"Fast-forward"?: Religious Roots, the Middle East, and the Various Izidis

New journalist report on Shia and Sunni includes the sentence: "Fast-forward more than a thousand years, and the situation is worse than ever." (Clarissa Ward, “​In Detail: Sunnis vs. Shiites,” April 5, 2015). That is where the historian parts company with the journalist. "Fast-forward" is another way of stating "Yada, yada, yada" - stuff happened. I'm pretty sure whatever happened in the last century impacts day-to-day politics more than the previous millennium, even if actors in present conflicts self-fashion their identities using terms from that previous millennium. To be fair, that is exactly what Clarissa Ward goes on to state in her very brief, but wide-ranging report. But understanding for both players and commentators gets difficult the more you delve into recent events, alliances, and reformulations. Thus, a comment on the CBS twitter-feed in response to this story includes the hashtag #Religionpoisonseverything. Well, perhaps. But, given the paucity of atheists in the Middle East (though see “Being an Atheist in the Middle East,” Erasmus (Religion & Public Policy): The Economist, March 3, 2015), this is a bit like stating people-  or at least the majority of people - poison everything. Which is true enough, but only takes us so far.

Which brings us to the Yazidis, who most of us in the West, or, really, anywhere, first encountered besieged on a mountain top last year. Their beliefs I believe we would call syncretic, although, thinking historically, most religions are syncretic. They are also relatively few in number, probably less than a million, although the headcount on a persecuted religion is always a bit iffy. They have a strong belief in the role of an angel who takes the form of a peacock, which is a beautiful symbol of immortality, whatever your beliefs (a symbol that can be found in early Christian, some would argue pre-Christian, art such as this 4th-century ambulatory mosaic in a Roman mausoleum). Partially because the name of one of their angels in translation is close to the name of Satan, they are considered devil worshippers by some fundamentalists of both Christianity and Islam. The misunderstanding is more profound:

• Sunni extremists, such as IS, believe it derives from Yazid ibn Muawiya (647-683), the deeply unpopular second caliph of the Umayyad dynasty. Modern research, however, has clarified that the name is nothing to do with the loose-living Yazid, or the Persian city of Yazd, but is taken from the modern Persian "ized", which means angel or deity. The name Izidis simply means "worshippers of god", which is how Yazidis describe themselves. (Who, What, Why: Who Are the Yazidis?,” Magazine Monitor: BBC News, August 8, 2014)

This misunderstanding might serve as a metaphor for lumping and categorizing that takes place by actors in and commentators on Middle East conflicts. All consider themselves to be Izidi, "worshippers of God," but few recognize their enemies to be such. How the local, the neighbor got to be the Other, the enemy is then the question. Fast-forwarding through the last 1,000 years probably doesn't help us understand that.