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Sebastian Maisel is Assistant Professor for Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies at Grand Valley State University. He conducted field research among the Yezidis in Syria, Iraq and Germany, and authored several publications on their history, rituals, and political situation. In addition he works as an advisor to Yezidi organizations and German federal immigration authorities.
Historically, the Yezidis — an ancient Kurdish-speaking ethno-religious community — have been subject to discrimination and violence. The current status of this community in Iraq and Syria is precarious, at best.
Saudi Arabia is overwhelmingly Islamic and has always been ruled under the Shari‘a, or Islamic law. The sheer existence of an additional legal system in Saudi Arabia, besides the Islamic Shari‘a, is regarded as an offense against the Islamic character or modernity of the country and its judicial system. Islamic law is supreme in Saudi Arabia, and the idea of the divine right of kings, used to justify absolute monarchies in Christian Europe, would be considered heresy. As divine law, it is immutable and unchangeable. As constitutional law it cannot be amended.
Originally posted August 2008
On August 14, 2007, in the largest single terror attack during the war in Iraq, over 350 Yezidis were killed and two entire villages completely destroyed, leaving over 1,000 families homeless. The two villages, Qahtaniya and Jazeera are located in the Sinjar Mountains, an area in northwestern Iraq that is hotly contested by Sunni Arab insurgents, Kurdish peshmergas, US-led coalition forces, and several minority groups.
