View source for Religion:Chiragh Kush

'''Chiragh kush''' or '''Chiragh kosh''' (lamp killer) plural '''Chiragh kushan''' or '''Chiragh koshan'''<ref>{{cite journal |last=Floor |first=Willem |date=2014 |title=Who Were the Candle Extinguishers or Cheragh-Koshan? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13173/zeitdeutmorggese.164.1.0129 |journal=Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft |volume=164 |issue=1 |pages=129–44|jstor=10.13173/zeitdeutmorggese.164.1.0129 }}</ref>({{lang-fa|{{Nastaliq|چراغ کش}}}})<ref>{{cite web |date= |title=Meaning of charagh-kush in English |url=https://www.rekhtadictionary.com/meaning-of-charaag-kush |website=Rekhta Dictionary}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date= |title=چراغ کش - معنی در دیکشنری آبادیس |url=https://abadis.ir/fatofa/%DA%86%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%BA-%DA%A9%D8%B4/ |website=دیکشنری آبادیس}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date= |title=جست‌وجوی چراغ کش |url=https://vajehyab.com/?q=%DA%86%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%BA+%DA%A9%D8%B4 |website=واژه یاب}}</ref> was the Persian name for a false libel that was applied to various sects and religions across Eurasia since the Roman empire up the present day, accusing practitioners of that sect of religion of gathering one night with their mothers and sisters, and extinguishing the lights to engage in a massive sexual incestual orgy. It was directed against Christians, Cathars, Sunni Muslims, Shia Muslims, Alevis, Ismailis and many other sects. Today it survives mainly in the Middle East, Central Asia and South Asia and is levied at minority sects including Twelver Shia, Alevis and Ismailis.<ref>{{cite book |last=Izady |first=Mehrdad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EAbICQAAQBAJ&dq=%22The+accusation+is+levied+against+many+other+religious+minorities+connected+in+various+ways+to+the+Cult+of+Angels%22&pg=PA141 |title=Kurds: A Concise Handbook |date=2015 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1135844905 |edition=reprint |page=141}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hq8OAAAAIAAJ&dq=chiragh+kush&pg=PA293 |title=Journals of the Rev. Joseph Wolff |date=1832 |journal=The Calcutta Christian Observer |volume=1 |page=293}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Steingass |first=Francis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=knA9NptP7xsC&dq=chiragh+kush&pg=PA389 |title=A Comprehensive Persian-English Dictionary: Including the Arabic Words and Phrases to be Met with in Persian Literature, Being, Johnson and Richardson's Persian, Arabic, and English Dictionary, Revised, Enlarged, and Entirely Reconstructed |date=1992 |publisher=Asian Educational Services |isbn=8120606701 |edition=revised |page=389}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Erskine |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PXzW-XS9TQMC&dq=chiragh+kush&pg=PA281 |title=A History of India Under the Two First Sovereigns of the House of Taimur, Báber and Humáyun |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1108046206 |volume=2 of Cambridge Library Collection - South Asian History |page=281}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Ie8nt2dr20C&dq=chiragh+kush&pg=PA417 |title=Bactriana, Balkh, Kunduz and Badakhshan |date=1894 |journal=The Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review and Oriental and Colonial Record |publisher=Oriental Institute |volume=8 |location=Woking, England |page=417}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Dughlt |first=Mirza Muhammad Haidar |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1pkeWqq7pdgC&dq=chiragh+kush&pg=PA221 |title=A History of the Moghuls of Central Asi: The Tarikh-i-Rashidi |date=2008 |publisher=Cosimo, Inc. |isbn=978-1605201504 |edition=revised |page=221}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Morier |first=James Justinian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wAklAAAAMAAJ&dq=chiragh+kush&pg=PA147 |title=The Adventures of Hajji Baba, of Ispahan, Volume 1 |date=1824 |publisher=John Murray |edition=2 |volume=1 of The Adventures of Hajji Baba, of Ispahan: In Three Volumes. Vol. I. [-III.] |page=147}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Eliade |first=Mircea |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V07l6gThaV0C&dq=chiragh+kush&pg=PA490 |title=Yoga: Immortality and Freedom |date=2009 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0691142036 |editor-last= Trask |editor-first=Willard R. |edition=revised |series=Bollingen Series |volume=94 of Mythos: The Princeton/Bollingen Series in World Mythology |page=490}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Streeter |first=Edwin W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OTcRAwAAQBAJ&dq=chiragh+kush&pg=PA229 |title=Precious stones and gems, their history, sources and characteristics |date=1892 |publisher=Рипол Классик |isbn=5878152762 |page=229}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Bussell |first=Frederick William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-TnNDwAAQBAJ&dq=chiragh+kush&pg=PA366 |title=Religious thought and heresy in the Middle Ages |date=1918 |publisher=Dalcassian Publishing Company |series=Jeannie Willis Memorial Fund |page=366}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Morier |first=James Justinian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4eQQAAAAYAAJ&dq=chiragh+kush&pg=PA124 |title=The Adventures of Hajji Baba: In Turkey, Persia and Russia |date=1855 |publisher=Lippincott, Grambo & Company |page=124}}</ref>

== History ==

=== Roman empire persecution of Christians ===
Marcus Aerlius's Roman pagan tutor Fronto accused the early Christians of engaging in an incest orgy after causing the light to bow out by throwing a food at a dog tied to the lamp.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ehrman |first=Bart D. |url=https://silo.pub/forged-writing-in-the-name-of-god-why-the-bibles-authors-are-not-who-we-think-they-are.html |title=Forged: Writing in the Name of God--Why the Bible's Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are |date=2011 |publisher=HarperCollins |isbn=9780062078636 |page=167}}</ref><ref>https://archive.org/details/BartD.Ehrman-ForgedWritingInTheNameOfGod-WhyTheBiblesAuthors/page/n185/mode/2up</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Felix |first=Minucius |url=https://web.ics.purdue.edu/~kdickson/christians.html |title=Octavius }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=Feb 19, 2009 |title=The Christians Beat You To It |url=https://onlysky.media/cat/the-christians-beat-you-to-it/ |website=Only Sky}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Wilken |first=Robert Louis |url=https://vialogue.wordpress.com/2020/04/19/the-christians-as-the-romans-saw-them-reflections-notes/ |title=The Christians As the Romans Saw Them |date=2003 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn= |edition=Second |location= |page=221}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Eastman |first=David L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oKAHEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22they+begin+to+burn+with+incestuous+passions.%22&pg=PT24 |title=Early North African Christianity: Turning Points in the Development of the Church |date=2021 |publisher=Baker Academic |isbn=978-1493431328 |page=13}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Riedl |first=Matthias |date=2012 |title=The containment of Dionysos: religion and politics in the Bacchanalia affair of 186 BCE |url=https://www.academia.edu/3857570 |journal= International Political Anthropology |volume=5 |page=127 |number=2}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Molinari |first=Andrea Lorenzo |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=y077DwAAQBAJ&dq=%22they+begin+to+burn+with+incestuous+passions.%22&pg=PA82 |title=Romans and Christians AD 64: An Intergenerational Catechetical Experience of Martyrdom and Persecution in the Early Church |date=2009 |publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers |isbn=978-1725244399 |location= |page=82}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Glancy |first=Jennifer A.  |title=Notes on early Christian responses to corporeality, sexuality, and intimacy in dining culture |url=https://www.scribd.com/document/195950950/Jennifer-Glancy-Christian-Reponses-to-Dining-RichmondUni-2009-p14# |publisher=University of Richmond |page=4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Talbert|editor-first=Charles H.|date=2003|title=Reading Lucke-Acts in Its Mediterranean Milieu|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-9CKE1F_uK8C&dq=%22they+begin+to+burn+with+incestuous+passions.%22&pg=PA154|publisher=BRILL|volume=107 of Supplements to Novum Testamentum Series|page=154|isbn=9004129642}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Ehrman |first=Bart D. |url=https://dokumen.pub/a-brief-introduction-to-the-new-testament-fourth-edition-9780190276393-9780190276454-0190276398.html |title=A brief introduction to the New Testament |date=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780190276393 |edition=Fourth |location= |page=216}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Cooper |first=Derek |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zCNZDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22they+begin+to+burn+with+incestuous+passions.%22&pg=PA78 |title=Sinners and Saints: The Real Story of Early Christianity |date=2018 |publisher=Kregel Academic |isbn=978-0825444074 |edition=illustrated |location= |page=78}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Ehrman |first=Bart D. |url=https://www.academia.edu/42705771 |title=The Triumph of Christianity. How a Forbidden Religion Swept the World |date= 13 February 2018|publisher=Simon & Schuster |isbn=9781501136726 |location= |page=}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Caroti |first=Marcello |date=2018 |title=From Jesus to Marx, Birth and Death of a Civilization |url=https://www.academia.edu/11423423}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Porphyry |url=https://vdoc.pub/documents/porphyrys-against-the-christians-the-literary-remains-2nfk0e9dp4f0 |title=Porphyry's Against The Christians. The Literary Remains |publisher=Prometheus Books |others=R. Joseph Hoffmann |year=1994 |isbn=0-87975-889-9 |page=141}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lawrence Jr. |first=Raymond J. |url=https://vdoc.pub/documents/sexual-liberation-the-scandal-of-christendom-18ti8ue19msg |title=Sexual Liberation: The Scandal Of Christendom |date=2007 |publisher=Praeger publishers |isbn=978-0-275-99373-3 |page=30}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Felix |first=Marcus Minucius |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Tq_t-sEP9sC&dq=%22they+begin+to+burn+with+incestuous+passions.%22&pg=PA65 |title=The Octavius |date=1974 |publisher=Paulist Press |isbn=0809101890 |editor-last=Clarke |editor-first=Graeme Wilber |location= |page=65 |number=39 of Ancient Christian writers; the works of the Fathers in translation |edition=revised}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=MacDonald |first=Margaret Y. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bpj0g2OJRYcC&dq=%22they+begin+to+burn+with+incestuous+passions.%22&pg=PA60 |title=Early Christian Women and Pagan Opinion: The Power of the Hysterical Woman |date=1996 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0521567289 |edition=illustrated |location= |page=60}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Carson |first=Thomas G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hpINAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22now,+we+cannot+suppress+a+smile+at+this+preposterous+suggestion%22&pg=PA141 |title=Man's Responsibility: Or, How and Why, the Almighty Introduced Evil Upon the Earth |date=1905 |publisher=G.P.Putnam's sons |page=141}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia |year= |title=Orgy: Orgy in the Ancient Mediterranean World |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Religion |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/orgy-orgy-ancient-mediterranean-world |date=}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Sullivan |first=Karen |date=Winter 2001–2002 |title=THE ORTHODOX ORIGINS OF HETERODOXY Or, how what is good becomes evil |url=https://www.cabinetmagazine.org/issues/5/sullivan.php |journal= |issue=5}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Lees-Milne |first=James |date=1967 |title=SAINT PETER'S |url=https://stpetersbasilica.info/Docs/JLM/SaintPeters-2.htm |website= |publisher=C Michael Bloch}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Tertullian |editor-last1=Schaff |editor-first1=Philip |url=https://www.ccel.org/ccel/s/schaff/anf03/cache/anf03.txt |title=Latin Christianity: Its Founder, Tertullian |publisher= WM. B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING COMPANY |editor-last2=Menzies |editor-first2= Allan |volume=3 |page= |chapter=The Apology VII}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/tertullian01.html | title=Tertullian (Roberts-Donaldson) }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.tertullian.org/articles/mayor_apologeticum/mayor_apologeticum_07translation.htm | title=Tertullian : J. E. B. Mayor - Apologeticus. Translation by Alex. Souter }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Henrichs |first=Albert |url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110449242-002/pdf |title=II Greek Myth and Religion |date=2019 |publisher= De Gruyter |isbn= 9783110449242|editor-last=Yunis |editor-first=Harvey |location= |page= |chapter=2. Pagan ritual and the alleged crimes of the early Christians: A reconsideration |doi=10.1515/9783110449242|s2cid=201443680 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Wagemakers |first=Bart |date=October 2010 |title=Incest, Infanticide, and Cannibalism: Anti-Christian Imputations in the Roman Empire |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/231951834 |journal=Greece and Rome |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=337–354 |doi=10.1017/S0017383510000069|s2cid=161652552 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=WAGEMAKERS |first=BART |title=Incest, Infanticide, and Cannibalism: Anti-Christian Imputations in the Roman Empire |date=2010 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40929483 |journal=Greece & Rome |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=337–54|doi=10.1017/S0017383510000069 |jstor=40929483 |s2cid=161652552 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=LECKY |first=WILLIAM EDWARD HARTPOLE |url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=moa&cc=moa&view=text&rgn=main&idno=AFX9466.0001.001 |title=HISTORY OF EUROPEAN MORALS FROM AUGUSTUS TO CHARLEMAGNE |date=1873 |publisher=D. APPLETON AND COMPANY |volume=I |location= |page=440}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lecky |first=William Edward Hartpole |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VNthEAAAQBAJ&dq=celebrating+the+most+licentious+orgies,+feeding+on+human+flesh,+and+then,+the+lights+being+extinguished,+indulging+in+promiscuous,+and+especially+incestuous+intercourse.&pg=PT291 |title=History of European Morals From Augustus to Charlemagne (Vol. 1&2): Complete Edition |date=2020 |publisher=e-artnow |page=440}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lecky |first=William Edward Hartpole |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RglzEAAAQBAJ&dq=celebrating+the+most+licentious+orgies,+feeding+on+human+flesh,+and+then,+the+lights+being+extinguished,+indulging+in+promiscuous,+and+especially+incestuous+intercourse.&pg=PT291 |title=History of European Morals From Augustus to Charlemagne |date=2022 |publisher=DigiCat |page=440}}</ref> The slander of the incest orgy by putting the lights out against the Christians by Roman pagans was later repeated against the Cathars.<ref>{{cite book |last=McCabe |first=Richard A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o5y2Dtc55IEC&dq=%22random+unions,+all+equally+being+guilty+of+incest,+some+by+deed,+but+everyone+by+complicity%22&pg=PA38 |title=Incest, Drama and Nature's Law, 1550-1700 |date=2008 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521088749 |edition=illustrated, revised |location= |page=38}}</ref>

Carposcratians were also accused of the light extinguishing incest orgy by [[Biography:Clement of Alexandria|Clement of Alexandria]] and Gnostics were accused of consuming fetuses.<ref>{{cite book |last=Wolf |first=Arthur P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Hxj1AgAAQBAJ&dq=%22Carposcratians+met+they+overturned+their+lamps+and+engaged+in+incestuous+orgies%22&pg=PA81 |title=Incest Avoidance and the Incest Taboos: Two Aspects of Human Nature |date=2014 |publisher=Stanford University Press |isbn=978-0804791694 |edition=revised |page=81}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780804791694-031/html?lang=de | doi=10.1515/9780804791694-031 | chapter=31. Incest and witchcraft | title=Incest Avoidance and the Incest Taboos | year=2020 | pages=81–85 | publisher=Stanford University Press | isbn=9780804791694 | s2cid=242786426 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780804791694-030/html?lang=en | doi=10.1515/9780804791694-030 | chapter=30. Native testimony | title=Incest Avoidance and the Incest Taboos | year=2020 | pages=77–81 | publisher=Stanford University Press | isbn=9780804791694 | s2cid=243309966 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Russell |first=Jeffrey Burton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mf6tDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22Carpocratians,+he+argued,+were+licentious,+practicing+incestuous+orgies+after+having+their+lamps+overturned%22&pg=PA91 |title=Witchcraft in the Middle Ages |date=2019 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-1501720314 |page=91}}</ref>

In addition to the incest orgy Christians were accused of eating babies.<ref>{{cite book |last=Russell |first=Jeffrey Burton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mf6tDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22The+idea+that+the+Christians+commonly+committed+incest+may+have+drawn+some+of+its+strength%22&pg=PA89 |title=Witchcraft in the Middle Ages |date=2019 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-1501720314 |location= |page=89, 90}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |date=3 May 2010 |title=Why Early Christians Were Despised |url=https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1-300/why-early-christians-were-despised-11629610.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://musingsofanearthalien.wordpress.com/2014/01/10/why-early-christians-were-despised/ | title=Why Early Christians Were Despised | date=11 January 2014 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://clilstore.eu/clilstore/page.php?id=4480 | title=CLILstore unit 4480: Religion Grade 8: Persecution of Christians }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.orthocuban.com/2010/06/on-kisses-in-the-orthodox-church/ | title=On kisses in the Orthodox Church &#124; OrthoCuban }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.scribd.com/document/191993768/03-Accusation-The-Trial-and-Testimony-of-the-Early-Church-Part-3 | title=03 Accusation-The Trial and Testimony of the Early Church, Part 3 &#124; PDF &#124; C. S. Lewis &#124; Jesus }}</ref>

M. Brett Wilson noticed the connection between the accusations of putting the lights out and engaging in incest that normal Sunni Muslims accused the heterodox Bektashi order of doing, and the Roman pagan accusations against the Christians.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wilson |first=M. Brett |date=May 2017 |title=THE TWILIGHT OF OTTOMAN SUFISM: ANTIQUITY, IMMORALITY, AND NATION IN YAKUP KADRI KARAOSMANOĞLU'S NUR BABA |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/article/twilight-of-ottoman-sufism-antiquity-immorality-and-nation-in-yakup-kadri-karaosmanoglus-nur-baba/DC311704F797746FB52C39B492B76DF1 |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |volume=49 |issue=2 |pages=233–253 |doi=10.1017/S0020743817000034|s2cid=164363761 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | url=https://www.academia.edu/87535799 | title=The Twilight of Ottoman Sufism: Antiquity, Immorality, and Nation in Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu'snur Baba | journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies | year=2017 | volume=49 | issue=2 | page=233 | last1=Wilson | first1=M. Brett | doi=10.1017/S0020743817000034 | s2cid=164363761 }}</ref>

The Christian Tertullian started accusing Christian heretics of doing the incest orgy by extinguishing lights after the Roman pagans accused Christians of it.<ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Lois |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I7KeBAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Tertullian+introduced+the+idea+that+not+only+were+the+lights+extinguished%22&pg=PT29 |title=A Brief History of Witchcraft |date=2010 |publisher=Hachette UK |isbn=978-1849018043 |series=Brief Histories |page=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Lois |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=52aFCgAAQBAJ&dq=%22Tertullian+introduced+the+idea+that+not+only+were+the+lights+extinguished%22&pg=PT44 |title=The History Of Witchcraft: Paganism, Spells, Wicca and mor |date=2015 |publisher=Oldcastle Books |isbn=978-1843447962 |page=}}</ref> The same accusations the Roman pagans levelled against the Christians about the incest orgy and light extinguishers were used by Christians against heretical Christian sects.<ref>{{cite book |last=Kamir |first=Orit |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EZ-Ctr6w0DIC&dq=%22heretical+sects+were+accused+of+holding+promiscuous+and+incestuous+orgies+in+the+dark%22&pg=PA57 |title=Every Breath You Take: Stalking Narratives and the Law |date=2001 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=0472110896 |edition=illustrated |location= |page=57}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.academia.edu/68963575 | title=Every Breath You Take: Stalking Narratives and the Law | date=January 2001 | last1=Kamir | first1=Orit }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.academia.edu/49678669 | title=Every breath you take: Stalking narratives and the law | date=January 2001 | last1=Kamir | first1=Orit }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Fontaine |first=Jean La |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mBihCgAAQBAJ&dq=%22heretical+sects+were+accused+of+holding+promiscuous+and+incestuous+orgies+in+the+dark%22&pg=PA34 |title=Witches and Demons: A Comparative Perspective on Witchcraft and Satanism |date=2016 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=978-1785330865 |volume=10 of Studies in Public and Applied Anthropology |location= |page=34}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Cohn |first=Norman |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YkjSoXCE8CAC&dq=%22heretical+sects+were+accused+of+holding+promiscuous+and+incestuous+orgies+in+the+dark%22&pg=PA73 |title=Europe's Inner Demons: The Demonization of Christians in Medieval Christendom |date=2011 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-1448103935 |edition=illustrated, revised |location= |page=73}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Cohn |first=Norman |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=971Dmfp2KMsC&dq=%22heretical+sects+were+accused+of+holding+promiscuous+and+incestuous+orgies+in+the+dark%22&pg=PA48 |title=The Witchcraft Reader |date=2002 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=0415214939 |editor-last=Oldridge |editor-first=Darren |edition=illustrated, revised |series=Routledge Readers in History Series |page=48 |chapter=2 The Demonization of Mediaeval Heretics}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Cohn |first=Norman |url=https://ebin.pub/the-witchcraft-reader-3nbsped-9781351345231-1351345230.html |title=The Witchcraft Reader |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781351345231 |editor-last=Oldridge |editor-first=Darren |edition=3 |page=32 |chapter=The Demonisation of Medieval Heretics}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | chapter-url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315123035-4/demonisation-medieval-heretics-norman-cohn | doi=10.4324/9781315123035-4 | chapter=The Demonisation of Medieval Heretics | title=The Witchcraft Reader | year=2019 | last1=Cohn | first1=Norman | pages=30–36 | isbn=9781315123035 | s2cid=219255566 }}</ref>

=== Manichaeans, Christian heretics, Gnostics, Bogomils, Cathars, witches ===
The Fraticelli, Brethren of the Free Spirit and Cathars in medieval Europe were accused of blowing the lights out and engaging in incestual sex orgies by Christians, just as Roman pagans accused Christians of doing earlier. Heresies like Bogomils, Paulicians, Messalians were accused of doing the same thing as well as Gnostics, Montanists and Carpocratians by Clement of Alexandria and other heretics were accused of "aposbennuntes tous luchnous" (with the lights extinguished)by Justin Martyr in 150. Manichaeans were accused of "lucerna extincta" by Augustine.<ref>{{cite book |last=Eliade |first=Mircea |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9NknAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22they+feasted+and+drank,+and+finally+the+lights+were+extinguished.%22&pg=PA87 |title=Occultism, Witchcraft, and Cultural Fashions: Essays in Comparative Religion |date=2012 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0226163307 |edition=revised |page=87}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://docplayer.net/49231461-Occultism-witchcraf7-and-ceultural-ya-hions.html | title=OCCULTISM, WITCHCRAF7; and ceultural YA HIONS - PDF Free Download }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Goldberg |first=B.Z. |url=https://www.sacred-texts.com/sex/tsf/tsf21.htm |title=The Sacred Fire |date=1930 |publisher=HORACE LIVERIGHT |page=336 |chapter=IV THE REVOLT AGAINST GOD}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Lois |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NR7BBAAAQBAJ&dq=%22dogs,+he+claimed,+were+tied+to+the+lamps+and,+when+it+was+time+for+the+lights+to+be+extinguished%22&pg=PT29 |title=A Brief History of Witchcraft |date=2010 |publisher=Little, Brown Book Group |isbn=978-1849018043 |series=Brief Histories |page=}}</ref>

Cathars (Albigensian) were accused of "They commenced their religious rites by chanting litanies to long lists of devils, until a toad, a cat, or some other small beast, which they supposed to be a demoniac incarnation, appeared in their midst. The lights were then extinguished, and they delivered themselves up to the most sacrilegious, and even incestuous orgies."<ref>{{cite book |last=Ives |first=I. M. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mzkRsnHvXBMC&dq=%22the+lights+were+then+extinguished,+and+they+delivered%22&pg=PA16 |title=Two Lectures on the Inquisition: Delivered by Request, Before the Young Men's Association, Milwaukee, Wisconsin |date=1853 |publisher=Rufus King |page=16}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Schuler |first=G. M. |date=1865–1867 |title=ART. III. -Mediaeval Manichaeism and the Inquisition Die Intolerans der Katholischen Kirche |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zMmOOm47ZT8C&dq=%22the+lights+were+then+extinguished,+and+they+delivered%22&pg=PA62 |journal=The Dublin Review: A Quarterly and Critical Journal |location=Augsburg : Kollmann |publisher=Dublin Review |volume=13 |page=62 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |date=1865–1867 |editor-last=Wiseman |editor-first=Nicholas Patrick |title=ART. III. -Mediaeval Manichaeism and the Inquisition Die Intolerans der Katholischen Kirche |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mezPAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22the+lights+were+then+extinguished,+and+they+delivered%22&pg=PA62 |journal=The Dublin Review |location=Augsburg : Kollmann |publisher=Tablet Publishing Company |volume=13 |page=62 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |date=1865–1867 |editor-last=Wiseman |editor-first=Nicholas Patrick |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SWMVAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22the+lights+were+then+extinguished,+and+they+delivered%22&pg=PA62 |title=Wiseman Review |publisher=W. Spooner. |volume=60 |page=62 |isbn=}}</ref>

"Wild stories, moreover, were told of the nightly orgies in which the lights were extinguished and promiscuous intercourse took place; and the stubbornness of heresy was explained by telling how, when a child was born of these foul excesses, it was tossed from hand to hand through a fire until it expired; and that from its body was made an infernal eucharist of such power that whoever partook of it was thereafter incapable of abandoning the sect."<ref>{{cite book |last=Lea |first=Henry Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CROAua8aVbUC&dq=%22wild+stories,+moreover,+were+told+of+the+nightly+orgies+in+which+the+lights+were%22&pg=PA101 |title=Ch. 1. The Church |date=1887 |publisher=Harper & Bros. |volume=1 of A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages |page=101}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lea |first=Henry Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O94zl02tNogC&dq=%22wild+stories,+moreover,+were+told+of+the+nightly+orgies+in+which+the+lights+were%22&pg=PA101 |title=A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, Volume 1 |date=1888 |publisher=Harper & brothers |volume=1 of A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages: In 3 Volumes |page=101}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lea |first=Henry Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rpaLEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22wild+stories,+moreover,+were+told+of+the+nightly+orgies+in+which+the+lights+were%22&pg=PT218 |title=A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages: Vol 1 |date=2022 |publisher=Sheba Blake Publishing Corp. |isbn=978-1222378191 |page=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lea |first=Henry Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XUI_AAAAYAAJ&dq=%22wild+stories,+moreover,+were+told+of+the+nightly+orgies+in+which+the+lights+were%22&pg=PA101 |title=A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages: Origin and organization of the Inquisition |date=1888 |publisher=Harper & Brothers |volume=1 of A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages |page=101}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lea |first=Henry Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jDkJAQAAIAAJ&dq=%22wild+stories,+moreover,+were+told+of+the+nightly+orgies+in+which+the+lights+were%22&pg=PA101 |title=A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, Volume 1 |date=1888 |publisher=Harper & brothers |series=Religion and the law |volume=1 of A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages: In 3 Volumes |page=101}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lea |first= Henry Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X9TlStiisJ0C&dq=%22wild+stories,+moreover,+were+told+of+the+nightly+orgies+in+which+the+lights+were%22&pg=PA101 |title=A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages, Volume 1 |date=1887 |page=101}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lea |first=Henry Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BDp39dzEPsgC&dq=%22wild+stories,+moreover,+were+told+of+the+nightly+orgies+in+which+the+lights+were%22&pg=PA101 |title=Origin and organization of the Inquisition |date=1887 |publisher=Harper & brothers |volume=1 of A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages |page=101}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lea |first=Henry Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rtVhEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22wild+stories,+moreover,+were+told+of+the+nightly+orgies+in+which+the+lights+were%22&pg=PT91 |title=A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages (Vol. 1-3): Complete Edition |date=2020 |publisher=e-artnow |page=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lea |first=Henry Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mMmjEAAAQBAJ&dq=%22wild+stories,+moreover,+were+told+of+the+nightly+orgies+in+which+the+lights+were%22&pg=PT91 |title=A History of the Inquisition |date=2022 |publisher=DigiCat |page=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Lea |first=Henry Charles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RW7JDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22wild+stories,+moreover,+were+told+of+the+nightly+orgies+in+which+the+lights+were%22&pg=PA68 |title=A History of The Inquisition of The Middle Ages - Volume I Revised |date= |publisher=Lulu.com |isbn=1773563955 |location= |page=68}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:A_History_of_the_Inquisition_of_the_Middle_Ages-Volume_I_.pdf/121 | title=Page:A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages-Volume I .PDF/121 - Wikisource, the free online library }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | chapter-url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_History_of_the_Inquisition_of_the_Middle_Ages/Volume_I/Chapter_III | title=A History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages | chapter=Chapter III }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/39451/39451-h/39451-h.htm | title=The Project Gutenberg eBook of a History of the Inquisition of the Middle Ages; volume I, by Henry Charles Lea }}</ref>

Women accused of being witches in medieval Europe were also accused of eating babies and engaging in sexual orgies at night.<ref>{{cite book |last=Cohn |first=Norman |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UbUUBP4CQowC&dq=%22presided+over+by+Satan,+where+sexual+orgies+were+performed+and%22&pg=PA11 |title=Witchcraft Confessions and Accusations |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1135032982 |editor-last=Douglas |editor-first=Mary |edition=revised |page=11 |chapter=1 The Myth of Satan and his Human Servants}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://vdoc.pub/documents/witchcraft-confessions-and-accusations-7b77cj4t2q20 | title=Witchcraft Confessions and Accusations &#91;PDF&#93; &#91;7b77cj4t2q20&#93; }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Breslaw |first=Elaine G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=beETCgAAQBAJ&dq=%22presided+over+by+Satan,+where+sexual+orgies+were+performed+and%22&pg=PA148 |title=Tituba, Reluctant Witch of Salem: Devilish Indians and Puritan Fantasies |date=1997 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=0814713076 |edition=illustrated, revised |series=The American Social Experience |page=148 |issn=2768-7325}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Breslaw |first=Elaine G |date=1997 |title=Tituba's Confession: The Multicultural Dimensions of the 1692 Salem Witch-Hunt |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/483035 |journal=Ethnohistory |volume=44 |issue=3 |pages=535–56 |doi=10.2307/483035 |jstor=483035 |access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.slideshare.net/MARRY7/duke-university-press-and-the-american-society-for-ethnohistodocx | title=Duke University Press and the American Society for Ethnohisto.docx }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.sweetstudy.com/sites/default/files/qx/15/03/27/09/sources.pdf | title=Analyze a scholarly article (Chicago manuel style) &#124; History homework help }}</ref>

=== Alevi Qizilbash in Turkey, Yezidis and Christians of Iraq, Druze of the Levant ===
Alevis in Turkey and Yezidis in Iraq were both accused by other sects of engaging in orgies during their religious celebrations.<ref>{{cite book |last=Allison |first=Christine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1WBTVlGe8P8C&dq=%22rumours+that+the+yezidis+indulged+in+mass%22&pg=PA37 |title=The Yezidi Oral Tradition in Iraqi Kurdistan |date=2001 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=0700713972 |location= |page=37, 284}}</ref>

Some Turkish Sunnis still use phrases like "Alevis do not know their mothers and sisters" (Aleviler ana bacı tanımaz) and "to extinguish candles" (mum söndürmek) in reference to the libel that they engage in the incest orgy in darkness by extinguishing candles in their religious ceremonies at the cem.<ref>{{cite book |last=Sökefeld |first=Martin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_sEtYfs2S4MC&dq=%22candles+are+extinguished+and+that+in+the+darkness+men+and+women+indulge%22&pg=PA42 |title=Struggling for Recognition: The Alevi Movement in Germany and in Transnational Space |date=2008 |publisher=Berghahn Books |isbn=978-0857450142 |edition=revised |location= |page=42, 43}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last= |first= |date=7 April 2005 |title=Turkey: The Alevi faith, principles, beliefs, rituals and practices (1995-2005) |url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/42df61b320.html |website=refworld |publisher=Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada}}</ref>

Qizilbash (Kizilbash) were described as candle extinguishers (Mümsöndürun and Zarati) by Sunnis in Ottoman Turkey. The Salonica Crpyto-Jews (Dönmeh) were also accused of the incest orgy as well as Druze currently by other Arabs and in the 12th century by Benjamin of Tudela.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hasluck |first= F. W. |date=1921 |title=HETERODOX TRIBES OF ASIA MINOR |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xtYZAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22is+generally+thought+to+be+a+calumny%22+%22against+the+druses%22&pg=PA338 |journal=The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |publisher=Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=51-52 |page=338}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Hasluck |first= F. W. |date=1921 |title=HETERODOX TRIBES OF ASIA MINOR |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5EpRAQAAMAAJ&q=%22is+generally+thought+to+be+a+calumny%22+%22against+the+druses%22 |journal=The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |publisher=Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=51-52 |page=338}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Hasluck |first= F. W. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qE45AdEwGFoC&q=%22is+generally+thought+to+be+a+calumny%22+%22against+the+druses%22 |title=HETERODOX TRIBES OF ASIA MINOR |date=1921 |journal=Journal - Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |publisher=Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=51 |page=338|doi= 10.2307/2843453 |jstor= 2843453 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=HASLUCK |first=F. W. |url=https://www.academia.edu/40487065 |title=CHRISTIANITY AND ISLAM UNDER THE SULTANS |date=1929 |publisher=CLARENDON PRESS |editor-last=HASLUCK |editor-first=MARGARET M. |volume=1 |location=OXFORD |page=153}}</ref> In northern Iraq the incest orgy with extinguishing the lights is called "night of the kafsha" (knight of [removing] slippers) (Laylat al-Kafsha) against the Yezidis.) The Takhtajis were also accused of the same and Alawites (different from Alevis) of Çıplaklar were also accused of candle extinguishing for incest orgies, called Müm söndü by Turkish Sunnis. Christians of the convent of Ukbara in Iraq close to Baghdad were also accused of the orgy on the "night of the mashush" in the book ad-Diyarat by Abu al-Hassan al-Shabushti.<ref>{{cite book |last=Moosa |first=Matti |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WYO1BqdvX9EC&dq=%22(candle+extinguishers)+on+the+Kizilbash%22&pg=PA137 |title=Extremist Shiites: The Ghulat Sects |date=1988 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=0815624115 |series=Contemporary Issues in the Middle East |page=137, 138}}</ref>

Alawites were falsely accused of incest orgies and extinguishing lights by Sunnis.<ref>{{cite book |last=Krieger |first= Bella Tendler |url=https://brill.com/downloadpdf/book/edcoll/9789004281714/B9789004281714_022.xml |title=Islamic Cultures, Islamic Contexts |date=2015 |publisher= |isbn=978-90-04-28171-4 |location= |pages=565–596 |chapter=21 New Evidence for the Survival of Sexually Libertine Rites among some Nuṣayrī-ʿAlawīs of the Nineteenth Century |doi=10.1163/9789004281714_022}}</ref> The Murshidi sect of the Alawites was also falsely accused of engaging in a sexual orgy.<ref>{{cite web |last=Al-Hallaq |first=Abdullah Amin |date=18 June 2018 |title=I am from Salamiya but none of this applies to me |url=https://syriauntold.com/2018/06/18/i-am-from-salamiya-but-none-of-this-applies-to-me/ |website=Syria Untold}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Al-Hallaq |first=Abdullah Amin |date=18 June 2018 |title=I am from Salamiya but none of this applies to me |url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/north-africa-west-asia/i-am-from-salamiya-but-none-of-this-applies-to-me/ |website=Open Democracy}}</ref>

=== Ismailis of Syria ===
The gullible Samuel Lyde believed in the false slanderous rumours against the Ismailis of Syria over the orgy.<ref>{{cite book |last=Lyde |first=Samuel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z4ZpAAAAcAAJ&dq=%22their+secret+prayers+and+rites+are+of+a+most+disgusting+kind,+far+too+disgusting+to+be+mentioned%22&pg=PA238 |title=The Ansyreeh and Ismaeleeh: A Visit to the Secret Sects of Northern Syria, with a View to the Establishment of Schools |date=1853 |publisher=Hurst and Blackett |page=238}}</ref>

=== Ismailis of Central Asia ===
Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat accused Ismailis in Central Asia of engaging in Chiragh-Kush (extinguishing the lamps for orgies) just as Ottoman Sunnis accused the "Red caps" Qizilbash in Anatolia of doing.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bussell |first=Frederick William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-TnNDwAAQBAJ&dq=directed+in+Central+Asia+against+the+ismailite+Chiragh-Kush+or+lamp+extin-guishers+by+Mirza+Haidar,&pg=PA366 |title=Religious thought and heresy in the Middle Ages |date=1918 |publisher=Dalcassian Publishing Company |page=366}}</ref>

Sunnis in Tajikistan falsely believed that Ismaili Pamiris of Gorno Badakhshan practiced incest.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bliss |first=Frank |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sJpH_54CDHQC&dq=%22rumours+abounded+that+the+Pamiris+slept+with+their+sisters,+mothers+and+all+other+kinswomen%22&pg=PA236 |title=Social and Economic Change in the Pamirs (Gorno-Badakhshan, Tajikistan): Translated from German by Nicola Pacult and Sonia Guss with Support of Tim Sharp |date=2006 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=1134396171 |edition=illustrated |page=236}}</ref>

=== Twelver Shia of Pakistan and India ===
Sunni Muslims in Pakistan and India accuse Twelver Shia of engaging in a sexual orgy after extinguishing the lights at Shaam-e-Ghariban after Ashura.<ref>{{cite news |author=Farwa |date=September 15, 2018 |title=This Pakistani Guy Clears Misconceptions People Have About "Shias" And Muharram |work=parhlo |url=https://www.parhlo.com/this-pakistani-guy-clears-misconceptions-people-have-about-shias-and-muharram/}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=27 September 2017 |title=13 Ignorant Things Shias Have Heard About Muharram From Other Pakistanis |work=Propergaanda |url=https://propergaanda.com/2017/09/27/11-ignorant-things-shias-heard-muharram-pakistanis/}}</ref>

=== Cambodia ===
According to French historian Michael Vickery (told to Étienne Aymonier) there were Khmer Theravada Buddhists who believed their Cham Sunni Muslim neighbours gathered for incest sex orgies after blowing the lights out in their mosques at night once a year.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kersten |first1=Carool |date=2006 |title=Cambodia's Muslim King: Khmer and Dutch Sources on the Conversion of Reameathipadei I, 1642-1658 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20072683 |journal=Journal of Southeast Asian Studies |volume=37 |issue=1 |page=13 |doi=10.1017/S0022463405000408|jstor=20072683 |s2cid=162730366 }}</ref>

== References ==
<references />
[[Category:Islam-related controversies]]

{{Sourceattribution|Chiragh Kush|1}}