Aḥmad Ghazzālī and the Formation of Satanism among Yazidis of the Island

Document Type : The Quarterly Jornal

Author

Assistant Professor, Department Of Kalam, University Of Quran and Hadith

Abstract

The northern area of Iraq, often known as the “Island” (Jazīra), is home to followers of a ritual known as “Yazīdiyya” (Yazidism) or “Satanists.” These labels do not apply to them out of animus, but because of the presence of two main ingredients in this ritual—sanctification of Yazīd and Satan, and refusal to cursing them. One might wonder how these unusual un-Islamic beliefs have found their way into this ritual. In this paper, I seek to answer the question in order to account for the relation between Sufism and theological issues, and then drawing on the analytic-critical method and a study of the sacred texts of Yazidism—namely, Rash and Jilwa—as well as a scrutiny of the life of its founder, I conclude that ‘Adī Musāfir—the founder of Yazidism—was a student of Ghazzālī brothers during his sojourn in Baghdad, and then inspired by Ghazzālīs, he came to believe in the sanctity of Yazīd and Satan, and thus refused from cursing them as a practical duty. When he tried to establish his ritual around Sinjar Mountains, he incorporated the two doctrines into his denomination.

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References

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