'Devil-worshippers' want rights
2005-05-23 11:33
Shaikhan - At a mountainside temple in the heart of Iraqi Kurdistan, pilgrims from the minority Yezidi community come to worship the peacock angel, also known as Lucifer.
As Iraq moves toward a new post-Saddam Hussein political order, the Yezidis, long regarded by Muslims as "devil-worshippers", are seizing on this key moment in history to enshrine their community's rights in a new constitution.
"Discrimination against the Yezidis must end, and our political and religious rights must be recognised in the constitution," said the faith's hereditary leader Mil (Prince) Hazem Tahsin Said.
"As Kurds and as Yezidis, we were doubly victimised by Saddam Hussein," says the 40-year-old chief, who doubles as tribal and religious leader to his people.
The ousted president's Sunni Arab-dominated regime killed tens of thousands of Kurds, including Yezidis, during the Anfal campaign in the late 1980s.
Saddam's regime persecuted the Kurds because of their desire to preserve their ethnic identity and the Yezidis even more so because they were also viewed as heathens.
Yezidis follow a pre-Islamic religion, which some believe was founded in the 12th century by Sheikh Uday bin Masafel al-Amawi, although many scholars trace its origins to the Zoroastrian religion of ancient Persia.
Sheikh Uday was born in Damascus but died in the town of Lalish, just 12 kilometres from Shaikhan, where his tomb has become the Yezidis' holiest shrine.
The Yezidis — a 100 000-strong faith — do not believe in heaven or hell, and do not regard Satan as evil. In fact, they worship him.
"Please excuse me, but I cannot say this word (devil) out loud because it is sacred. It's the chief of angels," said Mil Hazem.
"We believe in Allah (God) and in (the chief of angels)," he explained.
Unlike Muslims, Yezidis can eat pork. On the other hand, they are prohibited from eating lettuce or from wearing the colour blue.
Fierce guardians of their traditions, Yezidis do not permit outsiders to convert to their religion.
The faith has six distinct levels of initiation — princes, sheikhs, senators, seers, ascetics and the community of the faithful, which comprises about 70% of the Yezidi population.
Marriage across classes is forbidden.
Now, Yezidis count three members of the Iraqi parliament, all of them elected as part of the Kurdish alliance which came second in landmark elections in January, as well as two members of the Kurdish regional parliament in Arbil.
The community's lot had already improved since the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf war, when Kurdish rebels established an autonomous administration in three northern provinces, including the Yezidi centres of Lalish and Shaikhan.
But according to the head of security at the Lalish temple, Yezidis don't want to risk being oppressed again.