Melek Taus - Kurdish
Tawûsê Melek "The Peacock
AngelAngels are spiritual beings found in many religious traditions. They are broadly viewed as messengers of God, sent to do God's tasks. Traditions vary as to the precise nature and role of these messages and tasks...
" is the
YazidiThe Yazidi are a Kurdish ethnicity with ancient Indo-European roots.They are primarily Kurdish speaking, and most live in the Mosul region of northern Iraq...
s' name for the central figure of their faith.
Religious significance
The Yazidis consider
Tawûsê Melek a benevolent angel who has redeemed himself from his fall and has become a
demiurgeDemiurge in philosophical and religious language is a term for a creator deity, responsible for the creation of the Universe.In the sense of a divine creative principle...
who created the cosmos from the Cosmic Egg. After he repented, he wept for 7000 years, his tears filling seven jars, which then quenched the fires of
hellIn many religious traditions, Hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife, often in the underworld. Religions with a linear divine history often depict Hell as endless...
.
Tawûsê Melek is sometimes transliterated
Malak Ta'us,
Malak Tawus, or
Malik Taws.
Melek was borrowed from the Arabic term "king" or "angel".
Tawûs is uncontroversially translated "peacock"; in art and sculpture, Tawûsê Melek is depicted as peacock. However, peacocks are not native to the lands where Tawûsê Melek is worshipped. It is likely the peacock iconography is a development from earlier representations depicting a native fowl, such as a
bustardThe Houbara Bustard, Chlamydotis undulata, is a large bird in the bustard family.-Description:The Houbara Bustard is 60 cm long with an 140 cm wingspan. It is brown above and white below, with a black stripe down the sides of its neck. In flight, the long wings show large areas of black...
.
The Yazidi believe that the founder of their religion, Sheikh Adi Ibn Musafir, was an
avatarIn Hinduism, Avatar or Avatara usually implies a deliberate descent from higher spiritual realms to lower realms of existence for special purposes, often translated into English as incarnation.Avatars that are of importance are mainly those of the Supreme Being...
of Tawûsê Melek.
Outside views
Some
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God.The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to...
s,
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
s and others identify Tawûsê Melek as
LuciferLucifer is a Latin word, literally meaning "light-bearer", that was used as a name for the "day star" or "Morning Star" that precedes the rising of the sun. The name is frequently given to the Devil in Christian convention...
or Shaytān (
SatanSatan is an embodiment of antagonism that originates from the Abrahamic religions, being traditionally considered an angel in Judeo-Christian belief, and a Jinn in Islamic belief...
). The Yazidis'
cultural prohibitionA taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and forbidden. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society. The term comes from the Tongan language, and appears in many Polynesian cultures...
against uttering the word – saying God's name is
blasphemyBlasphemy is the use of reference to one or more gods in a manner considered objectionable by a religious authority. It may include using sacred names as stress expletives without intention to pray or speak of sacred matters; it is also sometimes defined as language expressing disbelief or...
, as in Judaism – does not make the situation easier. Tawûsê Melek is "God's Angel", and this is how Yazidis themselves see him.
Because the Yazidis are a minority religion, they have suffered much persecution, with some pogroms against them nearly wiping out their religion. This has caused them to disguise their religion in the trappings of mainstream
IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
.
The Anderson FeriThe Feri Tradition is an oral, initiatory tradition of modern Neopagan witchcraft. It is an ecstatic, rather than a fertility, tradition stemming from the teachings of Cora and Victor Anderson...
cooption of Yezidi traditions
"Melek Taus" is also a central figure in many sects of the Feri tradition of modern
witchcraftWitchcraft, in various historical, anthropological, religious and mythological contexts, is the use of certain kinds of supernatural or magical powers. Witchcraft can refer to the use of such powers in order to inflict harm or damage upon members of a community or their property...
, where he is seen as the embodiment of the "higher self" of collective humanity; i.e. "the God of this world". There are various interpretations of the role of Melek Taus in Feri, some seeing Him as the darker aspect of the Blue God and others as the embodiment of the Divine Twins. However, given the role of paradox in Feri, both of these views can be held simultaneously.