Are Kurds Turning to Zoroastrianism? Thoughts on the Cultural and Historical Context

Juan Cole at his blog reproduces an article from niqash.org by Alaa Latif: "Kurdish Muslims abandoning Islam for Zoroastrianism in Disgust at ISIL/Daesh?" The original article at Niqash carries the title "The One, True Kurdish Prophet?Thanks To Extremism, Iraqis Revive Ancient Religion."
An excerpt:

For the first time in over a thousand years, locals in a rural part of Sulaymaniyah province conducted an ancient ceremony on May 1, whereby followers put on a special belt that signifies they are ready to serve the religion and observe its tenets. It would be akin to a baptism in the Christian faith.

The newly pledged Zoroastrians have said that they will organise similar ceremonies elsewhere in Iraqi Kurdistan and they have also asked permission to build up to 12 temples inside the region, which has its own borders, military and Parliament. Zoroastrians are also visiting government departments in Iraqi Kurdistan and they have asked that Zoroastrianism be acknowledged as a religion officially. They even have their own anthem and many locals are attending Zoroastrian events and responding to Zoroastrian organisations and pages on social media.

Although as yet there are no official numbers as to how many Kurdish locals are actually turning to this religion, there is certainly a lot of discussion about it. And those who are already Zoroastrians believe that as soon as locals learn more about the religion, their numbers will increase. They also seem to selling the idea of Zoroastrianism by saying that it is somehow “more Kurdish” then other religions – certainly an attractive idea in an area where many locals care more about their ethnic identity than religious divisions.

I don't know to what degree this overstates the supposed trend; it seems to be regionally localized and there are no numbers cited. And Zoroastrians traditionally do not proselytize, though that is perhaps a response to living in Islamic-dominated areas.

A few side thoughts, however. While orthodox Zoroastrianism itself has much declined in the Middle East proper there are a number of small, syncretiistic religious groups in Iran, northern Iraq, and Eastern Turkey that incorporate elements of Zoroastrian tradition, including to a greater or lesser degree the Yazidis and Shabak in Iraq, Alevis in Turkey, ‘Ali-Elahis and Ahl-e Haqq (Yarsanis) in Iran, and even the Syrian ‘Alawites,  Most have secret or semi-secret doctrines and retain elements of Zoroastrianism, Mazdakism, Mithraism, or other Ancient Persian beliefs overlaid with elements of Shi‘ite or Sufi Islam. The strong influence of Sufi orders in Kurdistan (Naqshbandi and Qadiri foremost among them) also may predispose many to an openness to heterodox ideas. During the siege of Jabal Sinjar and the Yazidis, I considered writing more about these small, syncretist, heterodox groups whose links to Islam are tenuous at best, and will get to that eventually. 

Zoroastrian revivals are not a recent phenomenon. Babak Khorrami, who led an uprising against the ‘Abbasid Caliphate in 9th Century AD Azerbaijan, led one such movement attempting to revive either Zoroastrianism or its offshoot Mazdkism. Patricia Crone's The Nativist Prophets of Early Islamic Iran: Rural Revolt and Local Zoroastrianism is now the standard source.

The article definitely overreaches in its opening paragraph:

[Zoroastrianism] was founded by Zoroaster, also known as Zarathustra, who was born in the Kurdish part of Iran and the religion’s sacred book, the Avesta, was written in an ancient language from which the Kurdish language derives.

Most linguists class Avestan as originating in northeastern Iran not Kurdistan, All the ancient Indo-Iranian languages derive fom a common origin, but modern Persian has at least as much claim as Kurdish to "derive" from Avestan.

Biographical details of Zoroaster/Zarathustra/Zardusht are much disputed. The various scriptures were composed at varying times, and there is some uncertainty about dating the Prophet, even to whether he belongs in the First or Second Millennium BC. So too, there is uncertainty about his birthplace. Many older traditions point to northwestern Iran, to Azerbaijan or to Rayy in Media, near Tehran. But others point to northeastern Iran and even Central Asia, and the language of the Avesta is Eastern. The Encyclopedia Iranica has extensive treatment of the uncertainties of Zoroaster's history.

In any event he represents a religious figure and culture hero to not just Persian speakers but to speakers of other Iranian languages, including Kurdish. Claiming him as a Kurd may not reflect the consensus of Zoroastrian Studies scholars, but then, there really is no consensus of Zoroastrian Studies scholars on where he was born, or even exactly when.

Update: For more see Brian Ulrich's comments in the Comments, and the link.

Latest Issue of Dabiq Defends Enslavement of Yazidi Women

As Matthew Barber recently noted at Syria Comment, the Islamic State's English magazine Dabiq, which we've discussed here before,  has not only acknowledged enslaving Yazidi women, but has justified it. The article in Dabiq's issue 4 is entitled "The Revival of Slavery Before the Hour." Besides spending many paragraphs defending enslaving and selling women, they conclude, "May Allah bless this Islamic State with the revival of other aspects of the religion at its hands."

(If you must, you can find the issue many places online, among them here, with the slavery article on pages 14-17.)

The main theme is "The Failed Crusade," meaning the West's anti-ISIS effort. As you can see, the cover shows an ISIS flag flying over the Vatican.

If you're thinking that they're just messing with our minds at this point you're probably right. But the enslavement and sale of Yazidi women is real.  Meanwhile Lizbeth Paulat calls them out by citing the Qur'an, Surat al-Nur (XXIV), 33 (here in the Yusuf ‘Ali translation):

And if any of your slaves ask for a deed in writing (to enable them to earn their freedom for a certain sum), give them such a deed if ye know any good in them: yea, give them something yourselves out of the means which Allah has given to you. But force not your maids to prostitution when they desire chastity, in order that ye may make a gain in the goods of this life.

Similar arguments against slavery by Muslim authorities can be found here.

It also says something about the times we live in that in almost six years of blogging, this is the first post with the tagline, "slavery." I'd like it to be the last, but . . .

There are Still Yazidis Stranded on Jabal Sinjar

Despite claims that a combination of  Iraqi and Kurdish forces and US bombing had "broken the siege" of Mount Sinjar earlier this month, there are sill Yazidis stranded on the mountain. Two weeks ago, Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby acknowledged this:

On the estimate of refugees on Mount Sinjar, it's difficult to provide an exact figure, but we think it's somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000. I'd also add that a number of them, perhaps up to 2,000 or so -- and, again, this is an estimate -- reside there and may not want to leave. It's home to many of them. So not all of them will necessarily be looking to leave the mountain. That's our best estimate right now, based on the assessment team's visit there.

More recent reports and published satellite photos confirm that there are still significant numbers on the mountain, This report from The Guardian notes:

Satellite images taken on 21 August by the firm ImageSat International and interviews with members of the Yazidi religious minority still on the mountain indicate a humanitarian emergency continuing to unfold. While thousands have fled down the mountain’s north face, making a dangerous trek into Iraqi Kurdistan through Syria, those on the southern side remain in crisis.

There has not been a US airdrop of food, water or medicine since 13 August, after a reconnaissance team of US special operations forces that had briefly been on the mountain reported that conditions were not as dire as Washington initially thought.

Survivors of the Islamic State (Isis) siege describe leaving behind their elderly and infirm relatives. The younger Yazidis who have stayed behind talk of fighting Isis until they either liberate Sinjar city below or they die.

I would add a reminder that those Yazidis who were "rescued" from the mountain are in refugee camps in the Kurdish regions of Iraq or Syria, or in Turkey; they may not be starving, but they are refugees in a region where massive displacement of minorities has taken place, and a burden on their hosts. And that does not address the numbers already killed by the Islamic State, or the reports of women being captured and sold.

Baghdad has Also Been Bombing ISIS, Delivering Relief

With the US media obviously focused on the first rounds of US airstrikes against ISIS on the front near Erbil, it is only fair to note that the Iraqi Air Force also struck last night at targets in Mosul. Presumably using the Su-25 ground attack aircraft it acquired this summer from Russia and Iran, Iraqi aircraft reportedly hit a building they believed was an ISIS headquarters in Mosul, and also claimed that ISIS forces retreated unto the city from positions in the north.

Various estimates claimed an ISIS death toll of 60, 76 (suspiciously precise), or 130, or simply "large numbers," all of which estimates are unconfirmed.

At least one Iraqi helicopter has already landed on Jabal Sinjar, delivering relief supplies, as well.

"Some" Yazidis Rescued; Qaraqosh Falls to ISIS as Christians Flee; Turkey Sending F-16s

 There seems to have been a lot of movement in and around northern Iraq in the past 24 hours, with seemingly conflicting reports about what is happening in and around the Jabal Sinjar, where as many as 40,000 to 50,000 Yazidi refugees were trapped in recent days. Now the United Nations says that "some" of the trapped Yazidis have been rescued, though in the fog of war it is unclear how many "some" may be.

The Islamic State forces are still being challenged in the Sinjar region by Kurdish peshmergas, and some reports are saying Syrian and Turkish Kurds have joined forces with their Iraqi counterparts to rescue the Yazidis, Syrian Kurds already have been heavily engaged against ISIS inside Syria.

Prior to these reports of the rescue of "some" of the trapped Yazidis, there were reports that the refugees were beginning to starve and die of thirst on the barren mountaintop, that some had resorted to eating leaves, (Note that "Shingal" mentioned in some of these links is the Kurdish form of the name of Jabal Sinjar.)

Turkey has said that it is airdropping aid to the stranded Yazidis and to Turkmen refugees, and is resettling some refugees inside Turkey, but Kurdish sites have also reported Turkish F-16s from the Diyarbakır airbase had conducted reconnaissance missions over the battlefield and might even conduct air strikes. The US Administration is also considering humanitarian air drops and even possible air strikes.

Meanwhile the reported fall of the largely Christian city of Qaraqosh to ISIS has created a new mass exodus of the city's Christian population, reportedly leaving the city emptied. Some reports say ISIS has also taken Kalak, which would put them across the Greater Zab River and within about 35 km of the Kurdish capital of Erbil.

Things are clearly developing rapidly (and dangerously), and it remains difficult to sort out the multiple  and often conflicting reports.

The Yazidis' Last Stand in Jabal Sinjar?

 There is an old Kurdish proverb, "The Kurds have no friends,except the mountains." But for Kurdish-speaking Yazidis, the mountains may not be a refuge: The Washington Post: "Iraqi Yazidis stranded on isolated mountaintop begin to die of thirst." Estimates are said to be between 10,000 and 40,000, numbers which certainly verge on the genocidal. Surrounded and isolated, having retreated to a barren mountaintop, these people need rescue.

At least when the Christians were driven from Mosul by the "Caliphate," Western Christians took note (even if they did little else). But outside of some Yazidi Diaspora groups in Europe and, to my surprise, Lincoln, Nebraska, where my wife went to college, the Yazidis get even less than the grudging concern accorded the Christians.

A Yazidi member of the Iraqi Parliament collapses in tears after pleading for her people (English subtitles):
Because I try to keep a certain objectivity even while expressing my opinion, I didn't post that much about Gaza, since the whole human rights community was loud and clear. But here we have a clear case of outright ethnic cleansing or even full scale genocide. IS considers Yazidis "devil-worshipers" and worthy of extermination (No collective group is, though I'm starting to wonder if IS is an exception.)

Unlike Gaza, my tax dollars have not gone to buy the ammunition killing the Yazidis (though maybe they have, since some was captured from the Iraqi Army). But US policy broke Iraq, and out of that breakage came the horror that is ISIS/IS/the Caliphate.

Regardless of how we got here, we're here, and an entire distinct ethnographic/religious group is in imminent jeopardy of destruction. If you ignore Kristallncht, you will have the death camps.

Sad to say, that's also true. I'm not urging US re-intervention in Iraq. But the international community has, I believe, the ability to supply the dying Yazidis on the mountain, and even to evacuate them from the damned mountaintop. And if that's not feasible, mount airstrikes against the IS forces down the mountain to save the Yazidis.

Gaza was and may soon be again, a horror. But that is no excuse to shrug off other horrors.

UN Alarmed Over Threat to Yazidi Children

There may be a ceasefire in Gaza, but that doesn't men children's lives re not at threat in the Middle East: the United Nations is expressing concern over reports that some 40 Yazidi children have been killed in Sinjar,  now being ethnically cleansed by the "Islamic State." Other reports suggest many Yazidi men have been killed and their children taken.

Kurdish peshmergas continue to fight against IS forces in the region and are now being joined by hastily-raised Yazidi militias (most Yazidis are Kurdish-speaking)

Also see The Economist on the Yazidis here.

IS Takes Sinjar, Moving to Expel the Yazidis

Another Iraqi minority is now in jeopardy; over the weekend the Islamic State defeated a Kurdish peshmerga force and took over the town if Sinjar and its hinterland, the Jabal Sinjar, in western Iraq along the Syrian border, the traditional mountain  redoubt of Iraq's Yazidis. The other main concentration of Yazidis, at Shekhan near Mosul, was already threatened. As it previously expelled Christians an other minorities from Mosul, Yazidis are now reportedly being expelled from Sinjar.

Because the Yazidis are not "People of the Book" in Muslim eyes, they have had less protection than Jews, Christians, and Mandaeans. Their ancient syncretistic religion venerates an angel known as Malak Ta'us, they are often accused of idolatry or even devil worship. They have been under increasing pressure since 2003, but the present wave of Yazidi refugees seems unprecedented. The United Nations is warning of a major humanitarian disaster.


For more details, see (note that Yezidi and Ezidi are also used in these citations):

Matthew Barber at Syria Comment: IS Routs Peshmerga, Takes Control of Sinjar Mountains, Jeopardizes Yazidi Homeland. 

At the Kurdish news site Rudaw: "Yezidis: Living in the Shadow of the Islamic State."

At the Yazidi news site Ezidi Press: "IS terrorists Take Over Yezidi villages: A short chronicle."


The Rudaw an Ezidi Press sites also provide ongoing coverage.

Yet Another Minority, the Shabak, are Targeted in Iraq

The latest car bombing in Iraq,in a displaced persons camp in a town near Mosul, has apparently targeted the minority Shabak community, killing at least 11.

While the violence in Iraq most often is sectarian between Sunni and Shi‘a, it is also frequently directed against non-Muslim minority populations. The frequent attacks on Iraqi Christians, mostly Assyrians and Chaldeans, are well known  and have led to a growing flight of Christians to Assyrian and Chaldean diasporas in the West. There have also been attacks against the Mandaean and Yazidi religious minorities.

The Shabak are another one of Iraq's minor religious/ethnic minorities, with some similarities to and affinities with the larger Yazidi community, who live in the same general region. (Note: the link is to the Wikipedia article and Wikipedia is dark today in a protest action. You can access the link by turning off Javascript in your browser, or can wait until tomorrow if you don't know how.)

They are, like the Yazidis, a syncretistic religion with elements of Islam, Christianity, and older faiths. They speak a form of Kurdish, but their scripture is written in Turkmen.

These tiny, relic communities may seem like anachronistic curiosities, but they are a reminder of the palimpsest of migrations, conquests, and faiths that swept over the Fertile Crescent over the millennia. And they have few defenders. At least international Christian groups regularly protest attacks on Iraqi Christians, though with little result since the attackers are radical Islamists. Even the Mandaeans and the Yazidis have some support from diaspora populations in Europe. Most people have never heard of the Shabak. Nor do I expect this to be on the evening news. That's why I brought it up.

Latest Iraq Bomb Targeting Yazidis?

In the latest Iraqi suicide bombing, two suicide bombers have targeted a cafe in Sinjar. Sinjar is in the heart of Iraq's Yazidi country, and it is reasonable to assume that once again insurgents are targeting the Yazidi community. As the BBC account at the link notes, there were a number of attacks on Yazidis in 2007.

The Yazidis are an ancient and somewhat secretive religion with roots in antiquity; it is somewhat syncretistic with overlaps with Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Islam. They are also a more or less secret faith, like the Druze and the ‘Alawites, which has led to some friction. The fact that the Peacock Angel (Malak Tawus or Tawus Malak) venerated by Yazidis is sometimes referred to by the Arabic term shaytan (although considered a beneficent figure by Yazidis) has led to Muslim accusations that they are "devil-worshippers," which Yazidis strongly deny. That historic charge is one of the reasons that Sunni insurgents have targeted Yazidis, though of course they have also targeted Shi‘a and Christians as well. Most live in Iraq, though there are communities in Syria, Iran, Turkey, and the Caucasus (Armenia and Georgia), and a large diaspora community in Germany. Almost all Yazidis speak Kurdish, though there are said to be some Arabic-speaking Yazidi villages.