Sects of the Near East neither Christian nor Muslim

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NEAR EAST
SOCIETY

MONOGRAPH SERIES

Number 8

SECTS OP THE NEAR EAST
NEITHER CHRISTIAN NOR MUSLIM

January 1949

Published by the American Near East Society
46 Cedar Street, New York 5, N.Y.

(Additional copies 2h<f. each)

SECTS OF THE NEAR EAST NEITHER CHRISTIAN NOR MUSLIM

lo Zoroastrlans

Zoroaster probably lived from 660 to 583 B.Co ■ He was
born near Teheran In Persia and his name was said to be Spitama
Zarathushtra .

After bringing up a family he travelled among the com-
mon people and at times lived in a caveo He saw a vision in
which the Archangel led him to Godo After teaching for some time
he converted King Kavi Vishtaspa, of Iran and Media, who lived at
Persepolis,

The King ordered Zoroaster to write the Zend-Avesta
and to reform the priests, or Magio Zoroaster was probably killed
by Tartar invaders and his martyrdom added to his prestige.

Under Cyrus the Great the religion came to be the popu-
lar state cult of the Persian Empire so that it ranked as one of
the most influential sects of the entire world.

Zoroaster taught a dualism between the God of light from
whom the Holy Spirit emanated and Ahriman , the fallen Satan of
darkness o The good deity was called Ahura Mazda or Ormazd . At
the end of time he will overcome the powers of evil so that the
dualism is liraitedo

Many minions serve these deities. The good God enlight-
ened Zoroaster through the Ams has hp and 3 so that he could help man
to win the fight against evil by good thought , good word and good
deed .

The moral teachings encourage normal married life en-
riched by work, honesty, purity, and brotherly love. At one time
men were so wicked that God sent floods, but he also sent Yima to
save a male and female of every species in an enclosure.

Zoroaster believed in a Day of Judgment when all men and
women were to be judged in accordance with their records of good
and evil. He believed in a Day of Resurrection to be ushered in
by a Messiah born of a Virgin , and in temporary reward and punish-
ment in heaven and hell . At the end, however, there will be the
final triumph of the right, when all men will be restored to glory.
All life is a struggle to the very end so that suicide is surrender
and treachery.

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When Persia conquered Babylon the Jewish captives came
imder the influence of the Zoroastrlan ideas » Judgment based on
moral llvlngj reward and punishment after deathj resurrection, a
Messiah born of a vlrginj and a struggle between Jehovah and Satan
were Ideas that were popularized by the Pharisee school of thought »
Many of the basic ideas of Judaism^ Christianity and Islam are
similar to the original beliefs of Zoroastrlanism„

The temples were very simple j instead of Images there
were fires which were symbols of purltyj simple offerings of fruits
and cakes were made but living things were not sacrificed »

Children are received into the cult at the age of five
or six when shirts and girdles are placed on them.

Originally the bodies of the dead were not buried but
placed on the mountain sides where the birds could dispose of
them. At the present time they are placed in round enclosures j
called " Towers of Silence ", open to the sky and the birds »

At one time Zoroastrlanism became contaminated by super-
stition and the priests abused their powero The Islamic and Tartar
invasions reduced the sect to small proportions In Persia and drove
many refugees to India, At the same time the faith was purified.

Today there are about 5,000 Zoroastrians left in the
Kerman and Yezd provinces of Persia, but there are nearly 90^000
in India where they are known as Parsees and form a wealthy and
much respected group in Bombay and other places.

2o The Jews

The Jews in the Near East have been for the most part
members of old communities which date back to Roman times, or else
colonies of refugees who fled from Spain during the Inqulsltlono
There is a small synagogue on the edge of the Golden Horn in old
Stamboul which was built in 1492 and which bears testimony to the
fact that many Jews fled to the Near East for protection the year
that Ferdinand and Isabella captxired Granada and started to drive
out the Muslims and Jews together from Spain. Ever since that
time there has been a great deal of cooperation and good feeling
between the Muslims and Jews,

There are 125,000 Jews in 'Iraq, 65,000 in Egypt, at
least 20,000 in al-Yaman of south-west Arabia, and smaller groups
in Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and Iran, Before the war there were
some 45,000 Jews in Palestine most of whom had gone there prompted
by religious sentiment. Since the time of the British occupation
over 600,000 new colonists have emigrated to Palestine from Poland,
Roximania, Germany, the United States and other countries.

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The Jewish groups In the Near East represent almost
every phase of Jewish thought and worship. The old colonies In
the Arab lands are made up of conservative people who look like
Arabs, speak Arabic and share freely in all of the fortunes of the
Arab race. The colonists who have recently come to Palestine are
learning to speak Hebrew, they are distinctly European In appear-
ance and feeling, their political ambitions are opposed to those
of the Arabs, and large numbers of them are radicals. Some of
their colonies are administered as small communist units where many
of the young men and women are careless about the ancient rites of
their faith while other colonies are conservative and very pious „

At the same time there are many Jews in Turkey and the
Balkan states who are intimately associated with the social and
political fortunes of those lands. They have comparatively little
in common with the Arabic speaking Jews of the South or the Jews
from Central Europe and America who have emigrated to Palestine o

It would require, therefore, a whole book to describe
the Jewish communities and religious practices of the Near East so
that it is Impossible to do justice to such an in^iortant matter in
this brief outline.

3, The Samaritans

When Sargon, King of Assyria, Invaded the Kingdom of
Israel he captured Samaria in 722 BoC, and led many of the inhabi-
tants into captivity. It is believed that he put in their place
certain pagan tribesmen in order to form an outpost loyal to his
rule in the center of Palestine, The people of this Assyrian out-
post mingled with such Jews as remained in the land and were
influenced by the Jewish traditions which were far superior to
their own.

When the Persian conquerors sent Serubbabel to restore
Jerusalem, the people of Samaria wished to share in rebuilding the
temple. As Zerubbabel and Nehemiah feared treachery during the
years when the reconstruction work was going on, the Samaritan
offer was refused. This led the Samaritans to use Mt, Gerizlm,
near the ancient Shechem or modern Nablus, as their sanctuary.

They based their worship on the Pentateuch and the prac-
tices of orthodox Judaism, but they developed rites apart from
those of the Jews and maintained an independent priesthood. They
suffered from many of the distiarbances which were caused by Jewish
rebellions. Their temple on Mt. Gerizlm was destroyed by the
Romans in 484 A.D. when Zeno was the reigning emperor at Constan-
tinople.

During the stormy centuries of the Middle Ages all of
their communities disappeared except the original group at Nablus

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or Shechem. There are only about a hundred persons left In that
remnant of what was once an important element In Palestine «

The group at Nablus still guards valuable scrolls of
the Pentateuch and supports several priests. Every spring the
people spend the Passover night on Mto Gerizim, They set up tents
and the laymen watch Gypsy dances and enjoy social amusement while
the priests stand in the moonlight on the foundations of the
ancient temple and chant fine old psalms. A few of the priests
skin and prepare a number of sheep which are placed in a hole In
the ground and cooked for several hours »

When the sacrificial meal is prepared the people leave
their social amusements and gather around the priests who pull the
stakes bearing the sheep from the hole in the ground, cut the meat
and pass it with unleavened wafers to the members of the congrega-
tion. Certain parts of the sheep are distributed to the priests
themselves .

Except for some of the rites in India, there is probably
no other ceremony in the world that gives such a good idea of
ancient practices as this Samaritan Passover provides.

4., The B aha is

Although the Bahai Movement started as a reform program
In Shiite Persia it is not accurate to call it a Muslim secto

Early In the 19th Century some of the Shaykhs, or eccle-
siastics of the Shiltes, started a movement to purify many of
their practices which had become superstitious and debased. They
chose ' All Muhammad , the son of a Shiraz merchant, to be their
leader. In 1844 he returned from the Makkah pilgrimage and de-
clared that he was the " Bab " , the doorway to knowledge of the
divine truth.

Although he was persecuted, imprisoned and executed, his
followers caught the spirit of his reform and passed on the leader-
ship to the sons of a wealthy citizen of Teheran. The best known
of these brothers was Mirza Husayn 'All Nuri, who became famous as
Baha' Allah . After withdrawing from persecution in Persia, he
lived at Baghdad, where he declared himself to be "He whom God will
manifest" as announced by the Bab,. He was then arrested by the
Ottoman government and placed in prison.

His final place of imprisonment was at Akka (Saint Jean
d'Acre) across' the bay from Mto Carmel where he died in 1892« His
son ' Abbas Effendl , or 'Abd al-Baha, was in prison with him until
the government attitude became liberal enough to give him freedom.
He then made his headquarters at Akka and the nearby Haifa and from
there travelled to Europe and America,

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After his death his grandson, Shoghi Effendi , became head
of the movement. He was a graduate of the American University of
Beirut and also studied in England, In a very modest and efficient
way he has been translating the beautiful writings of Baha' Allah
and trying to unify the ideas of the many members of the movement
in different parts of the world. He continues to live at Haifa.

This movement of Baha' Allah emphasizes the need for
good living, universal peace, and general enlightenment. It
represents a much needed reform in Shiite Persia and at the same
time appeals to many Christians in Exjrope and America, who feel
that the fundamentalist doctrines of their faith are not up-to-
date.

Like Apostolic Christianity there is no clergy but rather
a system of committees in various localities. Worship is in pri-
vate houses. The only ecclesiastical building Is the unfinished
temple on the north side of Chicago, The tombs of the founders on
Mt. Carmel and nearby Haifa are exceedingly simple and very beau-
tiful.

It is impossible to say how many followers there are.
There are probably many hundreds of thousands in Iran and tens of
thousands in Europe and America, It is a movement which appeals
to educated people more than to the ignorant masses.

5, The Mandaeans

They form a sect in the marsh lands of Southern 'Iraq,

near Bosrah. They are also known as Sabians, Nasaraeans, St.

John's Christians and Mandaltes, The neune "Mandaean" means
"Followers of Gnosis."

Their sacred books are written in an Aramaic dialect and
probably date from the Sassanid period. The " Sidra Rabba " or
"Ginza" is their principal scripture and consists of instructions
for the living and prayers for the dead.

The cosmology is of a Gnostic type and describes various
emanations from a triad. Certain of the metaphysical ideas are
similar to those of the Manichaeans. The emanation called "Primal
Life" is a transcendent deity; the second emanation is related to
the Hebrew Jehovah; the third suggests the "Logos", or Christ, but
is related to Marduk of Babylon,

There are also certain guardians of souls and the "Ancient",
who balances the deeds of the dead and whose image became the crea-
tor of matter.

The lords of four "vestibules" and three hells were over-
come by the emissary of light, which suggests Persian dualism. Many
of their offspring are associated with the planets and stars.

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The Pole Star stands by the "Ancient" so that the
Mandaeans face the north when they pray, Jesus and the prophets
are regarded as false and John the Baptist as true, A oontenipor=
ary of John's, Anosh Uthra , preached the true religion and sent
forth 360 disciples. At the end of time the devil will swallow
the lower worlds, fall into the abyss of darkness and leave only
the world of everlasting light.

There are three grades of priests, who dress in white.
Baptism and purification with water are the chief rites and usually
involve total linmersion. There is also a rite not unlike the
eucharist, when bread and wine are distributed. There are six im-
portant feasts in addition to worship on Sundays,

Most of the members of the sect are skilled artisans.
There are probably less than 2,000 members at the present time,
although the sect used to be much more important.

6, The Yazlds

The Yazidi movement probably developed during the period
of the Umayyad Caliphate of Damascus, It may have had some connec-
tion with the Caliph Yazid, (680 A.D,), but it is more likely that
the name "Yazidi" is derived from the Pahlavi word "Yazd" which
means "Deity",

The tribes connected with the movement claim to have
migrated from Southern 'Iraq during the Tartar wars, and to have
occupied their present center at Jabal Sinjar and their strong-
holds in the Kurdish mountains during the 15th and 16th centuries.

Because of constant fighting with the Turks their numbers
decreased until there are now only about 65,000 left. Their
language, appearance, tribal organization and dress are almost
entirely Kurdish, which makes one wonder whether or not it is real-
ly true that they originated from 'Iraq,

Their religious center is the tomb of their great saint,
Shaykh 'Adi , in Jabal Sinjar, west of Mosul, It is xanfair to call
them by their popular name "Devil Worshippers" although many pagan
elements appear in their religion. They have two sacred books
written in Arabic, the " Book of Revelation " and the " Black Book ",

They believe in a dualism between a passive creator and
the active Malak Ta'us , (Peacock Angel), Shaykh 'Adi, the saint,
passed through various phases of transmigration and achieved
divinity, uniting with the Peacock Angel, This Angel also passed
through a period of punishment and repentance as Satan before
being uplifted by the Creator, It is forbidden to mention the
name "Ta'us", which supposedly is derived from the peacock, rather
than from "Theos" or "Tammuz".

There are seven images of peacocks which represent the
angels who took part In creation and copies of these are circulated
among the tribes every year. There Is also the Image of a snake
cut Into the doorway of the central sanctuary.

The Yazidls are very exclusive and at the same time they
are a group with a true sense of moral character. They pray, ob-
serve a three day fast in December, make a pilgrimage to the tomb
of Shaykh 'Adi in September, and baptize their children. They
bathe, sing hymns and develop ecstatic rites during the pilgrim-
age. Little balls of clay from the tomb of Shaykh 'Adi are popu-
lar as talismans.

The religious and political chief is known as Shaykh
Nasir though there are tribal leaders and several orders of reli-
gious priests. Because of Turkish persecution they became friend-
ly with the Christians and enjoyed the comparative security which
existed during the Franco-British occupation of Syria and 'Iraq.

A few of the Yazidls in the region of Jabal Sinjar and
in the community north of Aleppo have gone to school. When a
larger number of their group receive education it is probable that
the community will become less exclusive and more ready to share
in the changing customs of modern life.

I