Yazdânism

Yazdânism, or the Cult of Angels, is a pseudohistoric pre-Islamic religion with claimed ties relating to a Mithraic religion of the Kurds. The term was introduced and proposed by Kurdish and Belgian scholar Mehrdad Izady to represent what he considers the "original" religion of the Kurds. According to Izady, Yazdânism is now continued in the denominations of Yazidism, Yarsanism, and Kurdish Alevism. The concept of Yazdânism has found a wide perception both within and beyond Kurdish nationalist discourses, but has been disputed by other recognized scholars of Iranian religions. Well established, however, are the "striking" and "unmistakable" similarities between the Yazidis and the Yaresan or Ahl-e Haqq (People of truth), some of which can be traced back to elements of an ancient faith that was probably dominant among Western Iranians and akin, but separate from Zoroastrianism and likened to practices of pre-Zoroastrian Mithraic religion. In Yazdâni theologies, an absolute pantheistic force (Hâk or Haqq) encompasses the whole universe. It binds together the cosmos with its essence, and has entrusted the universe the heft sirr (the "Heptad", "Seven Mysteries", "Seven Angels"), who sustain universal life and can incarnate in persons, bâbâ ("Gates" or "Avatar"). These seven emanations are comparable to the seven Anunnaki aspects of Anu of ancient Mesopotamian theology, and they include Melek Taus (the "Peacock Angel" or "King"), who has been suggested by some scholars to be equivalent of the ancient god Dumuzi son of Enki. Some scholar have pointed to the Iranic origin of these deities, in particular Shaykh Shams al-Din, "the sun of the faith", who is a Yezidi figure that has many features in common with the Old Iranian God Mithra, such as being associated with the Sun, playing an important role in Oaths and being involved in the annual bull sacrifice which takes place in Autumn festivals. Pre-Islamic theology from indigenous and local Western Iranian faiths have survived in these three religions, although the expression and the vocabulary have been heavily influenced by an Arabic and Persianate Sufi lexicon.