Occult Theocracy Chapter XV - XVII

CHAPTER XV

THE YEZIDEES (DEVIL WORSHIPPERS)

The sect of the Yezidees was founded by Sheik Adi in the fifth century. Mr. W. B. Seabrook's observations on the Yezidees, as recorded in his book, Adventures in Arabia, form a basis for the study of the beliefs of this sect.

According to his informant, the Yezidee faith is briefly this : '

"God created seven spirits ' as a man lighteth one lamp after another ',and  the first of these spirits was Satan, whom God made supreme ruler of the earth for a period of ten thousand years. And because Satan was supreme master of the earth, those who dwelt on it could prosper only by doing him homage and worshipping him.

" Since the true name was forbidden ",Mechmed Hamdi told me, " they referred to Shaitan as Melek Taos (Angel Peacock) and worshipped him in the form of a brass bird "

While the name of Shaitan was forbidden ", he said, " so much so that if a Yezides hears it spoken, their law commands him either to kill the man who uttered it or kill himself — yet we could talk as freely with them about Melek Taos as we could to a Christian about Jesus. "

A priest of the cult also volunteered the following information to Mr. Seabrook on the Yezidee divinity.

"Our difference from all other religions is this that we know God is so far away that we can have no contact with Him and He, on his part, has no knowledge or interest of any sort concerning human affairs. It is useless to pray to him or worship Him. He cares nothing about us.

" He has given the entire control of this world for ten thousand years to the bright spirit Melek Taos, and Him, therefore, we worship. Moslems and Christians are wrongly taught that he whom we call Melek Taos is the spirit of evil. We know that this is not true.

He is the spirit of power and the ruler of this world. At the end of the ten thousand years of his reign  of which we are now in the third thousand — he will Re enter paradise as the chief of the Seven Bright Spirits, and all his true worshippers will enter paradise with him. "

The Grand Priest of the order, the " Mir ", receives one-seventh part of the harvests of the land. He is the arbiter of all religious matters and under him rank seven ecclesiastical orders.

The doctrine of the Yezidees is contained in three sacred books The Black Book,The Revelation and The Contract with the Devil; but a knowledge of reading and writing is restricted to the priests of the first order and is classified by the sect  as serious sin.

CHAPTER XVI

ORTHODOX ISLAM

The Arabian peninsula was the home of nomads and mountaineers when, in the seventh century, Mahomet arose as a self styled Prophet and the creator of Islamism. The doctrine of Islam has three dogmas : —

1. Monotheism.

2. Belief in the Prophet, namely Mahomet.

3. The law of retribution.

The sacred book of Islamism, the Koran, was devoid of mystic teaching. The Figh, for every believer, is the code of morals and obligations such as fast,prayer,pigrimage to Mecca, etc. Mysticism was interjected into Islamism by Sufism.

Mahomet aimed at the establishment of a religion which, he declared, was revealed to him during periods of trance which he frequently underwent.He was determined to impose this religion on all the Arabs and, through much bloodshed, he succeeded in stamping out the Koraishites from whom he took Mecca.

The death of Mahomet was the signal for disruption among his followers and innumerable divisions both political and religious,from the history of the Arabs during their periods of conquest which began immediately after the death of Mahomet during the Khalifate of Omar (634-644).

CHAPTER XVII

UNORTHODOX ISLAM, THE ISHMAELITES,THE LODGE OF CAIRO

Manicheism was not the only secret association that sprang from the initiations of the Magi.In the seventh century of our era we meet with similar societies, possessing an influence not limited to the regions in which they arose, variations of one single thought, which aimed at combining the venerable doctrines of Zoroaster with Christian belief. Of these societies or sects the following may be mentioned : the followers of Keyoumerz; the worshippers of Servan, certain Zoroastrians, so-called " Dualists " ; Gnostics and, lastly, the followers of Mastek, the most formidable and disastrous of all, preaching universal equality and liberty, the irresponsibility of man, and the community of property and women.

The Arabs having rendered themselves masters of Persia in the seventh centur,the sects of that country set to work to spread their tenets among Islam in order to undermine it.

This is corroborated by Heckethorn who writes :

"The Persian sects examined the Koran, pointed out its contradictions, and denied its divine origin. And so there arose in Islamism that movement which attacks dogmas, and destroys faith, and substitutes for blind belief free enquiry. " '

In Persia and in Mesopotamia had spread the new rationalism, the philosophical heresy of the Mutazilites (schismatics) exposed by Hassan al-Basri.

The Jew Abdallah Ibn Saba 2 presented himself as the prophet of the future Imam, who was to manifest. He meant to overthrow the caliphate and to uphold the rights of Mahomet al-Hanafi, the son of Ismael, the descendant of the prophet by his daughter Fatima, the wife of Ali. Thus was founded the Shi'a sect.

The Fatmite dynasty (from Fatima, daughter of Mahomet) was founded in 909 A. D. when Ahmed Said, the son of a Jewess who had married the Shi'a chief al-Hussain, conquered Egypt and Syria, establishing the centre at Cairo. Declaring himself to be the long expected Imam, Said, on coming to power, assumed the name of Obaid Allah el-Mahdi. 4 The Fatmite dynasty lasted from 909 to 1171. Hecke thorn informs us that " The Doial-Doat, or supreme missionary or judge, shared the power with the prince. 

" Meetings were held in the Lodge at Cairo, which contained many books and scientific instruments; science was the professed object, but the real aim was very different. The course of instruction was divided into nine degrees... the ninth degree... as the necessary result of the teaching of all the former, taught that nothing was to be believed, and that everything was lawful.

" Egypt, especially, seems as if predestined to be the birthplace of secret societies, of priests, warriors and fanatics. It is the region of mysteries... Cairo has succeeded the ancient Memphis, the doctrine of the Lodge of Wisdom that of the Academy of Heliopolis... The throne of the descendants of Fatima was to be surrounded with an army of assassins, a formidable body-guard; a mysterious militia was to be raised, that should spread far and wide the fame and terror of the caliphate of Cairo, and inflict fatal blows on the abhorred rule of Bagdad. The missionaries spread widely, and in Arabia and Syria, partisans were won, to whom the designs of the order were unknown, but who had with fearful solemnity sworn blind obedience. "

The Fatmites had received from the sect the mission of destroying, or at least     of disrupting Islam. The successor of Obaid-Allah continued this work, having himself proclaimed a Shi'a while in reality he was sceptic. It was under the Caliph Hakim that the Druses came into being.

The Shi'a sects who recognized Mohammed al- Hanafi as the last living " Imam " were called Ismaelites or Septimans. From their midst sprang a secret body,       the Khoja, which, in spite of persecution still exists in Persia and India, where its exoteric chief is the Anglicised Indian, the Aga Khan, whose followers are the moneylenders of Islam, a profession forbidden by Mahomet.

Still another Shi'a sect, the Duodecimans or Imanites, recognize Mohamed al-Muntazar the twelfth Imam.

Under the Fatmite Caliph Hakim,a new religion sprang out of Ismailism, that of the Druses, so called from its inventor, a certain Darosi. This religion differs little from Ismailism, except that it introduces the dogma of the incarnation of God himself on Earth, under the form of the Caliph Hakim.

When the Fatmite Caliph Mostansir ascended the throne, he re-established the Ismailian belief :and the Druses, driven from Egypt, took refuge in Lebanon, where they still exist.