19/07/2025
Yes, it is Genocide!
The genocide of the Yazidi people. Not a metaphor. Not an exaggeration. It is one of the clearest, most brutal, and most religiously motivated genocides of the 21st century.
This genocide did not begin in 2014. It did not begin with ISIS. It began with the rise of Islamic empires that viewed Yazidis as kafir, mushrik, devil worshipers. And it has never truly ended.
The Ottoman Empire led brutal campaigns against Yazidis especially in the 1800s under commanders like Hafiz Pasha. Villages were burned. Yazidi temples were destroyed. Men were slaughtered. Women were forcibly converted. The Ottoman state issued firmans official decrees of extermination not once, but dozens of times. Yazidis speak of 72 genocidal campaigns throughout their history nearly all of them at the hands of Islamic rulers.
And yet, even after everything, the world remains largely silent. The Muslim world, in particular, refuses to confront the truth and in doing so, becomes complicit in the erasure of an entire people.
Let us begin with the facts.
In August 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria ISIS launched a military and ideological campaign against the Yazidis of Sinjar in northern Iraq. Thousands of Yazidi men were executed in open fields, often forced to dig their own graves. Yazidi women and girls were taken as spoils of war, referred to as "sabaya," meaning s*x slaves, and bought and sold in open slave markets. Some were gifted to fighters as rewards for loyalty. Others were paraded through the streets, stripped naked, and treated worse than animals. Many were r***d repeatedly, some by dozens of men. Girls as young as eight were violated. Pregnant women were burned alive in cages. Children were separated from their families, brainwashed, or simply disappeared.
This was not hidden. ISIS declared it proudly. Their ideology was clear. Their justifications came directly from religious texts and centuries of traditional jurisprudence. They cited Islamic history and theology to rationalize r**e, slavery, and ex*****on. They recorded these atrocities and broadcast them for the world to see. This was not a crime committed in secret. It was declared, defended, and promoted.
The United Nations eventually called it genocide. So did Western governments like the United States and the United Kingdom. Human rights organizations documented every step. Survivors gave their testimonies. Mass graves were uncovered. The evidence is overwhelming.
And yet, from the global Muslim community, there was almost nothing.
No widespread outrage. No protests. No Friday sermons condemning ISIS for their crimes against the Yazidis. No major Muslim-majority country officially recognized the genocide. No fatwas. No theological reckonings. Just silence, denial, or worse quiet approval hidden behind indifference.
This silence is not just shameful. It is a continuation of the genocide itself.
Because this genocide did not start with ISIS. It did not begin in 2014. It has been happening to the Yazidi people for centuries, long before the cameras were rolling and hashtags existed.
During the era of the Ottoman Empire, Yazidis faced repeated military campaigns. In the 1800s, Ottoman commanders like Hafiz Pasha led brutal assaults against Yazidi villages. Temples were destroyed. Men were massacred. Women were forcibly converted to Islam. Yazidis were declared heretics and devil worshipers by both Sunni and Shia scholars. They were denied protection under Islamic law because they were not considered People of the Book. Throughout their history, Yazidis speak of seventy-two separate genocidal campaigns most of them at the hands of Islamic empires or rulers acting in the name of religion.
Even today, in countries like Pakistan, many Islamists and religious clerics openly justify what ISIS did to the Yazidis. They call them devil worshipers, a slander that has followed the Yazidi people for centuries. In interviews, videos, and sermons, you can hear people say without hesitation that Yazidis deserved punishment for refusing Islam. This is not fringe. This is mainstream in many parts of the Muslim world.
What makes it worse is how Yazidis are treated when they dare to speak up.
Survivors like Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad a woman who was r***d and enslaved by ISIS have been labeled as Islamophobes by Muslim activists and even by Western progressives. Imagine that. You survive gang r**e. You escape slavery. You speak out about the ideology that justified your suffering. And instead of being embraced, you are accused of hate. Accused of offending religion. Accused of fueling stereotypes.
This is the grotesque distortion of the word "Islamophobia."
Criticizing a religion is not hate. Holding an ideology accountable is not bigotry. Exposing the very texts and teachings that were used to justify slavery and genocide is not racism. But today, the label of Islamophobia is thrown around so loosely that it protects the abuser more than the abused. It is used to silence survivors, suppress criticism, and avoid difficult truths.
The world has failed the Yazidi people. The Muslim world, in particular, has betrayed them. The silence is not just painful — it is deadly. Because genocide thrives when there is no outrage. When victims are blamed. When survivors are told to be quiet. When murderers walk free and no one dares speak their names.
Thousands of Yazidi women are still missing. Mass graves are still being uncovered. Children have grown up without families. Communities are shattered. And yet, no one is held accountable. ISIS fighters have returned home to places like Turkey, Tunisia, Pakistan, and even parts of Europe. They live freely. Meanwhile, Yazidi survivors remain in refugee camps, forgotten.
This is what happens when the world prioritizes religious comfort over justice. When political Islam dominates the narrative. When truth is labeled hate, and silence is labeled peace.
I will not be silent. I will not pretend this genocide did not happen. I will not protect the feelings of the religious over the pain of the oppressed. I will not call for peace while truth is buried under fear.
The genocide of Yazidis is a scar on the soul of humanity.
And it will not heal until it is fully named, fully condemned, and fully remembered.
Yazidi lives matter.
Not just in words. In action. In history. In justice.
And I will never stop reminding you.
Translated
نعم، إنها إبادة جماعية!
إبادة جماعية بحقّ الإيزيديين. ليست مبالغة، ولا مجازًا. إنها واحدة من أوضح وأبشع الجرائم الدينية في القرن الحادي والعشرين.
ولم تبدأ هذه الإبادة عام 2014، ولم تبدأ مع داعش. بل بدأت منذ صعود الإمبراطوريات الإسلامية التي اعتبرت الإيزيديين كفارًا، مشركين، وعبّاد شيطان. ولم تتوقف أبدًا.
خلال القرن التاسع عشر، شنّت الدولة العثمانية حملات دموية ضد الإيزيديين بقيادة قادة مثل حافظ باشا. قُتِل الرجال، وأُحرقت القرى، وهُدمت المعابد، وأُجبرت النساء على اعتناق الإسلام. الدولة العثمانية أصدرت "فرمانات" رسمية لإبادة الإيزيديين، ليس مرة، بل عشرات المرات. يذكر الإيزيديون أنهم تعرضوا لـ72 حملة إبادة جماعية عبر التاريخ، معظمها بأيدي حكّام مسلمين.
ورغم كل ذلك، لا يزال العالم صامتًا. والعالم الإسلامي – خصوصًا – يرفض مواجهة الحقيقة، وبهذا يصبح شريكًا في محو هذا الشعب.
دعونا نبدأ بالحقائق.
في أغسطس 2014، شنّ تنظيم داعش حملة عسكرية وعقائدية ضد الإيزيديين في سنجار شمال العراق. أُعدم آلاف الرجال في الحقول بعد إجبارهم على حفر قبورهم. النساء والفتيات تم بيعهن كـ"سبايا" في أسواق النخاسة. بعضهن أُهدي كمكافآت للمقاتلين. فتيات لا تتجاوز أعمارهن الثامنة تم اغتصابهن مرارًا. نساء حوامل أُحرقت وهنّ أحياء داخل أقفاص. الأطفال تم فصلهم عن عائلاتهم وغُسل أدمغتهم أو اختفوا.
ولم يُخفِ داعش هذه الجرائم، بل تباهى بها. استند في تبريراته إلى نصوص دينية وتاريخ فقهي طويل. بثّ مقاطع الفيديو، وكتب مقالات لتبرير الاغتصاب والعبودية والقتل.
الأمم المتحدة وصفت ما حدث بأنه "إبادة جماعية"، وكذلك فعلت حكومات غربية عديدة. الأدلة واضحة، والشهادات دامغة، والمقابر الجماعية شاهدة.
لكن أين كان صوت العالم الإسلامي؟
لا مظاهرات. لا خطب جمعة. لا فتاوى. لا إدانات رسمية. فقط صمت... أو تبرير خفي.
هذا الصمت ليس مجرد عار. إنه استمرار للإبادة.
فداعش لم يكن البداية. الإبادة كانت تمضي منذ قرون، باسم الدين. في العهد العثماني، تم تدمير القرى والمعابد، واعتُبر الإيزيديون زنادقة بلا حقوق. فقهاء من السنة والشيعة أفتوا بكفرهم ووجوب قتلهم أو إجبارهم على الإسلام.
حتى اليوم، في دول مثل باكستان، لا يزال بعض رجال الدين يدافعون عن ما فعله داعش، ويكررون نفس الاتهامات القديمة: عبّاد شيطان، يستحقون ما حدث لهم.
والأسوأ من ذلك، أن ضحايا الإبادة حين يروون معاناتهم، يتم اتهامهم بـ"الإسلاموفوبيا".
نادية مراد – الحائزة على نوبل – وُصفت بأنها تهاجم الإسلام، فقط لأنها قالت الحقيقة.
هل أصبح انتقاد الإيديولوجيا جريمة؟ هل أصبح كشف مصدر الألم كراهية؟
"الإسلاموفوبيا" أصبحت أداة لإسكات الناجين. أداة لحماية الجاني بدل الضحية. أداة لدفن الحقيقة.
لقد خذل العالم الشعب الإيزيدي. وخانهم العالم الإسلامي بصمته.
الآلاف من النساء الإيزيديات لا يزلن في عداد المفقودين. مقابر جديدة تظهر. الأطفال كبروا دون عائلات. بينما عناصر داعش عادوا إلى ديارهم يعيشون بحرية. والناجون؟ تُركوا في المخيمات، منسيين.
عندما يتم تفضيل "راحة المتدين" على "عدالة الضحية"، عندما تصبح الحقيقة "كراهية"، والصمت "سلامًا"، فإننا نشارك في الجريمة.
لن أصمت.
لن أتظاهر بأن هذه الإبادة لم تحدث.
لن أُرضي المشاعر الدينية على حساب العدالة.
لن أدفن الحقيقة لإرضاء عقيدة.
إبادة الإيزيديين وصمة عار في ضمير البشرية.
ولن تُشفى إلا إذا سُمّيت، وأُدينت، ووُثّقت.
الإيزيديون يستحقون الحياة.
ليس بالكلام فقط، بل بالعدالة والاعتراف والمحاسبة.
