The Beginning of the Universe (Who are the Yazidis)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Unusually good article abut a group that is little known in the west:
LALISH, IRAQ In Northern Iraq there is a place called Lalish where the Yezidis say the universe was born. I drove south from Dohok on snowy roads through an empty land, seemingly to the ends of the earth, and found it nestled among cold hills.
I went there because the President of Dohok University told me to go. I am a Muslim, he said. But I love the Yezidis. Theirs is the original religion of the Kurds. Only through the Yezidis can I speak to God in my own language.
Yezidis are ancient fire-worshippers. They heavily influenced Zoroastrianism, and in turn have been heavily influenced by Sufi Islam. The temple at Lalish is their Mecca. Hundreds of thousands of remaining Yezidis those Kurds who refused to submit to Islam make pilgrimages there at least once in their lifetimes from all over the Middle East and Europe.
They worship Satan, my Kurdish-speaking driver said to me through my translator Birzo before we got out of the car. It sounded like ignorant bullshit to me, and not only because Saddam Hussein also said so. I would have to ask the Yezidis about that.
Related: I also seeded an unusually excellent article about the "regular" Kurds a while back-- an incredible item. But I can't find that seed-- so here's a link to the original. (Their history is truly amazing!)
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Interesting article.
Good post.
They are fleeing ISIS barbarians who are trying to massacre them. About 40,000 of them have fled to a mountaintop. If they come down ISIS will massacre them. They have no food or water.
American aircraft have just began a humanitarian airdrop-- food and water to them on top of mountain.
Update 9:30 PM- President Obama is now speaking, live, on this.
Preservation of this ancient people should be one of our more honorable missions, both food and cover. It's time to put a stop to ISIS terror, even if from the sky.
We've finally had a great deal of success in that regard-- thanks in large part to the Kurds.
But sadly, trump's latest policy may result in a large-scale massacre of Kurds by the Turks-- and a resurgence of ISIS
As long as the oil continues to flow :
there won't be much effort from NATO to stop ISIL . Notice that Obama is NOT asking for help from NATO ...
I'm afraid it might not happen. Unfortunately most Americans seem to think that if we do a limited military action (like we did in Libya-- where, BTW, there were zero US casualties!) we have no free will, and can't therefore stop. That if we do a limited (but effective) action to save them, it means we will have 100,000+ casualties, and American kids will be mired in the mid East on the ground for 5-10 years!
Most Americans don't give a hoot about humanitarian actions unless their church tells them to. (Either the political fundamentalism of the church of MSNBC or the church of Fox New).
Hannity or Megan Kelly or one of the others..or Rev. Al or Ed Schultz or Maddow tell them to jump. Then they say "How high"?
Stuck on stupid!
I first discovered this fascinating article soon after it was published (I believe it was about 2006?). I still think it is one of the better articles explaining who these people (the Yazidis) are.
I totally agree!
LALISH, IRAQ In Northern Iraq There Is A Place Called Lalish Where The Yezidis Say The Universe Was Born.