The Massacre of Yazidis by ISIS - Essay Example

of the Religion and Theology of the Teacher 27 April The Massacre of Yazidis by ISIS Thousands of men belonging to the minority community Yazidis were murdered by ISIS in the war torn Iraq. Hordes of Yazidis fled to the Kurdish administered parts of Northern Iraq, safe Yazidi villages and refugee camps to avoid being massacred by the ISIS fighters. Yet, it is a fact that a large number of Yazidis are trapped behind the battle lines in the ISIS held Iraq. The international community does fear that the life and well being of these trapped Yazidis is not safe in the ISIS held parts of Iraq. As per the expert and media estimates, ISIS has massacred thousands of Yazidi men in the areas under its sway. It is also estimated that ISIS holds nearly scores of Yazidi women in the strictly managed camps. These women are either sold as slaves or are used as sex slaves. Many of these women are offered to the ISIS fighters to be treated as concubines. To begin with the international community believed that the stories of Yazidi massacre and sex enslavement were perhaps exaggerated. However the research conducted by United Nations experts have verified the fact that ISIS has engaged in large scale massacre of the religious minority and has captured thousands of Yazidi women to be treated as sex slaves owing to their religious belief. The Yazidis do happen to be one of the Iraq’s oldest existing religious minorities. After Christians, Yazidis happen to be the second major religious minority that is being systematically targeted by ISIS and many other major terrorist groups in the region. The reason why Yazidis are being massacred and sexually enslaved by the ISIS is because this fundamentalist group maintains that Yazidis do affiliate to a religion that is contrary to the teachings of Sunni Islam and that has nothing to do with Judi-Christian tradition the religions of the book adhere to. Historically speaking, the Yazidis do comprise religiously one of the most misunderstood groups in the Middle East. Most of the Yazidis do ethnically happen to be of the Kurdish stock. They have continued to practice their religion in the region irrespective of centuries of religious and ethnic oppression and bloodshed. The religion of Yazidis is believed to have been founded by an Ummayyad sheikh in the eleventh century. The Yazidi religion incorporated beliefs and practices from all the major religions practiced in the region that are Islam, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity. The Yazidis religion has taken major theological practices and elements from all these religions. For instance they have taken the concept of baptism from Christianity. They take fire to be a symbol of God, influenced by Zoroastrianism. However, the main regional issue with the Yazidi religion is that it happens to be a non-Abrahamic religion unlike Islam, Judaism and Christianity. These peculiar religious traits have led to the Yazidis in the Middle East being termed to be a sect since ages. The primary reason for the marginalization and persecution of the Yazidis in the region do happen to be placed in their theological beliefs and practices, which bring them in conflict with the fundamentalist Islamists. Yazidis worship seven angels that hold primacy in their religious and theological belief system. Melek Tawwus or Peacock angel does happen to be one of these seven angels. He is believed to have questioned the authority of the Supreme God as per the Judeo-Christian theological belief system. However, unlike Satan, the Peacock Angel did not fall from the grace of God. He was rather forgiven and accepted back in Heaven by the God. Since ages, the predominance that Melek Tawwus or the Peacock Angel holds in the Yazidi religion and theology has earned the Yazidis a reputation for being the worshippers of devil. This theological peculiarity has indeed turned out to be life threatening for Yazidis in the contemporary Iraq that is under the sway of Sunni fundamentalist groups like ISIS or the Islamic State and many other stringently Sunni Islamic groups active in the region. The sad thing is that Yazidis are being massacred and sexually enslaved by the ISIS in Iraq because the ISIS believes the Yazidis to be a heretic community, just like Shia Muslims and Christians. They are accused by ISIS and other Sunni militant groups in the region of being worshippers of devil. The irony is that Yazidis have a long history of sectarian and religious oppression. Owing to their worship of the angel Melek Tawwus, they were believed to be infidels, heretics and devil worshipers by the conservative Muslims since the sixteenth and early seventeenth century. Though the rebellious angel that Yazidis worship is a force of goodness and grace in their religion, the Sunni Muslims interpreting Quran in a very literal and orthodox sense do consider one to be embodiment of Shaytan or devil, which the Christian theology refers to as the devil or Lucifer. The acts of violence perpetrated against Yazidis owing to their theological reputation for being devil worshipper dates back to the latter half of the nineteenth century. The Yazidis were ethnically targeted and persecuted both by Local Kurdish groups and the Ottoman rulers. Thereby the recent massacre of Yazidis is a continuation of a long history of violence inflicted on them owing to certain elements of their religious practice and theology that is considered to be heretical by some Muslims and Christians in the region. Owing to the uniqueness of their theological beliefs and practices that did not went well with the Muslims, the Yazidis ended up being an utterly insulated religious minority in the region. Their culture is highly marginalized and segregated in Iraq and other territories where they live. In the 70s the violent Arabization military campaigns launched by Saddam Hussein specifically targeted Yazidis. Saddam uprooted Yazidis from their communities and forced them to get urbanized. As ISIS is sweeping through the region in a political and military context, the Yazidis stand to be a highly threatened religious minority in the region. The ISIS adherers to a highly intolerant, sectarian and orthodox form of Islam that is utterly intolerant of the people affiliated to other religions are they are Muslims, Christians or others. In that context, the Yazidis happen to be particularly threatened because as per the ISIS theological beliefs they are not only infidels and heretics like the Shia and Christians, but also happen to be the worshipers of devil. The orthodox ISIS leaders and fighters do consider the peacock to be a demonic symbol and do consider Yazidis to be devil worshipers. The thing is that the Middle East since long has been the hub of religious and sectarian violence. Even the religious sects affiliated to a common belief system and of Abrahamic origins do have traditionally know to be at odd ends with each other, are they be Shies, Sunnis, Jews or the Christians. The Middle East has a long history of religious violence emanating from the divergences in the theological beliefs and practices of the salient religious groups in the region. In that context the Yazidis do happen to be a particularly vulnerable religious community as their beliefs and theological practices are held to be demonic by some Muslims, and thereby they are taken to be heretics and devil worshipers. However, this is not right. The Muslims need to pursue a benign, peaceful and compassionate interpretation of Islam, and thereby in the light of such an interpretation of Islam, the killing of Yazidis is evil and intolerable. The thing is that ISIS is adhering to a narrow interpretation of the Islamic theology and Judi-Christian beliefs to massacre and sexually exploit Yazidis. They are taking advantage of the historical tradition that targeted Yazidis as a religious minority and persecuted and massacred them. However, in the current context, such narrow and limited interpretation of Islam and Abrahamic traditions not only goes against the dictates of peace and goodwill, but also violates the essential human beliefs and values. It is high time that the international community, including the peaceful Muslim community and Christians in the region take concerted military and humanitarian measures to stop and check the religious and human persecution of the Yazidis in the region. Read More