| Sultan Ezid Temple | |
|---|---|
 Sultan Ezid temple | |
| Religion | |
| Affiliation | Yazidism |
| Year consecrated | 2015 |
| Location | |
| Location | Tbilisi, Georgia |
  Shown within Tbilisi | |
| Geographic coordinates | 41°42′35″N44°52′18″E / 41.70972°N 44.87167°E |
| Part of a series on the Yazidi religion Yazidism |
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Sultan Ezid Temple is a Yazidi temple located in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. [1]
The temple is modeled on the Lalish temple, the holiest Yazidi temple located in Iraq [2] and has a single spire and bare-walled exteriors similar to the Lalish temple. [3] The premises also contain a pyramid-shaped glass building where courses on the Yazidi religion and history, as well as Georgian and Kurdish languages, are taught. [3]
The temple was opened in June 2015 and is named after Sultan Ezid, one of the holy men of the Yazidi faith. The temple is constructed on land donated by the Georgian Government in 2009, and the construction project was initiated in 2012 by the House of Yezidis of Georgia and financed by local businessmen. [1] [4] At the time of its opening in 2015, it was only the second Yazidi temple outside of Iraq. [3]
Yazidis are one of the ethnic minorities in Georgia, practicing an ancient, monotheistic belief that has similarities to Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Sufism and Zoroastrianism along with elements of sun worship. [5] [2] Yazidi religion was officially recognized in Georgia only in 2011. [3]
Melek Taûs, also spelled Malak Tāwūs and Tawûsê Melek, translated in English as Peacock Angel, is one of the central figures of the Yazidi religion. In Yazidi creation stories, God created the world and entrusted it to the care of seven Holy Beings, often referred to as the Seven Angels or heft sirr, whom the most preeminent is Tawûsê Melek, the Peacock Angel.
Yazidism or Sharfadin is a monotheistic ethnic religion that has roots in a western Iranic pre-Zoroastrian religion directly derived from the Indo-Iranian tradition. Yazidism is followed by the mainly Kurmanji-speaking Yazidis and is based on belief in one God who created the world and entrusted it into the care of seven Holy Beings, known as Angels. Preeminent among these Angels is Tawûsê Melek, who is the leader of the Angels and who has authority over the world.
‘Adī ibn Musāfir was a Muslim sheikh of Arab origin, considered a Yazidi saint. The Yazidis consider him as an avatar of Tawûsê Melek, which means "Peacock Angel". His tomb at Lalish, Iraq is a focal point of Yazidi pilgrimage.
Lalish is a mountain valley and temple in Shekhan, Duhok Governorate in Iraq. It is the holiest temple of the Yazidis. It is the location of the tomb of the Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir, a central figure of the Yazidi faith.
Yazdânism, or the Cult of Angels, is a proposed pre-Islamic Mithraic religion of the Kurds. The term was introduced and proposed by Kurdish and Belgian scholar Mehrdad Izady to represent what he considers the "original" religion of the Kurds.
Yazidis in Armenia are Yazidis who live in Armenia, where they form the largest minority. Recognized as an ethnic group in Armenia, majority of the Yazidis came to the country in 19th and early 20th centuries following the religious persecutions they were experiencing by the Ottoman Turks and the Sunni Kurds. According to the 2011 census around 35,000 Yazidis live in Armenia.
Yazidis or Yezidis are a Kurmanji-speaking endogamous minority group who are indigenous to Kurdistan, a geographical region in Western Asia that includes parts of Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran. The majority of Yazidis remaining in the Middle East today live in Iraq, primarily in the governorates of Nineveh and Duhok. There is a disagreement among scholars and in Yazidi circles on whether the Yazidi people are a distinct ethnoreligious group or a religious sub-group of the Kurds, an Iranic ethnic group. Yazidism is the ethnic religion of the Yazidi people and is monotheistic in nature, having roots in a pre-Zoroastrian Iranic faith.
Khurto Hajji Ismail or Babe Şêx was the religious leader of the Yazidi community of Iraq until his death in 2020. He held this position since 2007. He lived in Ain Sifni, Iraq.
The Kurds in Georgia form a major part of the historically significant Kurdish population in the post-Soviet space, and are members of the eponymous ethnic group that are citizens of Georgia. In the 20th century, most Kurds fled religious persecution in the Ottoman Empire to the Russian Empire. The return of their Kurdish surnames needs effort according to a Kurdish activist in Georgia. The Kurds also have their own schools, school books and a printing press in Georgia. Illiteracy among them disappeared in the early 1900s. Kurds in Georgia are politically neutral; however, in 1999 they staged a huge demonstration in Tbilisi, demanding the release of the founder of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, Abdullah Öcalan. Kurds in Georgia today use Cyrillic script. Earlier, in the 1920s, they used the Latin script.
Religious diversity has been a feature of Kurdistan for many centuries. Main religions that currently exist in Kurdistan are as follows: Sunni Islam, Shia Islam, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Yarsanism, Yazidism, Alevism, and Judaism. Today, Sunni Islam is the most adhered religion in Kurdistan.
The Yazidis in Georgia are a part of the Yazidis who fled from the Ottoman Empire due to persecution in the 19th and early 20th centuries and sought refuge in Georgia.
Bozan is a village in Nineveh Governorate, Iraq. It is located in the Tel Kaif District in the Nineveh Plains and mostly inhabited by Yazidis.
The persecution of Yazidis has been ongoing since at least 637 CE. Yazidis are an endogamous and mostly Kurmanji-speaking minority, indigenous to Upper Mesopotamia. The Yazidi religion is regarded as "devil-worship" by Muslims and Islamists. Yazidis have been persecuted by the surrounding Muslims since the medieval ages, most notably by Safavids, Ottomans, neighbouring Muslim Arab and Kurdish tribes and principalities. After the 2014 Sinjar massacre of thousands of Yazidis by ISIL, which started the ethnic, cultural, and religious genocide of the Yazidis in Iraq, Yazidis still face discrimination from the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government.
Quba Mêrê Dîwanê is the world's largest Yazidi temple. It is located in the Armenian village of Aknalich, in the province of Armavir, where the ethno-religious group is the largest minority. The village of Aknalich is located 35 kilometers west of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia.
There is a social organizational structure in the Yazidi community. There are three main castes, namely the Mirids, the Sheikhs, and the Pirs. Furthermore, there are positions for dignitaries in the Yazidi hierarchy.
Yazidi nationalism is widespread among some Yazidis and assumes that Yazidis are an independent ethnic group and nation and speak their own language, which they often call as Ezdiki. Furthermore, many Yazidis refer to their original settlement areas as Ezidkhan.
Sultan Êzîd is a divine figure in the Yazidi religion. Although many scholars consider his name to be derived from that of the second Umayyad caliph Yazid I, many Yazidis consider him to be a separate figure unconnected to the historical Yazid I. Yazidis typically consider him to be part of a triad of divine emanations of God, though he is sometimes also considered to be identical with the angel Melek Tawus, and thus a manifestation or emanation of God.
The Feast of the Assembly is a Yazidi festival.
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