YEZIDI ARTICLES OF FAITH
(from Isya Joseph, Devil Worship:
The Sacred Books and Traditions of the Yezidiz,
1919)
At one time (A. H. 1289; A. D.
1872), the Ottoman power wanted to draft from among them an army instead of
taking the tax which was its due. They presented to the government all the
rules that prevented them from complying. These all pertain to religion and are
moral obligations upon them. They are as follows:
ARTICLE
I
According to our Yezidi
religion every member of our sect, whether big or little, girl or woman, must
visit Melek Ṭâ’ûs
three times a year, that is, first, from the beginning to the last of the month
of April, Roman calendar; secondly, from the beginning to the end of the month
of September; thirdly, from the beginning to the end of the month of November.
If anyone visit not the image of Melek Ṭâ’ûs, he is an infidel.
ARTICLE
II
If any member of our sect, big or
little, visit not his highness Šeiḫ ‘Adî bn Musâfir--may God sanctify his mysteries! once
a year, i.e., from the fifteenth to the twentieth of the month of
September, Roman calendar, he is an infidel according to our religion.
ARTICLE
III
Every member of our sect must visit
the place of the sunrise every day when it appears, and there should not be
Moslem, nor Christian, nor any one else in that place. If any one do this not,
he is an infidel.
ARTICLE
IV
Every member of our sect must daily
kiss the hand of his brother, his brother of the next world, namely, the
servant of the Mahdi, and the hand of his šeiḫ or pir. If any one do
this not, he is regarded as an infidel.
ARTICLE
V
According to our religion it is
something intolerable when the Moslem in the morning begins to say in prayer,
God forbid! "I take refuge in God, etc." 38 If any one of
us hear it, he must kill the one who says it and kill himself; otherwise he
becomes an infidel.
ARTICLE
VI
When one of our sect is on the point
of death, if there be no brother of the next world and his šeiḫ,
or his pîr and one of the ḳawwâls
with him to say three sayings over him, viz.; "O servant of Melek Ṭâ’ûs whose ways are
high, you must de in the religion of the one we worship, who is Melek Ṭâ’ûs, whose ways are
high, and do not die in any other religion than his. And if some one should
come and say to you something from the Mohammedan religion, or Christian
religion, or Jewish religion, or some other religion, do not believe him, and
do not follow him. And if you believe and follow another religion than that of
the one we worship, Melek Ṭâ’ûs,
you shall die an infidel," he becomes an infidel.
ARTICLE
VII
We have something called the
blessing of Šeiḫ ‘Adî,
that is, the dust of the tomb Šeiḫ ‘Adî--may God sanctify his mystery! Every member of our sect
must have some of it with him in his pocket and eat of it every morning. And if
he eat not of it intentionally, he is an infidel.
Likewise at the time of death, if he possess not some
of that dust intentionally, he dies an infidel.
ARTICLE
VIII
Regarding our fasting, if any one of
our sect wish to fast, he must fast in his own place, not in another. For while
fasting he must go every morning to the house of his šeiḫ
and his pir, and there he must beg-in to fast, and
when he breaks his fast, likewise, he must go to the house of his šeiḫ and his pîr,
and there break the fast by drinking the holy wine of the šeiḫ
or the pîr. And if he drink
not two or three glasses of that wine, his fasting is not acceptable, and he
becomes an infidel.
ARTICLE
IX
If one of our sect
go to another place and remain there as much as one year, and afterward return
to his place, then his wife is forbidden him, and none of us will give him a
wife. If anyone give him a wife, that one is an
infidel.
ARTICLE
X
Regarding our dress, as we have
mentioned in the fourth Article that every one of our sect has a brother for
the next world, he has also a sister for the next world. 39 Therefore if
any one of us make for himself a new shirt, it is necessary that his sister for
the next
world should open its neck band, i.e.,
the neck band of that shirt, with her hand. And if she open it not with her
hand, and he wear it, then he is an infidel.
ARTICLE
XI
If some one of our sect make a shirt
or a new dress, he cannot wear it without baptizing it in the blessed water
which is to be found at the shrine of his highness Šeiḫ
‘Adî may God sanctify his mystery! If he wear it, he is an infidel.
ARTICLE
XII
We may not wear a light black dress
at all. We may not comb our heads with the comb of a Moslem or a Christian or a
Jew or any other. Nor may we shave our heads with the razor used by any other
than ourselves (Yezidis),
except it be washed in the blessed water which is to be found at the shrine of
his highness Šeiḫ ‘Adî.
Then it is lawful for us to shave our heads. But if we shave our heads without
the razor having been washed in that water, we become infidels.
ARTICLE
XIII
No Yezidi
may enter the water-closet of a Moslem, or take a bath at a Moslem's house, or
eat with a Moslem spoon or drink from a Moslem's cup, from a cup used by any
one of another sect. If he does, he is an infidel. 40
ARTICLE
XIV
Concerning food, there is a great
difference between us and the other sects. We do not eat meat or fish, squash, bamia (okra), fasulia
(beans), cabbage, or lettuce. We cannot even dwell in the place where lettuce
is sown. 41
For these and other reasons, we
cannot enter the military service, etc.
The names of those who affixed their
signatures:
THE
HEAD OF THE YEZIDI SECT, THE EMIR OF ŠEIḪÂN, ḤUSEIN.
THE
RELIGIOUS ŠEIḪ OF THE YEZIDI SECT OF THE DISTRICT OF ŠEIḪÂN, ŠEIḪ
NAṢIR.
THE. CHIEF OF THE
|
THE VILLAGE CHIEF OF |
MUSKÂN, MURAD. |
|
" " " " |
ḤATÂRAH, AYYÛB. |
|
" " " " |
BEIBÂN, ḤUSEIN. |
|
" " " " |
DAHḲAN, ḤASSAN. |
|
" " " " |
ḤUZRÂN, NU‘MÔ. |
|
" " " " |
BÂKASRA, ‘ALI. |
|
" " " " |
B‘AŠÎḲA, JAMÔ. |
|
" " " " |
ḤÔŠABA, ILIAS. |
|
" " " " |
ḲREPAḤIN, SAĠD. |
|
" " " " |
ḲABÂREH, KÔCHAK. |
|
" " " " |
KASÔ. |
|
" " " " |
SINÂ, ‘ABDÔ. |
|
" " " " |
‘AIN SIFNI, GURGÔ. |
|
" " " " |
ḲASR-‘IZZ-AD-DÎN |
|
" " " " |
ḪEIRÔ. |
|
" " " " |
KIBERTÔ, ṬÂHIR. |
|
AND OTHERS. |
|
These are they whose names were in
the petition above mentioned, and from which we copied a few things.
The result was that when they
presented this petition, they were exempted from military service, but they
paid a tax in money as did the Christians.
Footnotes
78:38 The
Moslem begins his prayer by cursing the devil.
79:39 That is a
person of the same faith, a Yezidi.
80:40 A Nuṣairi, on the contrary, may become a Mohammedan
with a Mohammedan, a Christian with a Christian, and a Jew with a Jew; cf. JAOS,
VII, 298.
80:41 The Sabians did not eat purslane,
garlic, beans, cauliflower, cabbage, and lentis; cf.
Bar. Hebraeus, At-Târlîḫ, ed. A. Ṣalḥani,