousand and one reincarnations (depending upon the deeds in previous incarnations). Another heterodox Shi‘a sect, the Nusayris, recognise the reincarnation of men only. Today, the nearly forgotten character in the Yezidi tradition, ¶ +x8 kir "s (mentioned only by J. Furlani) —«Sheikh of the Robe» (Kurd. kir " s “shirt, robe” < OIr. *k vpa-p"yra—“defending the body”), was perhaps responsible for the process of death, and possibly, for reincarnation, replacement of bodies as change of clothes. A similar parallel is also attested in the Gnostic tradition. 9 Also to be noted are some parallels in the religious practice of the Yezidis and the Ahl-i Haqq. For instance, both keep the three-day lent unknown to Islam—the Yezidis prior to the birthday of Sultan Yezid, and the Ahl-i Haqq in honour of Sultan Sohak. The ritual of community assembly ( jam ) practiced by the Ahl-i Haqq, the Zazas, as well as by other Extreme Shi‘a sects, most probably existed also in Yezidism at the early stage of its formation, considering its mystical roots, since the joint community meetings with women admitted is an inalienable part of esoteric sects. 10 (Essentially, the mystical Islam became the only niche wherein a woman could fulfill herself in a Muslim society.) The Yezidis today have retained only the annual general assembly ( jam" ‘at ) of the community, with the participation of women.
6
See E. S. Drower,Peacock Angel , London, 1941: 32-33, 91; R. Lescot, Enquête sur les Yesidis de Syrie et du Djebel Sinj " r, Beyrut, 1938: 67-68. 7 For example, two myths of Genesis, see G. Asatrian, “The Foremother of the Yezidis”, Religious Texts in the Iranian languages , Copenhagen (forthcoming). 8 G. Furlani, “I Santi dei Yezidi”,Orientalia 5 (1936): 76. 9 See in details V. Arakelova, “Three figures from the Yezidi Folk Pantheon”, Iran and the Caucasus , Yerevan, vol. 6, 1-2 (2002): 70-73. 10 According to W. Ivanow, the Ahl-i Haqq community meetings recall the agap+ , “the common meal of Christian love” practiced by the Armenian Medieval sects, Paulicians and the Thondrakis (Ivanow, op. cit .: 54).
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The place of assembly ( jamx " n ) a for the extreme sectarians is sacred; on its threshold everyone had to fall prostrate. The Yezidis do the same when entering the shrine of Sheikh ‘Adi. During the Recollection of God (the zikr andsam" ‘ rituals), the Ahli Haqq and a number of other Extreme Shi‘a sects preferring the socalled loud zikr , make use of the sacred musical instrument, sort of a r the Yezidi qawwals , when performing the religious tambourine (tambH ); hymns, also make use of a big tambourine (daf ), as well as a flute (•ib" b).11 Incidentally, it was most probably the general assemblies of the sectarians also admitting women that were to become the origin of multiple incriminations of the sectarians (both the Extreme Shi‘ites and the Yezidis) for the night-time orgies. It is quite natural that this type of conduct could not but be perceived as inadequate within the Islamic environment, with the women being separated from men during the prayers in congregation. Even more suspicious was the esoterism of the doctrine itself: closed character of the community and a severe ban on revealing the secrets of the cult to the aliens. Anyway, the accusations of nightly orgies and even promiscuity are a typical manifestation of intolerance to all esoteric sects and sectarians for that matter, on the part of the orthodox. Used as corpus delicti in those cases is one and the same plot with slight variations: the story of a night-time orgy with commonly condemned moral violations—promiscuous contacts after extinguishing the light, etc. However, these incriminations were completely groundless as multiply noticed by objective authors and researchers.12 The categorical denial of the sectarians and the strive to stain them by the orthodoxies had generated this type of derogative stigmas, which became a leading feature in the total system of popular ideas on non-orthodox trends in the Near and Middle East.13 It is interesting to note that similar incriminations, though unlike those against the Shi‘a sects, not always quite groundless, have also been levelled at Gnostic sects reproached by the Christian Church for violating the human and divine prescripts. The mysteries stunningly 11
See A. Layard, Discoveries among the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon (Abridged), New York, 1853: 75; Ph. Kreyenbroek, Yezidism—Its Background, Observances and Textual Tradition, New York, 1995: 53 et sq. 12 See in detail with full literature G. S. Asatrian, Etyudy po iranskoj etnologii , Erevan, 1998: 104-106. 13 Ibid.
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disregarding any taboos, even the sexual ones, never countered the views held by some Gnostic sects: the act of copulation was symbolic of a sacred marriage overcoming isolation and ascertaining unity. The soul, accordingly, had to experience all temptations of evil, to self-actualise all activities, both good and evil. The existence of the cult leading to promiscuity, as described in the apocryphal source “The Secret Book of Noria”, however, could not prevent the Gnostics to practice yet another way: self-denial and abstinence, even down to celibacy, as preached in the apocryphal gospels (“The Gospel according to Thomas”, “The Gospel according to the Egyptians”). 14 The variety of behavioural lines, however, is not in any way tantamount to disunity of views or diverse target settings for different Gnostic sects. Quite the opposite, that is an attempt in different ways, including some very extravagant, to remove all restrictions or interferences along the way to the ecstatic experience aimed at arriving to the condition of mystical unity, light, and consequently, for a Gnostic—to the Truth. With regard to religious philosophy, the various, even contrastive, behavioural models of the mystics can be explained by different ways of approaching to the sacral. Since between the profane and the sacral there is always a gap,15 and the religious experience is based upon the transition between them, i. e., upon the attempt to bridge that gap, there appear two ways of accomplishing that transition: either to sanctify the profane, or inversely, to profane the sacral (the way of anti-ascesis). Very indicative in this case is the philosophy of the Mahasiddhis in India, “the great perfect ones”, who erased the borderline between the sacral and the profane by profaning the sacral, which was stunning, and, therefore, more demonstrable. They had never observed the accepted standards, opposing their lifestyle to that of the monks and even pious laymen. For the Mahasiddhis the basic line of conduct was the recognition of the fundamental non-duality of reality, its non-hierarchical structure. More often than not, however, the later religious tradition, on a popular level in particular, can sanctify this type of behaviour as a special way of spiritual development for the select, for the special members of the spiritual elite. Sanctified in this way, for example, was the saffron colour of clothing of the Buddhist clergy, which had originally been the colour of the lower varnas of the Indian society
14
M. K. Trofimova,Istoriko-filosofskie voprosy gnosticizma , Moscow, 1997: 53. M. Eliade,Patterns in Comparative Religion (Russian edition), Moscow, 1999: 405.
15
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and the pariahs , thus, being the symbol of submission and renunciation of the conventional values.16 In all, by the same token the Muslim mystics, members of the esoteric sects, despite the ambiguous attitude and continuous persecution on the part of the official Islam, had acquired a considerable popularity in the society. Their spiritual authority for a Muslim layman would often exceed the authority of an orthodox clergyman, despite the latter’s strict Shariat observance, whereas a mystic can trespass many religious prescripts by openly disregarding them or providing them with a different interpretation (e. g., some sectarians drink wine). 17 The complicated Gnostic ethics, to a certain extent, in the same way is contradictory to the Christian dogmas as the behaviour of a Muslim sectarian is contradictory to the orthodox Islam. Moreover, in both cases we deal with the special members of the communities, the chosen ones, with the exclusive access to the True Knowledge, with the absolute esoterism. All kinds of ritual assemblies have the same purpose—attaining a mystical unity of community members, the faithful, and the overall communion with the Truth—both in the esoteric sects of Islam and in the Gnostic milieu. It is quite probable that the suspicious attitude towards the Gnostic and Gnosticising sects was simply later transferred to the esoteric streams in Islam, since many of them clearly showed Gnostic elements or conceptual parallels with Gnosticism. The ethics of both is conditioned with mystical experience, so that some behavioural forms generated by this ethics drop out of the set of rules prescribed by the orthodoxy. In both cases there are formal allegations of trespassing upon the public standards mentioned by Epiphanes in his composition “On Justice”: “The private character of the laws is cutting and gnawing at the alliance established by the divine law”, for the Creator established the laws “in accordance to His justice, with no distinction made of the feminine from the masculine”.18 The idea of xwad + (One God) in Yezidism, who had delegated all his functions to the Holy Triad, except perhaps, for the function of the demiurge (though periodically also ascribed to the incarnations of xwad + ), to a certain degree is reminiscent of the Gnostics’ image of 16
E. A. Torchinov,Religii mira: Opyt zapredel’nogo, St. Petersburg, 1998: 20. V. A. Zhukovskij, “SektaLyudej istiny— Ahli-Haqq v Persii”,ZVORAO , vol. 2: 4. 18 Trofimova,op. cit.: 53-54. 17
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demiurge, who had created the world by God’s assignment. The Yezidi xwad + is a typical example of deus otiosis , who, being the creator of the world, remains completely indifferent to its destiny. 19 Isn’t it also reminiscent of another problem, related mostly to the Gnostics: “Why did so many people come to deny the value of the world and to attribute its creation to an inferior, blind Demiurge ..?”. 20 A peculiar feature of Yezidism is that here xwad + , due to the absence of a strict dogma, is coming forward both as the Supreme God transferring his demiurgical functions to the Holy Triad, and as the blind demiurge—in both cases xwad + does not interfere with the affairs of the world following its creation. Another interesting point in this regard is the legend on the Yezidis’ taking origin from the seed of Adam alone. This anthropogonic story, too, can be traced to a Gnostic sujet .21 Some images and symbols of Yezidism also find parallels both in the Extreme Shi‘a and the Gnostic traditions. Malak-Tawus, the Yezidi supreme deity combining the divine elements with the features of the fallen angel, is attested also among the Ahl-i Haqq and the Mandaeans.22 One of the conspicuous, although tacit, symbols of Yezidism is the serpent,23 which is practically never mentioned explicitly in any Yezidi religious text—oral or written. The only manifestation of this symbol is in the two-meter image of the black serpent at the entrance to the shrine of Sheikh ‘Adi in Lalesh. Meanwhile, the Sheikhi clan D " r" Mir "z" (in Armenia) has preserved a figure of a dragon serpent made of brass as an important relic (no detailed explanations are provided by the relic holders). In this connection it is to be noted that the Mandaeans, too, feature the serpent in the same two forms—as a reptile, headless and legless, and as great earthly dragon. Serpent as a symbol of life and as an amulet is carved by the Mandaeans above the door of a new house, overhanging the entrance with blue beads (also amulets) and decora19
See in detail G. Asatrian, V. Arakelova, “Malak-Tawus: The Peacock Angel of the Yezidis”, Iran and the Caucasus , vol.7, 1-2 (2003): 7-8. 20 Duchesne-Guillemin,op. cit.: 349-350. 21 See E. Spät, “Shahid bin Jarr, Forefather of the Yezidis and the Gnostic Seed of Seth”, Iran and the Caucasus , vol. 6, 1-2 (2002): 27-56. 22 For a detailed account of Malak-Tawus and the genesis of this character, see Asatrian, Arakelova, op. cit .: 1-36; cf. also Ivanow, op. cit.: 46. 23 The snake is also manifested in the ritual practice of the Zazas (see G. S. Asatrian, N. Kh. Gevorgian, “Zaza Miscellany: Notes on some Religious Customs and Institutions”, A Green Leaf: Papers in Honour of Prof. J. P. Asmussen (Acta Iranica - XII), Leiden, 1988: 508).
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tions made of clay. A serpent woven of blue cotton, is suspended from a conjugal bed. A group including a serpent, a scorpion and a lion has here, most probably, a zodiacal character, keeping in mind the same interpretation of the similar Mithraic bas-reliefs. 24 In all, however, in the whole region an image of a serpent (sometimes paired with a peacock or a dove) is a widespread sujet of art.25 There is every reason to believe that we deal here with a striking instance of the so-called symbol degradation. Before becoming a mere element of decoration, the serpent is coming forward at least as a patron, protector, and amulet. It would be quite reasonable, considering the important function of the serpent in Gnostic knowledge, to suggest that the serpent-amulet is a secondary interpretation of the image. In effect, the serpent is the main symbol of the Gnosis and, quite naturally, in most traditions affected by Gnosticism this symbol had to have been preserved, either in a degraded form (as with the Mandaeans), or in formal representation with no dogmatic context (as among the Yezidis). The Gnostics approached the serpent from the point of view of pneumatic contradiction, underscoring its role in cognition: having tasted from the tree, Adam and Eve acquired the Knowledge, the power beyond the bounds, and turned their faces away from the Creator. That destroyed the principle of concealing the Knowledge from man. The action of the serpent (resp. Malak-Tawus with the Yezidis) is viewed in effect as the inception of Gnosis on earth. 26 Even Jesus could be regarded by the Gnostics as an embodiment of the supreme serpent. In the Gnostic “Apocrypha by John” Christ makes the man to taste against the commandment by Archont, thus, assuming some functions of the serpent. In Manichaeism the link of Jesus with the paradisal plot is so solid and natural that a new myth is born: the serpent cedes his place to Jesus completely.27 As to the mighty serpent-dragon, ‘Ur, on him, according to the Mandaean tradition, rests the physical world: over him are seven firmaments, below him are seven underground worlds of darkness (it is 24
See W. M. Brashear, “Ein mithräischer Katechismus aus Ägypten in Berlin”, Antike Welt: Zeitschrift für Archäologie und Kulturgeschichte , N 1 (1993): 2-6. 25 E. S. Drower, Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran, Leiden, 1962: 37, 40, 50; in the Sufi miniature, see R. Amirbekian, “Videniya v illyustraciyax sufijskix kodeksov: Ali Akbar Orakzaj i orden “Nakshbandija” v oblasti Kshmir”, Arevelagitakan ¿oªovacu, 3, Erevan (forthcoming). 26 H. Jonas,The Gnostic Religion: The Message of the Alien God and the Beginning of Christianity (Russian translation), St. Petersburg, 1999: 105. 27 Ibid .: 105-107.
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to be noted that Yezidism also deals with as many as fourteen spheres of the world). The serpent-dragon has fiery breath, while his belly is now fire and now ice.28 His mouth is like an absorbing whirlwind; sometimes he is depicted as holding his tail in his mouth. The serpent with tail in mouth is the Universe in the Gnostic tradition; its dark head is earth, and the light-coloured tail is heaven. 29 The Gnostic image of serpent as one of the elements of the Uni verse is also ambivalent. In the form of the earth-girding dragon of the primeval chaos, he is featured as the principle of evil and darkness, in contrast to light: “The outward darkness is a giant dragon, his tail being in his mouth”.30 The same is true with regard to the serpent “as the king of the earth’s worms, with its tail in its mouth”, the serpent who misled the angels and the first Adam. 31 Another important element enabling parallels to be drawn between the Yezidi religion and some Near Eastern syncretic doctrines, as has been mentioned above, is the pearl. 32 However, pearl in different hypostases has been manifested in very differing and remote traditions. Prior to degrading down to a mystical-religious symbol, a magicmedical attribute, and eventually, to an aesthetic and economical form, pearl had been staying in its crucial metaphysical significance—that of the cosmological symbol. The fact that a pearl is contained in a shell can become the cause of its conversion into a cosmological centre including all the elements of the Universe, being its substantial, quintessential part.33 The Yezidi cosmogony regards the (white) pearl just within this status, as the quintessence of the Universe, coexisting with the Divine in eternity, prior to everything else. 34 Pearl becomes so polysemantic through the relevant symbolism of water, of the Moon, of the creative femininity, etc. It is very significant in this respect that, according to the Yezidi tradition, the primeval liquid, the seed that had generated the Yezidi people, had also been created by God out of a pearl. 35 28
Drower,op. cit.: 253. K. Rudolph, Die Gnosis , Leipzig, 1977: 80. 30 Jonas,op. cit.: 127. 31 R. Reitzenstein, Das iranische Erlösungsmysterium: Religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen, Bonn, 1921: 77-78. 32 See, e. g. Ivanow,op. cit.: 42. 33 Eliade,op. cit.: 398-405. 34 Cf. the first statement of the Yezidi “Black Scripture”: “At the beginning God created the white pearl from His kind substance…” (Asatrian, Arakelova, op. cit.: 14-22). 35 G. Asatrian, “The Foremother of the Yezidis”. 29
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In the Ahl-i Haqq doctrine the sanctity of pearl is not in its affiliation with whatever symbol. It is sanctified by hierophany directly: in the eternal existence the Divine had been enclosed in the pearl. Pearl in Gnosticism, however, has another interpretation and is a metaphor for soul. In the Gnostic plots search for pearl is search for one’s own lost soul, one’s own true Self, while its acquisition is the contingency to come back to Father, i. e. to God.36 Thus, it becomes obvious that the Yezidi religion, along with the basic concepts of the Islamic Mysticism (later transformed within the already closed community), incorporates a number of elements from Gnosticism and Oriental Mysticism in the broad sense. Similar elements have also been discovered in other non-orthodox doctrines de veloped in the same multicultural area of Northern Mesopotamia distinguished for multiple manifestations of syncretism.
36
See Jonas,op. cit: 125-126; Rudolph,op. cit.: 34, 303; Arakelova, op. cit: 71-72.
