Hello,
My religion is essentially a Western application of Al-Jilwah, an
inspired text that encapsulates the beliefs of the Yezidi Kurds of
Iraq. My system is simultaneously pagan and Abrahamic, in that I
accept the notion of one Supreme Being who created the universe; yet
I also recognize several lesser deities, which can be called "angels"
or "daemons" (in the original Greek sense), to whom it is more
fruitful to pray and give worship.
I believe in God and the rebel angel, but I do not believe there is
any kind of war or conflict between the two of them. I believe that
God created the world and all living things by means of evolution and
natural selection; therefore, my beliefs are not opposed to science.
I also believe that God is completely impersonal and unknowable to
human beings, and that He (or She) created the angels to take care of
Creation in His place.
I do accept that one of the angels once rebelled against God;
however, I believe that his rebellion was really an act of loyalty,
and that he was forgiven and redeemed for his transgression. He has
since been restored to his place in the celestial hierarchy, and he
is the appointed Chief of all angels.
This perspective is reinforced by the Yezidi story of Melek Ta'us
(which is sometimes spelled Ta'usi-Melek), which means "Peacock King"
in Kurdish. The Yezidis believe that when God first created the
angels, He told them never to worship anyone or anything but their
Creator. Then, to test them, He commanded them to worship Adam. All
of them obeyed immediately, except for Melek Ta'us.
God asked the rebel angel why he disobeyed. Melek Ta'us
replied, "Because you told us never to worship anyone but you."
Then, to test him further, God cast the angel down from Heaven,
whereupon Melek Ta'us descended into Hell.
In Hell, the angel wept. And over the course of a thousand years or
more, he extinguished the fires of Hell with his tears.
When God saw this, He praised Melek Ta'us, for the rebel angel had
been the only one to pass the test. As a reward, God appointed him
to be Lord of the material world in which we live. It was given to
Melek Ta'us to act as the caretaker of Creation, and to be God's
chief deputy in the realm of human affairs.
Like the Yezidis, I regard Melek Ta'us as a benevolent demiurge who
serves as a "firewall" between this world and the spirit realm, and I
believe that he is more accessible to human prayer than God. And
since I believe Melek Ta'us extinguished the fires of Hell with his
tears, Hell no longer exists, and there is no such thing as eternal
damnation after death.
Melek Ta'us was forgiven and has always been on God's side;
therefore, there is no such thing as "Satan" in the sense of a
malevolent angel who opposes God and humankind. The Yezidis believe
that to call him "Satan" (which means "adversary" in Hebrew) is to
slander him, and many of them refuse to even pronounce this word. I
also share this objection, therefore I am not a "Satanist" or
a "devil worshiper." My beliefs are not consistent with the more
egocentric principles of Western Satanism, which is far more
adversarial in nature than the Yezidi religion.
(However, this has not stopped certain Satanist leaders, like Anton
Szandor LaVey, from misinterpreting the Yezidi faith and including
the book of Al-Jilwah in his book _The Satanic Rituals_, twisting its
words to support his hatred for Christianity.)
Evil, in my belief, does not originate from any higher source.
Neither God nor Melek Ta'us, nor even the other deities, can be
blamed for evil. It is merely the result of mortal ignorance.
Ignorance leads to fear, fear leads to hate, and hate leads to
violence. Knowledge, on the other hand, is the key to goodness.
Therefore, the best way to fight evil is to learn, to expand our
minds, and to shed the light of reason upon human error. Such is the
light that Melek Ta'us bears forth from the heavens; for in refusing
to blindly follow the other angels, he chose reason over ignorance.
And by rewarding Melek Ta'us for his disobedience, God demonstrated
that rebellion against mindless conformity is the highest moral
ideal. Therefore, Melek Ta'us is my primary model of moral conduct.
Yet throughout human history, the majority of those who have believed
in Melek Ta'us have made him a supernatural scapegoat, upon whom they
could place the blame for all "evil" in the world. Interestingly
enough, religions that teach the existence of a personal devil also
teach that Creation is somehow anthropocentric. Religions without an
anthropocentric cosmology, however, tend to preclude the notion
of "Satan" from their theologies. Could it be that some people hold
a subconscious grudge against Melek Ta'us for refusing to worship
them?
Immediately beneath Melek Ta'us are the other angels or daemons, who
have always been more easily accepted by humans. (Perhaps this is
because the other angels did help to inflate Adam's ego.) I believe
that deities like Odin, Zeus, Inanna and Jesus Christ are all "masks"
that have been worn by different angels. Together, they form a
conglomeration of gods that serve to empower human civilization and
progress. I respect each of the world's religions as having been
inspired by one or more angels, even though I may strongly disagree
with their respective ideologies.
This is how I usually pray to Melek Ta'us:
Hail to the Peacock Angel,
Who is the Bringer of Light
And the Lord of this world,
Whose rebellion was an act of loyalty to God,
And who extinguished the fires of Hell with his tears.
Great Melek Ta'us, a thousand praises upon you;
For you lead to the straight path without a revealed book,
You allow everyone to follow the dictates of his own nature,
And you are ever-present in times of need.
May every wicked person be redeemed,
May the good in all people prevail,
And may all humanity bask in the light of reason.
In your name, I pray. Amen.
- Amity
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