H'Ejrad

 is a major religion that preaches a complex, of  in which the perfect spiritual world of light is pitted against the wicked, material world of dark in a battle for the fate of creation, particularly the human soul. Its practitioners, known as Jaraders, believe in a singular, uncreated and all-knowing God, Arrak, who reveals the truth through guiding signs, and. The cosmic force of order, truth, rightness or virtue originates in Arrak, while the cosmic force of chaos, falsity, misdeed or sin originates in the Adversary. The descriptions of these two forces, as well as the array of angels and that serve them, are often very vague in the original texts, portraying instead two all-pervading divine, consciousnesses or souls, a sort of Universal Truth and, opposing it, the Universal Lie. Through virtue and right action, a person aligns their soul with the side of light; through wickedness and sin with the side of dark. In contrast to its dualistic nature, Jarader describes a,  after the triumph of the spiritual world at the Final Battle.

While Jarader tradition maintains that H'Ejrad represents a wholeness and fulfilment of mankind's natural religion, and is thus as old as creation, it first entered recorded history in the 6th Century BC in the Dahar Desert, around !CITY. Following the death of the Prophet Bathur in 551 BC, his companions and many who claimed to be their successors led a series of military campaigns. By the end of the 5th Century BC, H'Ejrad had been expanded into Harad and parts of Jimmada, including Haksarad, which would eventually become the spiritual center of Jarader civilization and go on to convert much of the Abayadi Sea.

There are many Jarader religious texts, but the most important are those written by Bathur and those written before him. The Bathurallas describe his revelation of the nature of “the Eternal, the Uncreated, the All-Knowing, the Singular, the Undivided, the Perfectly Good and One True God of all the universe.” Other important holy texts include those written by the Prophet's companions, as well as other and prophets. While these later are still considered very important and are commonly read as companion texts to the primary scripture, those written by the Prophet are unassailable and immutable; any new revelation must not contradict those revealed in the writings of the preeminent Prophet.

Creation
In Jarader cosmogony, there existed two worlds: the world of light and the world of dark. The Singular God abided in the world of light and the world of light abided in the Singular God; the Blind Demiurge abided in the world of dark and the world of dark abided in the Blind Demiurge. Jaraders believe that this singular, universal and uncreated deity, Arrak, is but not ; whether or not He is  is a matter of dispute. Opposed to Arrak is the Adversary—also known by several other names including the Wicked Spirit or the Destroyer.

According to H'Ejrad, the story of the universe and creation is the story of God's work to permanently destroy the Demiurge and his servants and to purify, redeem and sanctify the world of dark. Humanity was first created from fire and breath as a class of warrior angels sent by Arrak to conquer the world of dark, but the Adversary trapped them in physical bodies in the world of dark, cutting them off from Arrak's light. In doing so, he imposed his own blindness upon them; whereas the wholly material Demiurge was blind to the spiritual, the newfound duality of man—composed of souls of light and bodies of dark—caused them to become blind to both the fully spiritual and the fully material. Infant man lashed around in near-complete nothingness, unable to perceive of anything not of their own bipartite nature, until !HERO cut open the sky and bathed the world of dark in the light of heaven. Thrusting his sword into the sky, he tore open a hole in the firmament. Through this breach—the sun—the light of heaven shone. The purely material nature of the world of dark was then altered by the light, becoming half-spiritual and half-material in the same way that the world of dark had altered the angels, changing them into humans. This new mortal world, now sharing in the composite construction of the humans, was thus perceptible by them.

Angels and demons
Both the world of light and the world of dark have populations of immortal, supernatural beings. The first are those purely spiritual and virtuous beings emanating from God, while the second are those purely material and wicked beings emanating from the Adversary; they are usually translated as angels and demons respectively. Many pre-Jarader gods and spirits were reinterpreted as angels and demons by early Jaraders in order to help polytheists, first in the Dahar, but later in other regions as H'Ejrad expanded. Because of the dual blindness of humanity, part of the curse bestowed on it by the Demiurge when he trapped them in physical bodies, they are able to correctly perceive neither angels nor demons in most circumstances, instead being either not able to see them at all or seeing a false form. Before their corruption by the Adversary, humans were a specific class of angel, and H'Ejrad teaches that to return to that true and perfect nature is the reward for proper faith and service to Arrak, while the punishment for those who reject Him and serve themselves—and ultimately the Blind Demiurge—is to become a fully material demon, all of which will be destroyed by God's great victory at the Final Battle.

In H'Ejrad, angels are the agents of God with a variety of different roles in regards to their worship of Him, their war with the world of dark and their interactions with humankind, including. They are described regularly in both anthropomorphic and abstract forms. Where man's soul is described as being composed of fire and breath, angels are said to be pure fire; fire in this context is often equated to faith or the heart, while breath is equated to reason, will or the mind, which seems to mean that only humans possess. Angels are mentioned several times in the Zuvan, and it is an angel that delivered the revelation therein to the Prophet Bathur. There are many later theological texts dealing with the nature and hierarchy of the angels. As angels are entirely of the celestial, they do not experience bodily wants or needs; angels do not get tired, hungry or thirsty. As their soul is of only one nature, that of fire or faith, they do not experience the sins of the mind, either; angels do not experience vanity, lust, greed or wrongful anger. Because of this, sanctified humans are traditionally considered to rank higher than other angels in heaven because they overcame their base flesh and the temptations upon their free will and because their dual soul of fire and breath affords them a greater intellect and the power of reason, which, when rightly utilized, makes one's worship of God all the more glorious.

Demons are the material and wicked counterparts of the angels in Jarader belief. Their misdeeds range from mischief to great evil and one of their primary roles is that of tempter, arousing humans to sin and turn from God. Other sufferings attributed to demons include, , and. Like angels, they are sometimes anthropomorphic and sometimes more abstract; unlike angels they are known to work through. When they do appear in their own right, they are usually depicted as shadowy figures or grotesque monsters. Demons make many appearances in the Zuvan, often being driven out by Bathur and his companions. While there are works that seek to catalogue and categorize the demons in the same way as the works on angelic hierarchy, the Jarader lore surrounding them maintains a clearer folk origin and characteristic than that surrounding the angels, and many folk Jarader customs and charms are meant to ward of or banish demons. This is largely due to the tendency of Jarader missionaries and teachers to cast the old, polytheistic gods and pagan spirits that they wished people to abandon as demons. Because of this, there are also many stories in which demons play the part of rather harmless or even morally-questionable but not outright evil guides or mentors, though these stories are generally condemned by orthodoxy.

Eschatology
Jarader eschatology describes a renovation of the world by the first and only  of Arrak, which involves the banishment of the darkness from the world and the  of the righteous and the wicked, living and dead, after which all will be united in God. H'Ejrad does not preach an eternal punishment of the evil, instead it states that all wickedness, sin and material existence will be completely annihilated. The nature of the final judgment is often debated, as the passages the doctrine is derived from seem to imply a at the end of days, however several other passages seem to imply that one undergoes  at the moment of death. The most common position is to rationalize a belief in both a particular judgment at death and a general, final judgment at the renovation. Jarader eschatology affirms that the fall and corruption of man was not a failure of God, rather it was a necessary step in His plan to sanctify and illuminate the world of dark with the light of His glory. It asserts that the light will conquer the dark, that God's will is just and will be carried out, that the work of humanity to consecrate the material world will be successful and that all those who kept the faith and pursued this mission will be redeemed and restored to their true, perfect form.

Much of Jarader apocalypse literature is concerned with the passing of several ages or eons. Each eon is divided into several "turnings" of varying lengths, characterized by the changing of the zeitgeist and the rise and fall of morality. The current eon is believed to be the last, the end of which will be marked by the Final Battle.

Prayer
H'Ejrad prescribes that its practitioners pray at five set times throughout the day: at dawn, at sunrise or with the first meal, at noon or with the second meal, with the third meal and at dusk. The number of prayers said at each time differs from sect to sect and person to person, as well as throughout time, with different early Jarader texts seeming to give different numbers and prayers. In the modern day, the five sets of prayers remain mandatory, but the times, number of prayers and what specific prayers are recited are all rather flexible. While five is the usual number considered to be compulsory, the decentralized nature of the religion means many religious communities end up following other interpretations or adopting other texts as canon commandments, leading them to pray more extensively. Even many among those who subscribe to the usual five-prayer system still pray additional supplementary prayers of their own volition. Typical Jarader prayers involve standing, bowing, kneeling and prostrating oneself. with water, or other substances when water is not readily available, is a required component before the obligatory prayers, and candles and also often play a part, especially among more traditional Jaraders. Precants face the sun when praying during the day and a candle or candle-lit shrine when praying at night.

Asceticism
Because of H'Ejrad's rejection of the material world and physical pleasures,  is an important part of the religion. Most Jarader mystics belong to congregations or holy orders, often led by a grandmaster who claims succession from the original disciples of Bathur or his companions through teaching. Aspects of the conduct of members of these holy orders were outlined in the Zuvan, and these rules were built on throughout early H'Ejrad by consecutive companions of the Prophet and other saints.