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“Your Son Will Be the Scourge of Islam” Changing Perceptions of Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya in Yezidi Oral Tradition

Eszter Spät Central European University, Budapest [email protected]

Abstract

Using analyses of myths and fieldwork material, the article studies the way Yezidis, a small ethno-religious group of the Middle East, appropriated the Muslim figure of Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya, the second Umayyad caliph. In his Yezidi myth, he appears as a divine being who was incarnated on earth in order to subvert sharia and replace it with a more spiritual form of Islam, equated with the Yezidi religion at the time the myth was composed. The myth is constructed around the historical reputation of Yazīd as an antinomian figure, but interprets it in a way that mocks orthodox Islam and echoes the ethos of Yezidi religion. In their turn, the Prophet Muhammad and Caliph Muʿāwiya appear as inferior figures, representing a religious tradition that is supersed- ed by Yazīd’s arrival. The myth throws light on the historical development of Yezidi religion, as it reflects an earlier stage, when Yezidis considered orthodox Islam a related, albeit rival and inferior, form of religion. However, today, as Yezidis emphasize their distance from anything related with Islam and Arabic culture, the myth may come to be rejected despite its profoundly Yezidi nature.

Keywords

Yezidism – Islam – mythology – syncretism – oral tradition – religious minorities in the Middle East – Sufism in Kurdistan – religious appropriation – scripturalization

1 Introduction*

In the summer of 2014, the world’s attention was drawn to a small ethno- religious community in Northern Iraq that few had heard of before. The Yezidis entered the limelight of global media after the so-called Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS) staged a wholesale attack against their community in the Sinjar region near the Syrian border. While Yezidis’ treatment at the hands of ISIS became symbolic of the savagery of the extremist group, the people least surprised by the radical Islamist group’s relentless hatred toward them were the Yezidis themselves. Yezidis have long seen Islam as their implacable enemy, and they perceive their own history as a series of persecutions by Muslims. In fact, this sense of constant persecution forms the basis of Yezidi commu- nal identity today. This view is shared and often quoted by Western journalists writing about Yezidis — especially since the ISIS attack. It is an undeniable fact that many traditional Muslims consider Yezidis impure kafirs or infidels, without a real religion, that is, a religion based on revealed written texts. Some Muslims even claim that Yezidis worship the devil. At the same time, modern Kurdish nationalist mythology, which tends to take a somewhat ambiguous attitude toward Islam (often perceived as the tool of cultural imperialism by Arabs and Turks), considers Yezidism the “original Kurdish religion.” In this view, Yezidism predates Islam and was once, before the coming of Islam, fol- lowed by all the Kurds. Today, this view is shared by most Yezidis, who like to emphasize how they are the guardians of the real Kurdish religion, while Muslim Kurds are apostates who have abandoned their original faith. However, if we look at the — admittedly meager — historical sources on Yezidis, they seem to tell a less straightforward story regarding the origins of the community and their relationship with Islam and the Muslim community.1 Although Yezidi religious oral tradition, as we know it today, undoubtedly retains many important concepts and motifs that can be traced back to pre- Islamic roots,2 there is little doubt that Islam, especially in its mystical, Sufi form, had a great role in the formation of Yezidi religion and the Yezidi socio- religious system. What is more, for centuries Yezidis may have been considered

* The research on this subject was generously supported by the Hungarian Research and Science Foundation (OTKA, grant number PD 839210 and the Gerda Henkel Research Foundation (grant number AZ 28_F_10). I would also like to express my gratitude to George Soros for funding the Central European University. 1 For a detailed study of Yezidi history, see Guest 1993. For a more concise account of the early history of Yezidis, see Kreyenbroek 1995: 27–44. 2 For the Western-Iranian roots of Yezidi religion, see Kreyenbroek 1992: 57–79; 1995: 45–67; 1998: 163–184. For the impact of late antique religious milieu, see Spät 2010.

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Muslims, both by themselves and outsiders, even if often at odds with the “official” or “orthodox” Muslim establishment. It is not the aim of this article to debate the exact origins of Yezidi religious tenets or to decide which of the many roots of this syncretic religious tradition should be considered the “authentic root.” Instead, the article ana- lyzes, through the Yezidi myth of Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya, the way in which Islamic figures are appropriated by Yezidi mythology, how this reflects an earlier stage of the development of Yezidi religion, and what happens to these “Islamic- Yezidi” mythical figures and their legends today in light of Yezidism’s total alienation from Islam. These questions have received little attention so far in the academic literature devoted to Yezidis.3

3 The most attention to the Islamic elements in Yezidi religion was paid by scholars of the first half of the twentieth century, many of whom saw Yezidis as a deviant sect of Islam, such as Joseph (1909), Guidi (1932), Lescot (1938), Frayha (1946) and Bois (1961). However, these scholars were generally satisfied with trying to find the historical links to Islam in the works of Arab historians and/or on drawing attention to certain ritual practices (for example circumcision, Muslim-style fast), shared holidays, and certain social institutions (the Sufi origin of Yezidi castes), as well as the Islamic names of some Yezidi holy beings revered at various shrines or of holy spots (such as the spring of Zemzem and the hilltop of Arafat). At the same time, none of these authors paid much attention to Yezidi mythology or analyzed the myths behind figures bearing Muslim names. This is hardly surprising, given that before the work of Philip Kreyenbroek (1995 and 2005), Yezidi texts and myths were hardly available to Western scholars (apart from a few short accounts of myth collected by Lescot in Sinjar, which he, however, treated as legends of little interest). The main source of knowledge on Yezidi mythology were the alleged Yezidi holy books, the Splendour or Revelation (Jilwe) and the Black Book (Mesḥefa Resh). Several manuscripts of these “books” were discovered at the end of the 19th and beginning of 20th century. Present scholarly opinion holds that while the manuscripts themselves are forgeries (probably created for Westerners looking for the Yezidi holy books), their content reflects genuine Yezidi oral tradition, including an account of the creation of the world and of the origins of Yezidis (see Kreyenbroek 1995: 14–15). Though a very short version of the myth of Yazīd Ibn Mu‘āwiya analyzed in this article can be found in some of the manuscripts, it did not garner any interest among translators or other research- ers. One of the translators, Frayha, who believed the books to be genuine, states “Names occurring in these texts should be examined. The philosophical and religious allusions are interesting in that they show the early Moslem element in the Yezīdī sect” (Frayha 1946: 19). However, he did not follow up these observations with any further analysis. Lescot collected the detailed oral account of the myth used in this article (Lescot 1938: 60–64), but he paid it no further attention. Finally, Jasim Elias Murad, a Yezidi researcher who finds the roots of Yezidism in the “Yazdan Parasti” (i.e., worshippers of Yazd/Izid/God) of ancient times (Murad 1993: 53–57), quotes a short version of the same myth in his PhD dissertation. He writes: “this legend supports the hypothesis that Yazid, son of Mu‘āwiya abandoned his faith and converted to Yazidism, an assumption that implies the existence of Yazidism before the miraculous birth of Yazid.” (48) In the next few sentences, he summarily dismisses the whole myth, declaring: “As is clear, the whole legend is implausible. The Islamic historians did not record that Yazid had apostated from his religion, Islam. Therefore, the mention of Yazid

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The article is based on two different types of sources: – Yezidi myths collected and published by Roger Lescot (1938) and Philip Kreyenbroek (2005). – Material collected during my own twenty-two months of field work and interviews in Iraqi Kurdistan between 2002 and 2015. Insights gained in the field concerning traditional Yezidi religious language and imagery was criti- cal for analyzing the myths (published by the above scholars) and interpret- ing special Yezidi expressions or references to Yezidi religious concepts in these texts. This understanding also made possible the analysis of the way in which old myths are treated and understood among Yezidis today.

2 The Origin of Yezidis and Islam

The beginning of the Yezidis as an organized religious community with a conscious sense of identity can probably be traced back to a certain Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir.4 Sheikh Adi, as an incarnated angel or rather divine being,5 is the central figure of Yezidi mythology. However, at the end of the 19th century, the vice-consul of Mosul, N. Siouffi, demonstrated that this Yezidi holy being was identical with the 12th-century Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir (1073–1160), a Sufi mystic of orthodox theological views, Arab origin, and Umayyad descent (Siouffi 1882). Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir arrived in the Kurdish foothills from the Bekaa valley (in today’s Lebanon), and in the valley of Lalish, not far from Mosul, he founded his own Sufi order, the al-Adawiyya, which was to have a curious future that its orthodox founder probably never dreamed of.6 Between the 12th and 15th centuries, the order gradually grew both increasingly heterodox and very popular among the Kurds (only partly Islamicized at

Ibn Mu‘āwiya in the Yazidi oral traditions was a stratagem used to escape the persecution inflicted upon them by identifying themselves with a Muslim personage such as Yazid Ibn Mu‘āwiya” (48–49.) Murad’s statement eloquently reflects the contemporary Yezidi attitude toward this myth or any myth featuring protagonists with Muslim names, as shall be seen below in this article. 4 In transcribing the names of Islamic personalities figuring in Yezidi mythology I have opted for following the forms used by Philip Kreyenbroek in his translations of Yezidi sacred texts. As the original texts were in Kurdish, rather than Arabic, the diacritical marks used for Arabic names have been dispensed with (as Kurdish written with Latin characters does not use these). Accordingly, I use diacritical marks only where Kurdish grammatical rules demand so. 5 He was seen as ultimately consubstantial with God; see below. 6 Tracing the beginnings of the Yezidi community to a 12th-century Sufi mystic and his order does not preclude accepting that many ideas, institutions, and rituals of the Yezidis may well be older.

Numen 65 (2018) 562–588 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:05:41PM via free access 566 Spät the time of Sheikh Adi’s arrival), not only in the immediate vicinity of Lalish,7 but across a much wider radius. According to the Sharafnâma, “Chronicle of the Kurds,” written by the emir of Bitlis in 1597, seven of the most power- ful Kurdish tribes were Yezidis during this period, and for a brief time in the 14th century Yezidism became the official religion of the principality of Jezire8 (Guest 1993: 45; Fuccaro 1999: 10). However, already soon after Sheikh Adi’s death, his successors came into conflict with the outside world as their political power grew and their religious stance became increasingly heterodox in the eyes of the representatives of “mainstream” Islam. The fourth leader of the order, Al-Hasan b. ‘Adi (Sheikh Hassan) was executed by the Zangid Atabeg of Mosul, Badr al-Din Lu’lu’, who probably felt threatened by the large number of Sheikh Hassan’s followers. Badr al-Din Lu’lu’ also ordered the execution of two hundred of the order’s followers and had Sheikh Adi’s bones burned (Kreyenbroek 1995: 31–32). More than a century later, in the year 1415, amid growing hostility between the followers of orthodox Islam and the Adawiyya order, a campaign was organized against the followers of Sheikh Adi.9 Many of them were massacred, Sheikh Adi’s tomb and sanctuary was destroyed, and “his bones” were burned once again. The “companions,” as they called themselves, soon rallied, rebuilt the sanctuary, and became sworn ene- mies of those “who bore the title of faqih” (Kreyenbroek 1995: 35).10 Al-Maqrizi, a 15th-century Egyptian historian, in his report of the events, speaks only of the excessive worship paid to the figure of Sheikh Adi and his descendants by followers of the Adawiyya order, and he even offers this extreme adoration as the explanation for why the order belittles the laws of sharia (and for sexual immorality). He makes no mention of devil-worship, and he sees the “companions” as Muslims who veered from the right road but hardly as adherents of a distinct religion (Kreyenbroek 1995: 34–35). The 16th century, when Kurdish-speaking territories came to be incorpo rated into a strong, and staunchly Sunni, Ottoman Empire, marks the beginnings of the gradual marginalization of Yezidis, as they came to be known (on account of their alleged devotion to Caliph Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya). We know from the Sharafnâma of Sharaf al-Dîn Bitlîsi, the prince of Bitlis, that the hey- day of the Yezidis had passed by then. Sadly, when describing the Yezidis in

7 This territory adjacent to the valley of Lalish is known today as the Sheikhan region (or “house of the Sheikhs” in reference to its many Yezidi shrines or sheikhs raised in honor of Yezidi holy beings). It is also referred to by Iraqi Yezidis as Welat, literally “homeland.” 8 Today’s Cizre in south-east Turkey. 9 Also known at the time as al-Sohbetiye, “the companions.” 10 Faqihs are experts in Islamic law, literally jurists; here, however, it probably refers to either Islamic authorities or orthodox followers of the sharia or Islamic law.

NumenDownloaded 65 from (2018) Brill.com10/02/2021 562–588 07:05:41PM via free access “Your Son Will Be the Scourge of Islam” 567 the Prologue to his work,11 all that Sharaf al-Dîn Bitlîsi has to say about their religious views is the following:

They are followers of Shaykh ‘Adi b. Musāfir … and ascribe themselves to him. Their wrongful belief is that Shaykh ‘Adi … ‘has done for us in his own days the requisite daily prayers and the fasting. Thus on the Day of Judgment, we will be taken into Paradise without being reproached or questioned.’ They bear unlimited animosity towards the exoteric ulema. Bitlîsi 2005: 36–38

The wording of the Sharafnâma makes it clear that in the 16th century, Yezidis were not yet considered kafirs, or unbelievers, and even less devil-worshippers, however outlandish some of their practices or beliefs may have been considered. Rather, they were simply seen as a group with heretical tendencies, pay- ing extreme veneration to their Sufi founder and caring little for the formal requirements of Islam or for the official representatives of what was considered “orthodox” Islam. The Sharafnâma (Bidlîs 1873: 68–69) also bears testi- mony to the fact that during the period of Ottoman conquest, Yezidi leaders were appointed to very high positions in the recently conquered territories. Sultan Selim the Grim, famed for his orthodoxy and persecution of the Shiites of Anatolia, made a Yezidi, Sheikh Izz ed-Din, the “emir of the Kurds” instead of the orthodox Qasim beg (who was executed due to the intrigues of the Yezidi chief) in the newly conquered district of Aleppo. Suleiman the Magnificent made another Yezidi, Hussein beg from the Daseni tribe, the governor of Erbil sanjak upon conquering Iraq (Bidlîs 1873: 68–69). These appointments indi- cate that in the first half of the 16th century, Yezidis must still have been seen as part of the Muslim (and possibly Sunni) community, for these sultans would not have elevated kafir Yezidi leaders to such high positions. A late 16th-century anti-Yezidi Fatwā by a certain Malā Sālih, identified as a Kurdish mufti by the editor of the text (Dehqan 2009: 149), contains an interesting piece of information. Arguing over the question of whether Yezidis are apostates who have left the righteous path or unbelievers (and eventually coming to the conclusion that it does not matter), the text asks: “Are they Muslims just because on the outside they outwardly show Islamic behaviour and pronounce the shahādatayn (i.e. the Islamic Creed)?” (150).12 If we can

11 The term “Yezidi” to denote the followers of Sheikh Adi seems to have been in use by the 16th century, as it can be found in anti-Yezidi texts; see below. 12 Otherwise the text is rather uninformative about the actual beliefs of the Yezidis, though it mentions that Yezidis are inimical toward the ulema, destroy Islamic books if they come

Numen 65 (2018) 562–588 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:05:41PM via free access 568 Spät trust our source, this would imply that the Yezidis of the time may still have considered themselves Muslims, given that they recited the shahada. At the same time, there were clearly voices that argued for their definite exclusion from the Muslim community. By the mid-17th century, the famous traveler and writer Evliya Chelebi refers to Yezidis as “godless” (Guest 1993: 50–51). He is also the first to mention that Yezidis would kill anyone who cursed Satan (which Muslims tended and still tend to interpret as a proof that Yezidis worship the devil). From the end of the seventeenth century on, Western missionaries and trav- elers routinely refer to Yezidis as devil-worshippers,13 an accusation that they no doubt learnt from the Muslim neighbors of the Yezidis. Their reports also make it clear that the relationship between the Yezidi and Muslim communities was tense, and neither side so much as suggested that Yezidis may in any way be connected to Islam. The 18th and 19th centuries saw the increased persecution of Yezidis, by this point generally labeled as kafirs and devil-worshippers.

3 Yezidi Sacred Hymns and the Figures of Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya, Muhammad, and Muʿāwiya

As we have seen, the appearance of Yezidism as a religious tradition clearly distinct and differentiated from Islam was the result of a long historical process over several centuries. Yezidi sacred texts still retain traces of the time when the break between the followers (and eventually adorers) of Sheikh Adi and Islam had not yet become final and absolute. Yezidi religious oral tradition is rich in Islamic, especially Sufi, imagery and language, and some of the myths have Islamic origins (Kreyenbroek 2005: 34–36). As Kreyenbroek writes:

It seems clear that the religious poems reflect a world-view in which the separation between Islam and Yezidism was not yet as absolute as is now the case. Rather than as a separate religion, the poems often represent the community faith as the true ‘Tradition’ [i.e. Sunna], whilst the sharia- based interpretation is depicted as heresy. Kreyenbroek 2005: 3414

into their hands, and prefer Sheikh Adi over the Prophet, considering him God or at least divine. 13 See, for example, Febvre (1682: 367–368), or the report sent by the head of the Carmelite and Franciscan missions in Aleppo (in Guest 1993: 56). 14 Elsewhere Kreyenbroek writes that the terminology Yezidi sacred texts employ “strongly suggest that an important part of the Qewl tradition goes back to a time when questions of

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Early Yezidis’ ambiguous attitude toward Islam, their sense that they represented the true (Sufi) Islam, or rather that they were superior to “mainstream” sharia-based Islam, which was hostile to them and their tenets, is reflected in the way some Islamic personages are treated in Yezidi religious oral tradition. This is best represented by the pseudo-biographical myth attributed to the second Umayyad caliph, Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya, who may have given Yezidis their name.15 While playing a central role in their mythology, the Yezidi figure of Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya in no way fits “mainstream” Islam but reflects instead the ethos of Yezidi religion. The Prophet Muhammad also appears in this myth, but as a secondary protagonist, whose real role is to highlight the superiority of Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya and his followers. Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya (or Yazīd I) is certainly a very controversial figure in Islamic history. The son and successor of Muʿāwiya I, the founder of the Umayyad caliphate, historically he was held responsible for the death of Husayn, son of Ali ibn Abi Talib, at the battle of Karbala in 680 ce. His name was also connected with the pillage and plunder of Medina (in the battle of al-Harrah) and the siege of Mecca, when the Kaaba was set on fire. Some sources, however, paint a far more positive picture of him. He was described in his own time as “extremely affable, quite devoid of conceit, loved by all those under his authority, hating the pomp of royalty, living like a private citizen” (Guest 1993: 12). He was known to enjoy music, arts, wine, and the company of poets. During the campaign against Constantinople, he composed a poem that describes a man yearning for a life filled with gentle contemplation, arts, and the pleasure of good wine and company,16 rather than the military arts: “Stretched softly upon rugs at Deir Morran, emptying the morning cup with Omm Kolthum beside me; What care I, forsooth, about the poxes and fevers that waste our troops at Chalcedon?” (Guest 1993: 11). Today his memory is cursed by the Shiites, who remember him as the murderer of Husayn and as a dissolute drunkard, while mainstream Sunnis take a rather cautious attitude toward him. “Yazeed is one of those whom we neither curse nor love,”

identity could still be meaningfully expressed in terms of Islamic discourse. On the other hand, some other passages clearly reflect a state of things in which Muslim were already perceived as the Other” (2005: 50). 15 The origin of the name Yezidi is uncertain. Some have connected it with their excessive respect for the Umayyad caliph, others think it may have been a contemptuous “nick- name” which eventually stuck, while Yezidis themselves claim it has nothing to do with Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya. Rather, they say, it is a shortened form for “ez Xwede dam” (I was created by God) and their proper name is “Ezdi/Ezidi” rather than Yezidi. 16 His reputation for drinking wine, a behavior hardly compatible with the rules of Islam, helped early Yezidis, who seem to have displayed antinomian tendencies, turn him into a figure representing Yezidis’ disdain for sharia-based Islam.

Numen 65 (2018) 562–588 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:05:41PM via free access 570 Spät as one Sunni webpage on Islam advises.17 However, in the Middle Ages there appears to have been people among the Sunni who considered Yazīd a righteous man and great leader, at the very least. According to Philip Kreyenbroek, “a movement known as the Yazīdiyya, which sympathized retrospectively with the Umayyad caliphs and in particular with Yazīd b. Muʿāwiya, was active in the Kurdish mountains before Shaykh ʿAdī b. Musāfir, who was of Umayyad descent, settled there some time before 505/1111” (Kreyenbroek 2002: 313). Kreyenbroek is of the opinion that the appellation “Yezidi” came to be asso- ciated with the followers of Sheikh Adi on account of his Umayyad origins. According to a contemporary source, Sheikh Hassan, a mid-13th century leader of the community, is said to have dispatched preachers to Hit and other towns along the Euphrates, where they urged the inhabitants to kill anyone who defamed the caliph Yazīd (Guest 1993: 26). Though whether this was a fact or just a calumny (given that the name of Yazīd had a negative connotation for most Muslims) is impossible to determine today. It is unlikely that we shall ever know the exact nature and extent of the relationship between those who were known as “the Yazīdiyya” before the advent of Sheikh Adi, and the Yezidis of later times. One thing is certain, however: in Yezidi mythology, the figure of Yazīd, or rather Êzî(d) is glorified as one of the founders of Yezidi religion, a Yezidi leader, and an incarnated divine power. He is a subverter of sharia, who instead brings true religion based on gnosis or ma’rifat (that is, direct knowledge of God). In the Yezidi myth, Muhammad himself appears as a prophet who foresees that one day his place will be taken by Êzîd bin Muʿawiya, as he is known in Kurdish, and Islam will be conquered by the followers of Êzîd. An account of the miraculous birth of Êzîd bin Muʿāwiya and the prophecy (uttered by no less a personage than the Prophet Muhammad himself) that he would one day be the scourge of Islam was first published in prose form by Lescot (1938: 60–64), who heard it from several Yezidi “lay” informants in Sinjar.18 In 2005, Philip Kreyenbroek included two far more detailed texts, “The Story of the Appearance of the Mystery of Ezi” (2005: 131–156) and the “Qewlê

17 http://islamqa.info/en/14007 last accessed May 10, 2017. See also https://notesonshiism. wordpress.com/2013/06/11/the-view-of-the-ulama-concerning-yazid-bin-muawiyah/ last accessed May 10, 2015. 18 Since oral tradition does not easily lend itself to formal religious education, such as prac- ticed, for example, in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, most Yezidi laymen do not know the sacred texts, though they may be familiar with what Kreyenbroek refers to as the “storyline” of myths, which they retell in shortened form. The task of memorizing and retelling sacred texts is performed by various religious experts, generally born into one of the so-called priestly castes.

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Mezin” or “Great Hymn” (2005: 157–172), in his book God and Sheikh Adi are Perfect, which contains a collection of Yezidi sacred texts and their English translation. The “Great Hymn” is composed of 117 stanzas, while the so-called “Story” is actually a mixture of prose and poem, that is, of chirok (story, myth) and qewl (hymn). These are, theoretically, two distinct genres within Yezidi oral tradition. Chiroks (literally “tales,” though in this case better translated as “myths”) are transmitted as storylines in free prose, while qewls (hymns) are — ideally — transmitted verbatim. In reality, the two genres are often mixed, as in this case. The “Great Hymn” and the “Story” essentially follow the same story line, with minor variations, while the much shorter and more concise version recounted by Lescot differs from them on several important points, though not in its general message. Lescot’s version starts by stating that Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya (spelled here as Moʿāwiyya) was an angel, saying “God decided to send down our angel Yazīd” (Lescot 1938: 60). In order to understand the significance of this appellation, it must be kept in mind that although Yezidis use the Arabic expression melek, or angel, Yezidi angels differ markedly from the way angels were perceived in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. While in the so-called Abrahamic religions angels, though placed higher in the religious hierarchy than humans, are still just created beings, in Yezidi mythology angels are emanations of the Godhead. They came into being at the beginning of creation, from the very light and essence of God, just “as a man kindles a candle from another candle” as the Black Book says (Ebied and Young 1972: 521).19 Thus, Yazīd is an incarnation of the divine essence.20 Lescot goes on to report that Moʿāwiyya was the treasurer of Muhammad. One day Muhammad was not feeling well; he had a headache. So, he asked Moʿāwiyya, who was a barber, to shave his head. Moʿāwiyya set to work, but by accident he cut the head of his master, and Muhammad started bleeding. Afraid that the blood would fall on the soil, he licked it. Muhammad asked him, “What have you done?” Moʿāwiyya answered, “I was afraid your blood would fall on the soil, so I licked it, because it is blessed.” “You have made a mistake that will have eternal consequences. You will beget a people who will fight mine and conquer them.” A horrified Moʿāwiyya promised never to marry. However, after some time passed, God sent a scorpion to bite Moʿāwiyya. Muhammad and his parents sent doctors to cure Moʿāwiyya. The doctors declared that he

19 On the Black Book see note 3. Another manuscript of the Black Book, translated by Isya Joseph (1909: 224) says “as one lights a light from another light.” 20 The same is true for some other, important Yezidi holy beings/human leaders, such as Sheikh Adi for example.

Numen 65 (2018) 562–588 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:05:41PM via free access 572 Spät had to marry or he would die. So, he married an 80-year-old spinster, a sister of Omar el Khattab,21 to make sure his marriage would be fruitless. He consum- mated the marriage (literally “knew her”), and on the morning of the wedding night she appeared as a young woman of 25. She soon conceived and gave birth to “our angel Yazīd,” who then went on to conquer the Muslims as predicted by Muhammad (Lescot 1938: 61). Lescot’s account continues with the story of how Êzi22 conquered Constantinople, a story that, according to Lescot, was widely known among the Yezidi of Sinjar. The (unsuccessful) siege of Constantinople, then the capital of the Byzantine Empire, by Yazīd I did indeed take place in 668–669 ce, but in this Yezidi myth it is retold as if Constantinople, and its ruler Constantin, had been Muslims at the time. Êzi camped in front of Constantinople — in the middle of the sea. The fish came to the top of the sea, so he could fix the ropes of the tents on their heads. A judge of sharia was sent to make him a Muslim. He called to Êzi from the other side of the sea that he wanted to see him. Êzi told him, “Say, with the permission of Sultan Êzi” (Lescot 1938: 62). The judge did so, and the sea became a solid road before his feet. He went to Êzi and told him to become a Muslim. Êzi replied, “You become a Yezidi” (62). The judge answered, “I would die before I abandoned the faith of Muhammad” (62). Êzi told the judge to take a cup (of wine)23 and put his finger in it, and then lick it. He did so, and then the sky opened up before him, and he saw Sheikh Adi on his throne (i.e., he received ma’rifat or gnosis and understood the true nature of the divine). He said thanks and danced in front of Êzi.24 The people of Constantinople saw this and said, “We sent the judge to Sultan Êzi to make him a Muslim. But look, but now he [the judge] is dancing for him” (63). They started throwing rocks at the judge, but when the rocks reached him, Êzi turned them into onions. The daughter of Constantin (referred to as Hejîya Sofiya) went to her father and told him, “A master has come to you, you have to cede him the throne” (63). Constantin would not hear of this. She said she would give proof, and then her father would have to cede the throne. She cooked

21 I. Umar, the second righteous caliph. 22 At this point, at the bottom of page 61, Lescot switches from the name Yazīd to Êzi. 23 Reference to the cup of wine is a common motif in Sufi literature. It is a symbol of divine intoxication bringing gnosis, esoteric knowledge beyond the confines of Sharia and text- based knowledge. 24 As a mark of his religious respect toward him. This may be a reference to the sema, or the Sufi ceremony that may include dancing. Yezidi religious leaders perform the sema evarî or Evening Dance, a decorous march in circles around a sacred candelabrum of fire (representing the sun/God) in the holy valley of Lalish on holy days. Among the Qadri dervishes of the Kurdish region ecstatic dancing is still an integral part of the sema.

NumenDownloaded 65 from (2018) Brill.com10/02/2021 562–588 07:05:41PM via free access “Your Son Will Be the Scourge of Islam” 573 three fish, put them in a jar, filled the jar with butter, and sent it to Êzi. Êzi sent the gift back to her. When Constantin opened the jar, there were three live fish swimming in clear water inside. Constantin’s daughter said, “You must cede your throne upon the order of the Lord of the Two Worlds. Your reign is over” (64). However, Constantin still refused to cede the throne to Êzi. Sultan Êzi made him go blind; then he prayed over him and gave him back his sight. He told Constantin, “If you want to cede the throne, cede it; if you will not cede it, I shall change you into stone in the name of the Lord of the Two Worlds” (64). Constantin then abandoned the throne and Sultan Êzi occupied it and ruled for 72 years. After 72 years he gave the throne to Osman Ciq,25 at the order of God. Sultan Êzi said to Osman Ciq: “O Osman Ciq, before a thousand becomes two thousand, if you issue a firman26 against my nation, I shall destroy you.”27 The story, as told by Lescot, seems to imply that some kind of inherent divine power or keramet, contained in the blood flowing from the head28 of Muhammad, was transferred to Muʿāwiya/Moʿāwiyya, and hence to his off- spring (Yazīd/Êzi, and by inference, to his followers, the Yezidis). This implies that the Yezidi myth of Êzîd bin Muʿawiya accepts the Muslim claim that Muhammad was indeed a prophet, a chosen one of God, who possessed a special power. However, it asserts the superiority of Êzîd bin Muʿawiya and his religion by stating that they are the true inheritors of the divine power origi- nally possessed by Muhammad. Thus, Muhammad is no longer the Seal of the Prophets; rather, he is the forerunner of Êzîd. He passes on his power to Êzîd, and even prophesies the eventual rise and victory of Êzîd and his people. When Êzîd comes along, he indeed proves himself victorious over Islam, not because of his military might (as Muslim conquerors are remembered), but through his miraculous power. It is not quite clear why Constantinople was chosen to exemplify his conquest of Islamic lands, but it is possible that as the capital of the Ottoman Empire and of the Ottoman caliphate (both still within living memory when Lescot collected this myth) it symbolized Islam

25 Lescot’s footnote (1938: 64 n.5) says: the personification of the Ottoman Empire. 26 Literally, if you edit a decree. However, Yezidis use the word firman in the sense of “pogrom,” an attack on the community. 27 The rest of the text contains a description of an apocalypse, which does not concern us here. 28 It is worth noting that sur, or divine light/power/mystery, which is the shared essence of God, his Angels, and the incarnated holy beings, is often said to shine on the forehead of Yezidi holy beings (Spät 2010: 111–123). This motif actually appears in the “Great Hymn” and the “Chirok,” see below. Adam also carried the sur, representing the essence of one of the Great Angels, on his forehead while in Paradise (Spät 2008a: 664–665; 2013: 34, 41).

Numen 65 (2018) 562–588 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:05:41PM via free access 574 Spät itself.29 More interesting is the “subversion” and intoxication of the judge, the upholder of Islamic laws (which strictly forbid wine as a sin), and his reception of true, esoteric religious knowledge. After having tasted the wine, the judge sees Sheikh Adi (here clearly identified with God) on his heavenly throne, and then dances for Êzîd, showing that he accepts Êzîd not only as his religious leader, but even as a being of divine nature, whom he is ready to worship. In other words, Êzîd’s mission is to abolish the legalistic, sharia-based form of Islam and replace it with a more spiritual religion based on divine revelation and esoteric knowledge (that is, Sufism, or rather what is referred to as “intoxicated Sufism”). This latter theme, the subversion of sharia, appears in far more elaborate detail in the longer, “learned” versions of the myth, recited by religious experts and published by Kreyenbroek. The “Great Hymn” and the “Story” ascribes much less relevance to Muhammad,30 though they certainly describe him as one who has the ability to foresee the future. This version does not refer to the drop of blood or the implied passing of divine power from Muhammad to Muʿawiya. It merely says that one day Muhammad told Muʿawiya, “You will marry and God will give you a son: he will be the scourge of Islam.” Thereupon Muʿawiya swore never to marry, but eventually, after being stung by a scorpion, he was forced to take a wife, so he took Umar’s aged sister. The story unfolds from here in a familiar vein: “Old age makes her hands, legs and head shake; She has no strength left and is past childbearing … She was an old woman of ninety years; The next morning they got up and she was a virgin of fourteen” (Kreyenbroek 2005: 143). She soon becomes pregnant, but the people of Syria warn Muʿawiya of his oath to Muhammad, so Muʿawiya decides to send his pregnant wife, Mehwer, away.31 His servants take her into the desert and abandon her there, saying, “Look, this woman is going to have this child, and it will mean the end of the Islamic religion, but if we abandon her here in the desert, perhaps a pack of wolves will attack and eat her” (144). However, Mehwer finds her way to the city of Basra, where she is first seen by the daughter of the Judge of Basra, who was in the habit of performing her prayers (to Tawusi Melek)32 in high places, in the hope that her eyes would see the divine Mystery or sur when

29 The name Constantinople was in use until the establishment of the Turkish Republic in the 20th century. 30 The basic storyline of the “Great Hymn” and the “Story” are the same, though some details differ. In the following I shall combine the two texts for simplicity’s sake. 31 According to the Great Hymn, Muʿawiya recognized the presence of mystery (see below) in his wife’s body when she became pregnant and was overcome with fear. 32 The Peacock Angel, leader of the Seven Great Angels of the Yezidis, and ultimately consubstantial with the Godhead. Yezidis say they are the people of the Peacock Angel.

NumenDownloaded 65 from (2018) Brill.com10/02/2021 562–588 07:05:41PM via free access “Your Son Will Be the Scourge of Islam” 575 it arrived. One evening “she saw a woman riding on a camel. And she saw that a light shone from the woman’s head. The girl said: ‘Believe me, if the Mystery about whom I am making inquiries and whom I am waiting for and seeking, exists, then it is with that woman’ ” (144). The mysterious light (nûr) that the daughter of the judge of Basra sees on Mehwer’s forehead and recognizes as the Mystery, or sur, refers to the divine essence possessed by all the Great Angels who emanated from the Godhead and then eventually became incarnated on earth in human forms as the leaders of the Yezidis. The world sur comes from Sufi sirr, where it meant (divine) “mystery” or “secret” hidden from those unworthy of knowing it. As a mystery, it referred to the substance of God’s grace, and approaching this mystery was a kind of gnosis for the Sufi (Esposito 2003: 297; Amir-Moezzi 2004: 752–753). In contemporary Yezidi usage, however, people understand sur to mean nûr, that is, light, adding that it is the light of God. During my fieldwork among the Yezidis of Iraqi Kurdistan, some people added to the explanation of sur as “light” that it is the “power of God” (quwet, qudret), and occasionally “miraculous power” (keramet), and one even mentioned “spirit” in English when trying to define sur. Yezidi sacred texts make it clear that the Great Angels of God were created from, or rather emanated forth from, this sur, or divine essence.33 What is more, according to one of my informants, in the Yezidi folktales he heard as a child,34 the khās, or Yezidi holy beings, and sometimes even ordi- nary heroes were described with light shining from their forehead. It is this divine sur or light which shines forth from Mehwer carrying Ezi in her womb.35 The “Great Hymn” even adds, albeit in rather obscure language, that thanks to the presence of Ezid and his mother in Damascus, the city had been filled with light, but when Mehwer was forced to leave, the city became dark.36 Thus, the text implies that Yazīd, or as he is referred to in the “Great Hymn,” Sultan Ezi,37

33 The Seven Great Angels are in fact often simply referred to as “Heft Sur” (“Seven Sur”). See also note 28. 34 Telling tales was once a popular leisure activity. Another informant remembered how his aunt used to tell long tales which took several nights to tell and neighbors came to listen. Sadly, television has now completely replaced these old tales, and people who used to tell them are either gone or refuse to tell the tales, saying that they have forgotten them. 35 Concerning the possible historical connection between the Yezidi sur and the Islamic concept of the “nūr Muhammad,” or “light of Muhammad,” the primordial luminous substance of Muhammad that shone as a blaze of light on the forehead of his forebears from Adam on, see Rubin 1975: 62–119; 1979: 41–65; Spät 2010: 166. 36 “Muʿawiya acted at once; He took Sultan Ezi’s mother out of that city; Thanks to them there had been light (there), (but) it became dark. Thanks to them it is dark; One would know what that means: The cause is Sultan Ezi’s mother” (Kreyenbroek 2005: 158). 37 Kreyenbroek writes Êzî in Kurdish, but gives Ezi(d) in the English translation.

Numen 65 (2018) 562–588 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:05:41PM via free access 576 Spät is far more than a mere prophet or religious leader. He is the earthly manifes- tation of divine power, from whom the mysterious light of the Godhead, the sur, shines forth. In fact, several of my informants claimed that Sultan Êzî was in effect one of the names of God: Sultan Êzî navê Xwedê ye, “Sultan Ezi is the name of God.”38 The subsequent part of Ezi’s life story focuses on Ezi’s triumph over sharia- based Islam. The newborn Ezi, whose birth is accompanied by miracles in Basra, is taken in and brought up by the Judge of Basra. However, on reaching the age of seven or eight, he starts asking about his father, and when he learns the truth he sets out for Damascus, the seat of the caliph Muʿawiya, to confront his father. When he reaches the gates of Damascus, he sends his dog (an ani- mal considered unclean by many Muslims) to go to the Friday sermon at the mosque and tell Muʿawiya to come and see him. Muʿawiya, when he hears the dog speaking in the mosque, is overcome with trepidation and refuses to go and see the strange horseman, sending messengers instead. However, Ezi turns each pair of messengers sent by Muʿawiya into stone. Muʿawiya then states, “An immaculate Sultan is about to appear; His name will be remembered in this world and these lands” (Kreyenbroek 2005: 162, 148), and then he goes with his whole court to greet the stranger, enquiring after his name. Ezi answers then, not only identifying himself as Muʿawiya’s son, but also effectively declaring his divine nature as well as his mission to abrogate and supersede sharia-based Islam. “I am light, my essence is light; I make the cup go round, (full) of pure wine;39 It has been promised that, in the city of Damascus I shall abrogate; Writing, books, tracts and scriptures” (Kreyenbroek 2005: 149).

38 Layard already reports that a qewwal, that is a Yezidi singer of sacred hymns, asserted that the ancient Yezidi name for God was “Azed” (quoted by Ainsworth 1861: 41.) The description of Sultan Êzîd/Ezi in the hymns also implies this identification. The Hymn of Sheykh Erebeg Entûsh opens with the words “My King you are the perfect one; O Sultan Êzîd, peace be upon you” (Kreyenbroek 1995: 275). The term “King” (padşa), just as Sultan, is one of the terms used to refer to God in Yezidi hymns. Sultan Êzîd is also called the “Yezidi faith” and “Yezidis’ religion” in the Hymn of The Mill of Love 31 (Kreyenbroek 2005: 384). In The Hymn of Sheykh Obekr he is not only described as a King, yet again, but the Seven Angels are also called the Seven Angels/Mysteries of Sultan Êzîd, under his command (Kreyenbroek 1995: 211). The Hymn of the Faith (Kreyenbroek 2005: 83–89) depicts his role as the creator in the creation of the world. Also in The Hymn of the Black Ferqan Sultan Êzî appears as someone who already existed before the foundation of the world, before the angels and holy beings (Kreyenbroek 2005: 97). Yezidi children are baptized at the White Spring in his name (Kreyenbroek 1995: 159) and at circumcision the boy undergoing the ritual also says “I am the lamb of the Red Sultan Êzîd (Kreyenbroek 1995: 96). 39 On the symbolism of the cup of wine, see above note 24.

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Ezi’s mother is brought from Basra and they move to Muʿawiya ’s court, but trouble, or rather the confrontation between Ezi and the text- and sharia- based Islam of the local notables soon becomes inevitable. The judges go to the mother of Ezi (who, we must keep in mind, is still a child) and chide her: “Madam, you have a son who is arrogant and mad; how can that be? Let mullahs come and bring the Quran and teach him the knowledge of the Quran, so he will become a bit more docile and sensible” (Kreyenbroek 2005: 149). Ezi’s mother answers, “My Ezid is himself the Sultan; He has no need of the knowledge of the Quran” (150, 163). The judges start expounding the Quran. However, as they belong to different schools of Islam their interpretations differ, while “Sultan Ezi has expounded the four (Schools) together,” leaving the judges stupefied at the knowledge of a mere child. At this point, the victorious Ezi, clearly seeking confrontation with the orthodox establishment, declares wine lawful.40 “Sultan Ezi announced thus: in my opinion wine is lawful; Oh Friends drink up, it is part of your duty. He gathered a handful of friends and gave them wine to drink, saying, ‘Enjoy it’” (150). “These holy men of Sultan Ezi’s assembly; Had bottles and golden flasks; The cup of pure wine went round and round” (164). The outraged sharia judges make Muʿawiya expel his son from the court, who then takes up lodgings in the house of a local dyer. Ezi soon discloses his divine nature when he tells the dyer to dip his spool in a pot of paint, and the spool reappears displaying a thousand and one colors,41 making the dyer cry out as he recognizes that he is in the presence of the sur or divine mystery. Soon, someone reports to Muʿawiya that his son is in the dyer’s house, and he orders him to throw out Ezi. The dyer first refuses to do so, saying, “He is my King of the religion and of the hereafter; To him I bow in prayer and unto him I fulfil my religious duties. How can I tell Sultan Ezi to end his companionship?” (152). However, when Muʿawiya threatens him, “I shall send an order (to punish) you; So that you will neither have a place on earth or in heaven” (152), the dyer is forced to ask Ezi to leave his house. Ezi repeats his statement that he has come to abrogate all writings and scriptures, seizes

40 Whether the original composer of the hymn was referring to real wine, or wine merely serves as a symbol for the intoxication brought on by esoteric knowledge, we shall never know. But Yezidis today certainly interpret the text to refer to real wine, and in the Yezidi community alcohol is consumed freely (though only by the men, and preferred drinks are beer, arak, and whiskey, rather than wine, which is hardly ever served). 41 For a Yezidi audience, the image of “thousand and one colors” would evoke the image of the cosmic White Pearl that exploded into countless colors at the beginning of creation, at the wish of God. God also has a thousand and one names, there is even a hymn called The Hymn of the Thousand and One Names, which starts with “My King has a thousand and one names” (Kreyenbroek 2005: 74).

Numen 65 (2018) 562–588 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:05:41PM via free access 578 Spät a bunch of grapes, goes to the spring of Damascus, and puts the grapes under a stone there. Instantly the river of Damascus flows with wine, and the whole town soon becomes inebriated. “What a wine! Any creature that drinks a little of it; Gives his life and his house for it” (153). The judges who condemned Ezi go to the assembly of Ezi and see their young, virgin daughters dancing there. When they return home ready to kill them, they find them at home placidly doing housework and claiming not to have ever left the house. The judges and nobles go to Muʿawiya again, tearing the front of their shirts, demanding that he make Ezi disappear. Led by Muʿawiya, they decide to throw Ezi into the sea and proceed to the seashore. Ezi takes his friends away and sets up his tent in the middle of the sea,42 where they continue drinking. A sharia judge takes it upon himself to talk with Ezi and “bring him back to the faith,” but he does not dare to enter the water. Ezi tells him, “Say ‘By the power of God and Sultan Ezi.’” The judge obeys, and the whales of the sea put their backs together and form a bridge for him. When the judge reaches Ezi, he starts berating the young man for drinking wine. Ezi offers to give him a little wine, the size of his nail. If he drinks it, he can tell Ezi whether to drink or not. Ezi puts a little wine on his nail, the judge tastes it and cries out in rapture that it is lawful (helal). He suddenly sees that Ezi’s clothes are made of light (that is, he sees his divine nature). He tears up all his papers (i.e., legal tracts), throws them into the sea, and starts dancing naked as a member of the group of friends at Ezi’s feast. Learning this, Caliph Muʿawiya finally gives up and begs his son to leave the river of Damascus to water alone; then he will give Ezi Damascus (that is, the caliphate.) Ezi accepts the bargain: “By the power of the Merciful One he made the river of Damascus return to its previous condition; Sultan Ezi ac- cepted the taxes of the city of Damascus as his property” (156). The role given to Muhammad in this version is much more limited than in the “popular” version quoted by Lescot. There is no mention of the drop of his blood which symbolizes that he may indeed have possessed some form of divine power or keramet, which he then passed on to Ezi. But the figure of Muhammad is still used to introduce that of Ezi,43 and there can be little doubt that the author of the text(s) still considered Muhammad a prophet, even if not the “Seal of Prophets.” After all, he possessed the ability to foresee the future and the eventual rise of Ezi and his religion. The main theme here is the clash between sharia-based “orthodox” Islam, and a more spiritual, Sufi-like

42 Cf. the siege of Constantinople in Lescot’s account above. 43 Which implies that this version may be built on the notion that the audience is familiar with the story of the incident of Muhammad’s blood.

NumenDownloaded 65 from (2018) Brill.com10/02/2021 562–588 07:05:41PM via free access “Your Son Will Be the Scourge of Islam” 579 interpretation of Islam, the real Sunna or Tradition, as Yezidi sacred hymns repeatedly refer to themselves. The central motifs are wine and Ezi’s claim that he came to abrogate “books and writings,” that is, a faith that is based on the letters of law rather than on the spirit. The motif of wine and (spiritual) inebri- ation clearly indicates that whoever composed these sacred texts held similar views of Islam and religion as the so-called “intoxicated Sufis,” like Mansur al- Hallaj and Beyazid Bastami, who had become symbols of devout antinomi- anism within mystical Islam by the 12th century (and who are, incidentally, also referred to in Yezidi sacred texts). The two motifs become intertwined in the culmination of the story, when the sharia judge, having just tasted a drop of the divine wine (that is, having attained real gnosis which liberates from the material world), renounces his sharia-based faith in favor of a more spiritual path and becomes an initiate of Ezi’s mystery, thus fulfilling Muhammad’s prophesy to Muʿawiya that his son will be a scourge of Islam.

4 What’s in a Name? Islamic Figures and Yezidis Today

Centuries must have passed since the genesis of this Yezidi myth, and Yezidis no longer consider themselves a superior, spiritual path within Islam. Rather, Islam has become for them the embodiment of the inimical Other who has persecuted them relentlessly since time immemorial. The primary corner- stone of modern Yezidi identity construction involves seeing themselves as the eternal victims of Islam44 and in eternal opposition to it.45 It is little wonder therefore that in today’s Yezidi discourse Muhammad has lost all claims to being a prophet (let alone being the carrier of any divine spark in his blood). As Yezidis repeatedly told me during my fieldwork, “We respect all prophets, except Muhammad” (meaning: we respect all other religions, be it Christianity, Judaism, or some other, except Islam). These days, Yezidis draw on the counter-biographies current among their Christian neighbors when portraying Muhammad, which emphasize that Muhammad was a false prophet. One high-ranking Yezidi religious leader depicted Muhammad as someone who learnt all he knew from a Christian

44 This was the general attitude already prior to the attack of ISIS, and a much-repeated sentiment was their fear of Islam and how Muslims want to destroy them. 45 While several Yezidis with some education referred to themselves as “Sofis” (Sufis), it is unclear how far they are aware that (with the exception of the followers of some extreme Islamist movements) Sufism is generally considered an integral part of Islam.

Numen 65 (2018) 562–588 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:05:41PM via free access 580 Spät priest. After he had written down the whole Quran, which he had heard from the priest, he threw his teacher into a well. This is why even today Muslim pilgrims to Mecca throw stones into a well. The notion that Muhammad acquired his religious knowledge from a Christian monk (alternatively referred to as Baḥira and Sergius) is a well-attested story that can be found in many medieval Christian sources, both Syriac and Western (Rogemma 2009). Some versions of the story even claim that Muhammad murdered his teacher so that he could claim to be the sole author of the Quran, or rather that he could claim that he received it from an angel (Rogemma 2009: 189–196). Even the motif of the well is attested in some sources.46 Other Yezidis talked about how in fact Muhammad was a magician or sorcerer who tricked people, a notion that undoubtedly goes back to similar Christian sources.47 The stance of modern Yezidis toward Muhammad was well demonstrated in a curious story that was making the rounds in the fall of 2011 among the Yezidis of the Duhok district (in Northern Iraq) about a Muslim girl who died, but then came back to life. After her resurrection, she gave an account of her experi- ences on the other side, where she saw Jesus, Moses, and the Peacock Angel in heaven, but no sign, Yezidis said with glee, of Muhammad. I heard several variants of the story, though the point was always the same. Here I reproduce the version told to me by a middle-aged woman whom I met in a shared taxi travelling to a Yezidi village, as her description of what allegedly happened was very vivid and reflected broader Yezidi attitudes toward Islam and the prophet Muhammad.

46 According to these, the Prophet, wishing to trick the people, calls them together, saying that a cow will miraculously arrive with the Quran on its horns. “The magic of the moment is reinforced by a mysterious angelic voice proclaiming that everyone should believe in Muhammad. The voice really comes from a well, in which the monk is hiding. After the Qu’ran has been brought by the cow, Muhammad decides to sanctify the miraculous well immediately. He tells his people that it should not be used any longer and that everyone should throw a stone into the well. Unknowingly the people kill the monk and all traces of the author of the Qu’ran are thus wiped out” (Rogemma 2009: 194–195). It is likely that this story was inspired by the ritual of stoning of Satan (throwing pebbles at three pillars) during Hajj. 47 Though the assertion of a Yezidi woman that Muhammad wrote the Quran backward in order to create black magic, reflects Muslim influence as well, as this is how harmful amulets are said to be created by Muslim mullahs and sheikhs. It is rumored that some Yezidis approach Muslims to obtain such amulets.

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The girl died and people came together for the funeral, including some Yezidi kerifs48 of the family, who witnessed the event. They washed the body, wound it in the white shroud, lowered it in the grave and the mullah said the prayers over it, when the girl suddenly moved and called out, “Come, take me out, I am not dead.” People asked her what she saw when she was dead: “I went and found myself in a diwan [royal council, assembly] in the other world. I saw Jesus, Moses, and the Peacock Angel sitting at the diwan. They called to me, ‘Come, girl; tell us what religion you are.’ I said to them, ‘I am a Muslim.’ They said, ‘Muslim is not a religion.’ They said, ‘Who said Muslim is a religion?’ They said to me, ‘Go and return to that world, go and return, and tell them Muhammad is not a religion.’ They said, ‘Muhammad is not a religion.’” The girl told people what she had heard, and as a consequence her family murdered her and hid the body.49 But a Christian put her story on Facebook.50 This happened not long ago, two months ago.

However, it is not only the figure of Muhammed that fared badly over the centuries and came to be excluded from the line of those who may lay claim to having brought a true religious message to the people. The far more important and popular figure of Yazīd/Êzîd bin Muʿawiya, though once venerated as a divine being with his own sacred hymn extolling his deeds (the Great Hymn), is rejected by some these days. His rejection is part of the ongoing scripturalization of Yezidi religious oral tradition.51 This process of scripturalization entails not only collecting and writing down oral texts and creating a written corpus, but also the ways in which this corpus is then handled. Educated Yezidis who have everyday contact with non-Yezidis (Muslims or Christians) aim to “modernize” or rather to reconstruct the Yezidi belief system in such a way that it conforms to the (perceived) expectations of outsiders and also to their recently acquired

48 The kerif is present at the circumcision of a boy and undertakes to protect and help the boy for the rest of his life. The institution of kerif creates very close bonds between families, and Yezidi families often have Muslim kerifs, which traditionally has helped inter- community relations and meant a certain modicum of protection for Yezidis vis-à-vis the dominant Muslims. 49 Other people said that she was not killed, just hidden by her family, so she would not meet people. 50 The woman herself clearly was not a user of Facebook or the internet, but at the time Facebook was already very popular among the younger generation, who were all setting up their own pages. It must be added that Yezidis usually use Facebook for sharing pic- tures rather than reading material. 51 On the process of scripturalization see Spät 2008b.

Numen 65 (2018) 562–588 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:05:41PM via free access 582 Spät knowledge of history, science, and philosophy. This process of reconstruction includes what may best be called the “purification” of the Yezidi religion of elements perceived as extraneous, that is, of Islamic origin. They argue that such “foreign” Islamic motifs were added to the “original,” “pure” Yezidi religion, either to mislead the Muslims as a form of self-defense or as a result of aggres- sive Muslim proselytizing. Naturally, such “purification” is not really feasible, as Yezidi religion was too deeply influenced by Islam to prune away everything even nominally Islamic and still retain a working, intelligible tradition. Thus, the purification process is superficial at best, and it is often aimed at the softest targets: Islamic names.52 Unfortunately for Êzîd, the holy being who was born to be the scourge of Islam and to abrogate its books and laws, it is his very name (and its connection to the Umayyad caliphs) that endangers his position these days in Yezidi mythology. In fact, the figure of Êzîd/Yazīd bin Muʿwiya is doubly embarrass- ing for some Yezidis, because his name was a tool used by Saddam Hussein and the Ba’ath party in an attempt to “Arabize” Yezidis in their quest for the creation of a monolithic Iraqi identity. Ba’athist propaganda emphasized Yezidis’ presumed link with the Umayyad dynasty through Êzîd/Yazīd bin Muʿāwiya,53 and thus the Yezidis’ “Arab origin.”54 While the ethnic identity of the Yezidi community as a whole should be seen as rather fluid and uncertain, the fact

52 Thus, for example, I was told by several people that the Shrine of Sheikh Muhammad in Beshiqe was in reality dedicated to Angel Sheikh Sin (one of the Seven Great Angels) or to Swarê Bozê (the Rider/Knight of Boz — Boz being the horse of Angel Sheikh Sin according to some) but its name was changed to sheikh Muhammad to protect it against Muslims during some ferman (attack, pogrom) against Yezidis. 53 The figure of Sheikh Adi is similarly problematic. Some attempt to explain it away by saying that he was not an Arab at all, even less an Umayyad, but a Kurd whose family moved to Syria. Others say that he was merely a reformer of a pre-Islamic Yezidi religion. Some of the least religious and “most Kurdish” even talk about Sheikh Adi as an Arab Muslim who corrupted Yezidi religion (see Spät 2008b: 399). However, while many traditional Yezidis would not hear a word against Sheikh Adi, Êzîd/Yazīd ibn Mu‘āwiya’s connection to Islam and the Umayyad caliphate is far more obvious than that of Sheikh Adi, and his figure is less central, making him easier to dispense with. 54 Yezidis were automatically ascribed the ethnic status of Arabs in their documents, despite the fact that most of the community is Kurdish-speaking. At the same time, it must be mentioned that Saddam did not suppress Yezidi religion itself, despite what may today be read in some publications (for example, Anon 2005; Barned-Smith 2014; Thomas 2007; Ketz 2005). Being persecuted for their religion under Saddam is now part of the official Yezidi discourse, but during my fieldwork I have found that this was not the case. While Yezidis were targets of forced Arabization, Yezidi religion itself was not persecuted. Yezidis were officially registered as such under the “religion” rubric in their identity papers. What is more, Yezidis were given certain privileges in the army (leave on Yezidi holidays, permission to keep a beard for those belonging to certain castes, etc.) and Yezidi

NumenDownloaded 65 from (2018) Brill.com10/02/2021 562–588 07:05:41PM via free access “Your Son Will Be the Scourge of Islam” 583 is that most educated Yezidis of the emerging middle class tend to identify with the Kurdish cause and see themselves as Kurds (though radically different from Muslim Kurds, who they regard as having “abandoned” their true faith). Therefore, any connection with a figure who would tie them to the Arab Umayyads and make them ethnically Arab is unacceptable not only on religious but also on nationalist-political grounds. Accordingly, Êzîd bin Muʿawiya, the scourge of Islam, is today being summarily repudiated, along with his myth, by most educated middle-class Yezidis from the Kurdistan region, who seem more concerned with the name’s historical connections than with the actual content and message of the Yezidi myth.55 The most forgiving of those who were opposed to Êzîd bin Muʿawiya and his myth was A. Kh.,56 a middle-aged man, who was a great collector of Yezidi texts and used to be a teacher at the special school set up for Yezidi children’s religious education in Behzani.57 He was of the opinion that the Great Hymn itself was an authentic hymn, but the name of Yazīd/Êzîd was inserted into it later on by Muslims. Others were less lenient. The Great Hymn was declared a “forgery” by a young university graduate, who was at the time an editor of the Yezidi periodical Laliş and wrote articles on the faith of the Yezidis.58 He claimed that the hymn was the product of attempts on the part of Yezidis to placate Muslims by inserting the name of a Muslim personage, the second Umayyad caliph, into their traditions. Neither of my informants seemed to recall that Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya has ever enjoyed a very good reputation among most Muslims, or that the hymn is built exactly on his reputation as a drunkard with no respect for the sharia. In fact, the role attributed to him in the Great Hymn, as someone who not only mocks but even abolishes Islamic sharia, and rejects the Quran and other writings of Islam, an essentially text-based religion, could have hardly warmed any Muslim heart toward the Yezidis.

guards were the ones most trusted by Baathist officers — as Yezidis proudly told me. This cannot be publicly acknowledged today. 55 Traditional Yezidis (mostly from the Sinjar) still accept the personage of Êzîd bin Muʿawiya as a Yezidi holy being with his own myth. 56 All informants have been anonymized in accordance with standard anthropological protocol. 57 Locals in the village directed me to him as “someone to ask about Yezidi religion.” A great part of his knowledge of Yezidi lore actually came from publications rather than from traditional oral sources. 58 Laliş, appearing four times a year, contains Yezidi sacred texts as well as various articles on Yezidi religion, customs, and history.

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Sheikh D., a well-known religious expert in the collective village of Khanke,59 and a much-respected member of the Lalish Cultural Center,60 also dismissed Êzîd bin Muʿawiya’s story as an authentic Yezidi myth on the grounds that this was simply a chirok (tale, myth, story), and it had no hymn, or qewl. The sentiment that qewls are older and more sacred than the chiroks, or even that only qewls are sacred and “authentically Yezidi,” and chiroks are just tales, or at best merely historical accounts of events, is shared today by many (especially school-educated) Yezidis. This idea is probably based on the fact that qewls are transmitted verbatim, imbuing them with an aura of great antiquity, and that they are performed during important rituals. In reality, no such distinc- tion can be made. Chiroks often contain motifs predating Islam, while the language of the qewls, as said above, shows strong Sufi influence, and both genres are equally important constituents of Yezidi religious tradition. In any case, the story of Êzîd bin Muʿawiya has its own qewl, the Qewlê Mezin, or “Great Hymn,” a fact that Sheikh D., as an expert and collector of Yezidi sacred texts should have been aware of, but probably chose to ignore. Sheikh K., a local representative of the Kurdistan Democratic Party with a deep interest in Yezidi and Kurdish history,61 was adamant that “Êzîd bin Muʿawiya was not a Yezidi. We existed already before Êzîd; we existed thou- sands of years before Êzîd.” However, he admitted that Êzîd did figure in Yezidi chirok. He then went on to recount the historical conflict between Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muʿāwiya over the title of the caliph, and the story of Karbala. When asked specifically about the chirok of Êzîd, he admitted to being familiar with the story of how Muʿāwiya licked the blood of the Prophet Muhammad, and knew that Yezidis were telling this story, but he insisted that this was not a genuine Yezidi myth.

59 Sheikh is an inherited position among Yezidis, and sheikhs are often compared to a priestly caste. As some rituals (connected with birth, marriage, death) can only be performed by members of the priestly castes (sheikhs and pîrs), they are generally seen as more knowl- edgeable than commoners on religious matters. 60 The Lalish Cultural Center or Bingehê Laliş is a state-supported (or party-supported, as in the ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party) cultural institution that is one of the driving forc- es behind the conscious modernization and scripturalization of Yezidi religion. Sheikh D., just like A. Kh., also collected Yezidi texts, which he transcribed in exercise-books. 61 While not specifically known as an expert of sacred texts, unlike A. Kh., or Sheikh D., he was still known for his interest in reading books and articles about Yezidis and related subjects. He was also a local representative of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, and given to emphasizing that Yezidis were the “real Kurds” who remained faithful to the “original Kurdish religion.”

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Yezidis say this, but I don’t believe it. I just cannot get my head around it. We have no connection whatsoever with Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya. Yezidis who say he was Yezidi do not know anything. He was a Muslim; we are Yezidis. Our language is Kurdish. Our religion is Kurdish;62 we have no connection with Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya. Even our languages are different. They speak Arabic, and we speak Kurdish.

He then returned once again to Ali and Muʿāwiya and the Sunni-Shiite conflict. It was clear that the only thing that mattered to him was to distance Yezidis from a figure who was known in history books as a Muslim, related to Muhammad, and an Arab. The message of the myth of how Muʿāwiya’s proge- ny inherited the power inherent in the blood of the Prophet Muhammad, then subverted Islam, or at least sharia, was plainly lost on him. What mattered was the name itself and the connection it implied between Yezidis and Islam.

5 Conclusion

The al-Adawiyya Sufi order, founded by Sheikh Adi ibn Misafir in the Kurdish mountains, soon left the path set by its orthodox founder.63 As it incorporated more and more pre-Islamic elements into its system, it became increasingly alienated from “mainstream” Islam. What was first a Sufi order’s preference for the spiritual quest of divinely inspired gnosis over the narrow-minded, legalistic interpretation of Islam, eventually turned into an outright (and reciprocated) hostility toward sharia and its representatives. The myth of Êzîd bin Muʿawiya reflects a stage in the development of Yezidism when sharia- based Islam and its representatives had already become the inimical Other, but Yezidism was still close enough to its Sufi roots to be able to appropriate easily a well-known Islamic personage of ambivalent reputation and transform him into a Yezidi figure. The Caliph Yazīd’s reputation as someone given to a lax life- style and the enjoyment of wine despite the explicit ban of alcohol in sharia, and possibly even his attacks on the holy places of Mecca and Medina, made him the ideal person for the role of a Yezidi holy being who came to triumph over the sharia-based interpretation of Islam. As we have seen, ultimately the figure of Êzîd bin Muʿawiya as depicted in the Yezidi myth has little to do with

62 This refers both to Yezidism being the original Kurdish religion and to the fact that Yezidi sacred texts are composed in Kurdish. 63 In Syria and Egypt, and possibly in Persia, it continued to exist as a “regular” Sufi order for centuries (Lescot 1938: 31; Kreyenbroek 2005: 29).

Numen 65 (2018) 562–588 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 07:05:41PM via free access 586 Spät the historical Umayyad caliph; rather, he is a quintessentially Yezidi figure. He is an incarnation of the sur, the divine light or mystery emanating from God. His mission is to subvert sharia through the power of divine intoxication and to ridicule its upholders, the sharia judges.64 His eventual triumph over his own father, the Caliph Muʿawiya, is meant to symbolize that Yezidi religion, which is seen as based on divinely inspired gnosis rather than soulless laws, is superior (though not unrelated) to the sharia-based Islam professed by the mindless masses. The seemingly strange and senseless incident of Muʿawiya shaving Muhammad and licking his blood demonstrates the ambivalent connection between Islam and early Yezidis. It allows for the fact that Muhammad was indeed a prophet, but asserts that he lost the divine substance to the off- spring of Muʿawiya, Yazīd/Êzîd and to his followers, the Yezidis. Today, however, when most Yezidi people can no longer interpret the sym- bolical language of the myth, and there is a conscious drive to purify Yezidism, the “original Kurdish religion,” of all “foreign elements,” namely, of Islamic and Arabic “insertions,” many modern Yezidis summarily reject the myth of Yazīd/ Êzîd. His Islamic name is enough to discredit Yazīd/Êzîd and the story of his subversion of sharia law, despite the fact that there can be little doubt that this is a genuine Yezidi myth, which reflects the very ethos of Yezidi religion of an earlier age.

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