Book contents
- The Cambridge History of the Kurds
- The Cambridge History of the Kurds
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Additional material
- Introduction
- Part I Historical Legacies
- Part II Regional Political Developments and the Kurds in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries
- Part III Domestic Political Developments and the Kurds in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries
- Part IV Religion and Society
- 19 Religion in Kurdistan
- 20 Religion and Politics in Turkey’s Kurdistan from the Beginning of the Republic
- 21 ‘Kurdish’ Religious Minorities in the Modern World
- 22 The Kurdish Alevis
- 23 Tribes and Their Changing Role in Kurdish Politics and Society
- Part V Kurdish Language
- Part VI Art, Culture and Literature
- Part VII Transversal Dynamics
- Index
- References
21 - ‘Kurdish’ Religious Minorities in the Modern World
from Part IV - Religion and Society
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 April 2021
Book contents
- The Cambridge History of the Kurds
- The Cambridge History of the Kurds
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Tables
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Abbreviations
- Additional material
- Introduction
- Part I Historical Legacies
- Part II Regional Political Developments and the Kurds in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries
- Part III Domestic Political Developments and the Kurds in the Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries
- Part IV Religion and Society
- 19 Religion in Kurdistan
- 20 Religion and Politics in Turkey’s Kurdistan from the Beginning of the Republic
- 21 ‘Kurdish’ Religious Minorities in the Modern World
- 22 The Kurdish Alevis
- 23 Tribes and Their Changing Role in Kurdish Politics and Society
- Part V Kurdish Language
- Part VI Art, Culture and Literature
- Part VII Transversal Dynamics
- Index
- References
Summary
This chapter discusses religious traditions that had their origin in Kurdish-speaking regions, notably Yezidism and Yarsanism (the religion of the Yaresan, Ahl-e Haqq, or Kaka’i), with some reference to the Alevis of the Dersim (Tunceli) area, the Shabak and the development of a Kurdish Zoroastrian community in the Kurdish Autonomous Region. The chapter offers an outline of the characteristics of the main traditions discussed here, points to similarities between them and describes their recent history in the homelands, particularly after the IS attacks that began in 2014.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of the Kurds , pp. 533 - 559Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021
References
Ackermann, A. (2004). A double minority: Notes on the emerging Yezidi Diaspora. In Kokot, W., Tölölyan, K. and Alfonso, C. (eds), Diaspora, Identity and Religion: New Directions in Theory and Research (pp. 156–69). London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Allison, C. (2009). Representations of Yezidism and Zoroastrianism in the Kurdish newspapers Hawar and Roja Nû. In Allison, C., Joisten-Pruschke, A. and Wendtland, A. (eds), From Daēnā to Dīn: Religion, Kultur und Sprache in der iranischen Welt (pp. 285–91). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Benanave, M. (2015). ‘Finding paradise in Turkish Munzur valley’. The New York Times, 26 July.Google Scholar
Bianet (2018). ‘Forest fire in Dersim taken under control’. http://bianet.org/english/environment/200175-forest-fire-in-dersim-taken-under-control.Google Scholar
Bittner, M. (1913). Die heiligen Bücher der Jeziden oder Teufelsanbeter: Kurdisch und Arabisch. Denkschriften der Kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften in Wien, Phil.-Hist. Klasse 55. Band LV. Wien: Alfred Hölder Verlag.Google Scholar
Bumke, P. J. (1979). Kizilbaş-Kurden in Dersim (Tunceli, Türkei): Marginalität und Häresie. Anthropos, 74, 530–48.Google Scholar
Celīl, O. und Celīl, C. (1978a). Zargotina Kurda [Kurdish Folklore]. Moscow: Nauka Publishers.Google Scholar
CHRI (Center for Human Rights in Iran) (2016). ‘Religious minority in Iran asks Khamenei for constitutional protection’. www.iranhumanrights.org/2016/06/yarsan/.Google Scholar
Clarion Project (2016). ‘ISIS targets isolated Kaka’i religious minority in Iraq’. https://clarionproject.org/isis-targets-isolated-kakai-religious-minority-iraq-9/.Google Scholar
Ekurd Daily (2016). ‘Iraq’s Kakai Kurds are not Muslims: Representative’. https://ekurd.net/iraq-kakai-kurds-not-muslims-2016–02-11.Google Scholar
Farooq, O. (2014). ‘Turkey’s Alevis beholden to politics’. Al Jazeera. www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/12/turkey-alevis-beholden-politics-201412168438512717.html?xif=.Google Scholar
Geranpayeh, B. (2007). Yārıstān – die Freunde der Wahrheit: Religion und Texte einer vorderasiatischen Glaubensgemeinschaft. Unpublished PhD thesis, Georg August University of Göttingen. http://webdoc.sub.gwdg.de/diss/2007/geranpayeh/.Google Scholar
Guest, J. S. (1993). Survival among the Kurds: A History of the Yezidis. 2nd ed. London and New York: Kegan Paul International.Google Scholar
Hecī, B. F. (2002). Bawerī ū Mītologiya Ēzidīyan. Çendeha Tēkist û Vekolīn [Belief and Mythology of Yezidis: Some Texts with Commentary]. Duhok: Hawar.Google Scholar
Hosseini, S. B. (2015). Religious transnationalism of the Yārsāni community in Sweden. Journal of the Sociology and Theory of Religion, 1, 2–15.Google Scholar
Institute for International Law and Human Rights (2013). ‘Iraq’s minorities and other vulnerable groups: Legal framework, documentation and human rights’. Baghdad, Iraq.Google Scholar
Iraqi News (2014). ‘Shabak community forms military force of 1500 fighters to fight ISIS in Nineveh’. www.iraqinews.com/baghdad-politics/shabak-community-forms-military-force-of-1–00-fighters-to-fight-isil-in-nineveh/.Google Scholar
Joseph, I. (1919). Devil Worship: The Sacred Books and Traditions of the Yezidiz. Boston: Badger.Google Scholar
Kreyenbroek, P. G. (1992). Mithra and Ahreman, Binyamin and Malak Tāwūs: Traces of an ancient myth in the cosmogonies of two modern sects. In Gignou, P. (ed.), Recurrent Patterns in Iranian Religions: From Mazdaism to Sufism (pp. 57–79). Paris: Association pour l’Avancement des Études Iraniennes.Google Scholar
Kreyenbroek, P. G. (1995). Yezidism: Its Background, Observances and Textual Tradition. Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press.Google Scholar
Kreyenbroek, P. G. (2008). History in an oral culture: The construction of history in Yezidi sacred texts. The Journal of Kurdish Studies, 6, 84–92.Google Scholar
Kreyenbroek, P. G. (2009). Yezidism in Europe: Different Generations Speak about Their Religion. In collab. with Kartal, Z., Omarkhali, K. and Jindy Rashow, K.. Göttinger Orientforschungen, III. Iranica 5. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Kreyenbroek, P. G. (2014). The Yāresān of Kurdistan. In Omarkhali, K. (ed.), Religious Minorities in Kurdistan: Beyond the Mainstream (pp. 3–11). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Kreyenbroek, P. G. (2017). Some remarks on the early history of the Ahl-e Ḥaqq. In Raei, S. (ed.), Islamic Alternatives: Non-mainstream Religion in Persianate Societies (pp. 55–64). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Kreyenbroek, P. G. and Allison, C. (eds) (1996). Kurdish Culture and Identity. London and New Jersey: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Kreyenbroek, P. G. and Chaman-Ara, B. (2013). Literary Gurani: Koinè or Continuum? In Bozarslan, H. and Scalbert-Yücel, C. (eds), Joyce Blau, l’éternelle chez les Kurdes (pp. 151–68). Paris: Copymedia.Google Scholar
Kreyenbroek, P. G. and Omarkhali, K. (2016). Introduction to special issue. Special issue: Yezidism and Yezidi studies in the early 21st century. Omarkhali, K. and Kreyenbroek, P. (eds). Kurdish Studies, 4 (2), 122–30.Google Scholar
Kreyenbroek, P. G. and Rashow, K. J. (2005). God and Sheikh Adi Are Perfect: Sacred Poems and Religious Narratives from the Yezidi Tradition. Iranica 9. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Leezenberg, M. (1994). The Shabak and the Kakais: Dynamics of ethnicity in Iraqi Kurdistan. In de Jongh, D. (ed.), ILLC Research Reports and Technical Notes Series. www.illc.uva.nl/Research/Publications/Reports/X-1994–07.text.pdf.Google Scholar
Leezenberg, M. (2014). The end of heterodoxy? The Shabak in post-Saddam Iraq. In Omarkhali, K. (ed.), Religious Minorities in Kurdistan: Beyond the Mainstream (pp. 247–67). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
MacKenzie, D. N. (1961). The origins of Kurdish. Transactions of the Philological Society, 68–86.Google Scholar
Maisel, S. (2016). Yezidis in Syria: Identity Building among a Double Minority. Lanham, MD: Lexington.Google Scholar
Mingana, A. (1916). Devil-worshippers: Their beliefs and their sacred books. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 505–26.Google Scholar
Mir-Hosseini, Z. (1996). Faith, ritual and culture among the Ahl-e Haqq. In Kreyenbroek, P. and Allison, C. (eds), Kurdish Culture and Identity (pp. 111–34). London and New Jersey: Zed Books.Google Scholar
Mokri, M. (1963). Etude d’un titre de propriété du début du XVIe siècle provenant du Kurdistan. Journal Asiatique, 251, 229–56.Google Scholar
Omarkhali, K. (2014). Religious Minorities in Kurdistan: Beyond the Mainstream. Studies in Oriental Religions 68. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Omarkhali, K. (2016). Transformations in the Yezidi tradition after the ISIS attacks: An interview with Ilhan Kizilhan. Special issue: Yezidism and Yezidi studies in the early 21st century. Omarkhali, K. and Kreyenbroek, P. (eds). Kurdish Studies, 4 (2), 148–54.Google Scholar
Omarkhali, K. (2017). The Yezidi Religious Textual Tradition: From Oral to Written: Categories, Transmission, Scripturalisation and Canonisation of the Yezidi Oral Religious Texts. Studies in Oriental Religions 72. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Omarkhali, K. and Kreyenbroek, P. (eds) (2016). Kurdish Studies, 4 (2). Special issue: Yezidism and Yezidi studies in the early 21st century.Google Scholar
Omarkhali, K. and Rezania, K. (2009). Some reflections on the concepts of time in Yezidism. In Allison, C., Joisten-Pruschke, A. and Wendtland, A. (eds), From Dāena to Dīn: Religion, Kultur und Sprache in der iranischen Welt (pp. 331–46). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
Reşo, X. C. [Rashow, Khalil Jindy] (2004). Pern ji Edebē Dīnē Ēzdiyan [A Part of Yezidi Religious Literature]. Vols I–II. Duhok: Spīrēz.Google Scholar
Rudaw (2016). ‘Head of Zoroastrian temple says people are returning to their roots’. www.rudaw.net/english/kurdistan/310120162.Google Scholar
Salih, M. A. (2016). ‘Iraq: Kurds increase pressure on ISIL near Mosul’. Al Jazeera, 2 June. www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/05/iraq-kurds-increase-pressure-isil-mosul-160531124443481.html.Google Scholar
Salih, M. A. and van Wilgenburg, V. (2015). ‘Iraq’s Kakais: “We want to protect our culture”’. Al Jazeera, 11 February. www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/02/iraq-kakais-protect-culture-150209064856695.html.Google Scholar
Selmanpakoğlu, C. (2006). The formation of Alevi syncretism. Unpublished MA thesis, Bilkent University.Google Scholar
Silēman, X. and Cindī, X. (1979). Ēzdiyatī: liber Roşnaya Hindek Tēkstēd Aīniyī Ēzdiyan [Yezidism: In the Light of Some Religious Texts of the Yezidis]. Baghdad: Korī Zanyarī Kurd.Google Scholar
Sökefeld, M. (2004). Religion or culture? Concepts of identity in the Alevi diaspora. In Kokot, W., Tölölyan, K. and Alfonso, C. (eds), Diaspora, Identity and Religion: New Directions in Theory and Research (pp. 133–55). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Spät, E. (2018). Yezidi identity politics and political ambitions in the wake of the ISIS attack. Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, 20 (5), 420–38.Google Scholar
Szanto, E. (2018). “Zoroaster was a Kurd”: Neo-Zoroastrianism among the Iraqi Kurds. Iran and the Caucasus, 22, 96–110.Google Scholar
Tucker, W. F. (2008). Mahdis and Millenarians: Shīʿite Extremists in Early Muslim Iraq. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
UN News (2016). ‘UN human rights panel concludes ISIL is committing genocide against Yazidis’. https://news.un.org/en/story/2016/06/532312-un-human-rights-panel-concludes-isil-committing-genocide-against-yazidis.Google Scholar
van Bruinessen, M. (1997). “Aslını inkar eden haramzadedir!”: The debate on the ethnic identity of the Kurdish Alevis. In Kehl-Bodrogi, K., Kellner-Heinkele, B. and Otter-Beaujean, A. (eds), Syncretistic Religious Communities in the Near East (pp. 1–23). Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
van Bruinessen, M. (2014). Veneration of Satan among the Ahl-e Haqq of the Gūrān region. Fritillaria Kurdica: Bulletin of Kurdish Studies, 3 (4), 6–41.Google Scholar
van Bruinessen, M. (2016). Editorial preface. Special issue: Yezidism and Yezidi studies in the early 21st century. Omarkhali, K. and Kreyenbroek, P. (eds). Kurdish Studies, 4 (2), 119–21.Google Scholar
van Bruinessen, M. (2017). Between Dersim and Dālāhu: Reflections on Kurdish Alevism and the Ahl-e Ḥaqq religion. In Raei, S. (ed.), Islamic Alternatives: Non-mainstream Religion in Persianate Societies (pp. 65–93). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz.Google Scholar
- 2
- Cited by