From the new World Media Watch up now at
http://www.zianet.com/insightanalyticalTomorrow at Buzzflash.com
4//Egypt Today, Egypt December 2005
http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=6160 THE LOST FAITH
Feared, hated and torn asunder, the Yezidi peoples of northern Iraq, who claim to be the guardians of the first monotheistic religion, a faith that predates Judaism, Christianity and Islam, have been used as political pawns for centuries. Today, despite the odds, some are standing their ground in Iraq’s embattled north.
By Cache Seel
A WEB OF TRUTHS, half-truths, myths and outright lies surrounds the Yezidi of northern Iraq. It hardly seems necessary though, for the truth about this tiny ethnic and religious minority is strange enough not to need embellishment: They won’t wear the color blue. They don’t eat lettuce. They kidnap their wives.
Many of them believe the American invaders are fulfilling an ancient prophecy that a blue-eyed man will come from the West to free them from oppression.
This small ethnic community, numbering perhaps 500,000 people in Iraq, 750,000 at most, is all that remains of what is perhaps the oldest monotheistic religion in the world, the Yezidi religion, a faith documented (at least sparsely) as far back as 2000 BC and according to oral tradition is vastly older still. Today, the Yezidi regard Muhammad as a prophet and Jesus Christ as an angel in human form. Some scholars believe elements of the Yezidi religion date to ancient Assyrian and Zoroastrian religions.
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