The Religion of the Kurds

G. R. Driver

doi:10.1017/S0041977X00102083

The Religion of the Kurds

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 December 2009

G. R. Driver

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G. R. Driver: Affiliation:
Magdalen College, Oxford

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A Mongst the Kurds there is found a considerable variety of religions, which has caused unfavourable observers to regard them as idolatrous. Not only are the Christians of several dominations represented among them, but also the Muslims, who form the predominant millah or creed among the peoples of Kurdiâstan in addition to these there are several less important sects, of which by far the most important are the Qizilbâsh and the Yazîdî Kurds.

Type: Papers Contributed
Information: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 2 , Issue 2 , February 1922 , pp. 197 - 213

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0041977X00102083 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 1922

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^{page 197 note 1} Ibn-ul-Athâr calls them mnshrilcin, “polytheists” or “idolaters” (Kâmill, iii, 37).

^{page 197 note 2} The attitude of the Kurds towards Judaism is uncertain; for, whereas the Talmud forbids the admission of Kurdish proselytes (Yebāmôth, Jer. i, 6; Bab. 16a), Mas'ûdâ, the Arab traveller and geographer, is said to have recorded that “Jews are often found among them” (Al-Ansârî, Nukhbat-ud-Dahr, p. 19).

^{page 197 note 3} It is said that Mas'ûdî found Kurds who professed Christianity in the tenth century (Al-Ansârî, Nukhbat-ud-Dahr, p. 19).

^{page 198 note 1} Saladin and his descendants, the champions of Islâm against Christianity, were Sunnî Muslims; yet their antagonism to Christianity did not prevent, if not Saladin himself, at least some of his family from making use of the services of Christian physicians; the names of two are known, Ya'qûb ibn Daqlân, employed by the Aiyûbi in Jerusalem, and Hasnûn, who served another branch of the same family at Urfah and Diyârbakr (Abu-'l Faraj, Târîkh Mukhtasar-ud-Duwal, ed. Pococke, pp. 482–4).

^{page 198 note 2} See Gilbert, T., “Note sur les Sectes dans le Kurdistan”, in the Journal Asiatique, 1873, vii, 2, pp. 393–5.Google Scholar

^{page 199 note 1} Gilbert, , op. cit., p. 394.Google Scholar

^{page 200 note 1} Jacob, , “Ein neuer Text über die Jezîdîs”; in Beiträge zur Kenntniss des Orients, 1909, vol. vii, pp. 30ā5.Google Scholar

^{page 200 note 2} See Strabo, , Geogr, pp. 523Google Scholar, 524, and 727; Plinius, , Hist. Nat., vi, 27Google Scholar; Arrianus, Anab., iii, 24.Google Scholar

^{page 200 note 3} Hammer-Purgstall, , Geschichte des Osmanischen Reiches, vol. ii, pp. 443–5.Google Scholar

^{page 200 note 4} See KhalliKân, Ibn, Kitâb Wafayât-il-A'yân (ed. de Slane, MacGuckin), vol. ii, pp. 197–8, who adds that his full name was 'Adî ibn Musâfir and that a religious order, called the 'adawîyah, was named after him.Google Scholar

^{page 200 note 5} The derivation of the word from Yazd, the capital of the province of Yazd in Persia, presumably on the ground that Yazd is a stronghold of the Zoroastrians, with whose religion that of the Yazîdî is supposed to show certain affinities, is highly improbable.

^{page 201 note 1} The only regular fast enjoined on them is that in honour of the death of Yazîd, which is held annually for three days in December.

^{page 201 note 2} In the avoidance of ill-omened words the Yaziîdî are very strict. It is forbidden to them, for example, not only to mention shaitân (Satan), iblîs (the devil), Ahriman (the principle of evil), or to use the words la'an (cui'sed), and its derivatives la'nah (curse) and ma'lûn (accursed), and rashîm (“stoned'ân), but also even to employ words of a similar sound, such as shatt (stream), as resembling shaitân, and na'l (sandal), which sounds not unlike la'an inverted; they are therefore compelled to use various substitutes for these words, the devil being called, for example, malik-ul-qûwah or “the king of might” and shatt being replaced by nahr (river) or some other synonym.

^{page 202 note 1} See Layard, , Nineveh and Babylon, pp. 47–8Google Scholar, and Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i, p. 298. Whether the images which have been lost or confiscated by the Turkish Government were the original sanâjiq or, as the Yazîdî assert, only copies of them, it is now impossible to say.Google Scholar

^{page 202 note 2} Layard, , Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i, p. 299.Google Scholar

^{page 202 note 3} On the Shaikh ‘Adi see also Maqrîzî, Sulûk, vol. ii, pp. 287–8, and vol. iii, pp. 116–17.Google Scholar

^{page 202 note 4} See 11. 49–50: “And I am he to whom the Lord of heaven hath said, | Thourt the just judge and the ruler of the earth”, and 11. 58–9: “Verily the Allmerciful hath assigned unto me names, | The heavenly throne, and the seat and the seven [heavens] and the earth”

^{page 202 note 5} See 1. 60: “In the secret of ray knowledge there is no God but me”.

^{page 203 note 1} Layard, , Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i, ch. 9.Google Scholar

^{page 203 note 2} The shrine lies in a valley along which there runs a deep ravine with a limpid stream flowing through it, lined with oaks, poplars, and olives, which form a shady avenue leading up to the temple, and the whole scene is very desolate but picturesque. The heights above are covered with dwarf-oak, amidst which rise numerous dwellings intended for the reception of pilgrims, while in the vicinity of the shrine are between forty and fifty conical-shaped buildings raised over the tombs of famous chiefs.

^{page 203 note 3} The chief annual pilgrimage is that to the zamzam or sacred well near the shrine of the Shaikh 'Adî, and takes place from the 15th to the 20th September.

^{page 203 note 4} Jacob, loc. cit. s The word sanjaq as thus used means a “banner” “symbol”, and Layard careful to point out that the Malik Tâ'ûs is looked upon not as an idol but as symbol or banner of the house of the ruling chief, (Layard, , Nineveh and Babylon, ch. 3, p. 48).Google Scholar

^{page 203 note 6} Badger, , The Nestorians and other Rituals, vol. i, p. 124.Google Scholar

^{page 203 note 7} Jacob, loc. cit.

^{page 204 note 1} Layard, , Nineveh and Babylon, pp. 89–92.Google Scholar

^{page 204 note 2} Or Al-Jilwah; the name is Arabic and appears to mean “the Exposition” or “the Manifestation” from jalâ, signifying “became clear”, “manifest” “appeared”, “showed himself”, (Parry, Six Months in a Syrian Monastery).

^{page 204 note 3} Mingana, , “Sacred Books of the Yazîdî,” in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1921, pp. 117–19Google Scholar. These sacred books of the Yazîdî are said to have vanished in A.D. 1849 and to have reappeared in A.D. 1889 in India, whither they had been taken away no one knows how or when. There are, however, grounds for regarding all these works as forgeries. (See also Mingana, , “Sacred Books of the Yezidis”, in the same Journal, 1916, pp. 505–26Google Scholar; Dirr, , “Einiges über die Jeziden,” in Anthropos, 1918, pp. 558–74Google Scholar; Joseph, , “Devil Worship,” and Nau, Recueil de Textes sur les Yézidis,” in Revue de l'Orient Chrétien, 1917, pp. 142–200 and 225–77.)Google Scholar

^{page 204 note 4} See below, on the functions of the kûjak.

^{page 205 note 1} Chabot (Journal Asiatique, 1896, vol. vii, p. 127) records that a daughter who refuses to marry must compensate her father, for she is regarded as an addition to his wealth, as were the “cattle-bringing” maidens of the Homeric poems.Google Scholar

^{page 206 note 1} An Arabic word meaning “old man” or “elder”.

^{page 206 note 2} A Persian word signifying “abbot”. s An Arabic word denoting “poor” or “a beggar”.

^{page 206 note 4} A Persian word for “master”, “teacher”.

^{page 207 note 1} This word is a feminine diminutive formed from the Arabic faqîr, “poor man”, “beggar” “ascetic” meaning a “poor sister”.

^{page 207 note 2} An Arabic word meaning “sweeper”, and corresponding exactly to the Greek vewRopos.

^{page 208 note 1} Published by Lidzbarski, M. in the Zeitscrift der Deutsehen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft (Leipzig), 1897, No. 51, p. 592, from “Codex Sachau 200” in the Königliche Bibliothek at Berlin.Google Scholar

^{page 208 note 2} 'Abd-ul-'Azîz reigned from A.D. 1861 until 1876.

^{page 208 note 3} The Muslim year 1289 lasted from 11th March, 1872, till 28th February, 1873.

^{page 208 note 4} The nizâm constitute the regular soldiers of the Ottoman army.

^{page 208 note 5} In Syriac Dasnâyê, in Arabic Dawâsin (singular Dâsin), is the tribal, as distinct from the religious, name of the Yazîdî Kurds.

^{page 208 note 6} Lit. “the place of the rising of the sun”. It is interesting to notice in this connection that the Kurds whom Mār Sabâ converted to Christianity are called sun-worshippers by the saint's biographer (Bedjan, , Acta Martyrum et Sanctorum, vol. ii, pp. 672–3).Google Scholar

^{page 209 note 1} Qurân, Sûrah 114: “, Say, I take refuge in the Lord of men, the king of men, the God of men, from the evil of the Whisperer [Satan] who stealthily withdraws, who whispers in the breasts of men, from jinn and men.”

^{page 210 note 1} The word bâmiyâ denotes probably the hibiscus esculentus, a plant allied to the European mallow.

^{page 210 note 8} This petition was signed by the Amîr Shaikhân Husain, chief of the Yazîdî sect, Shaikh Nâsir the spiritual chief of the sect in the district of Shaikhân, and the mukhtâriîn of Mâm Rashân, Mûsikân, Hatârah, Baibân, Dahkân, Huzrân, Bâqasrah, Bâ'ashîqah, Khûshâbâ, Qarā Paliū, Kabârah, Sînâ, 'Ain Sifnî, Qasr 'Izz-id-Dîn, and Kibartû.

^{page 211 note 1} They also employ the years of the Hijrah or “Flight” of Muhammad for the purpose of dating events and observe Friday as a holy day, both customs of Muslim origin.

^{page 211 note 2} Badger, , The Nestorians and other Rituals, vol. iGoogle Scholar, eh. 10. See also O. H. Parry, Six Months in a Syrian Monastery; Giamil, Monte Singar; Forbes,“, Account of the Yazidis of Jebel Singar,” in the Journal of the lloyal Geographical Society, vol. ixGoogle Scholar; Chabot, “Notice sur les Yezidis”, in the Journal Asiatique, IX, v, pp. 100–32Google Scholar; Siouffi, “Notice sur la Sectedes Yezidis”, and “, Notice sur le Cheikh 'Adi et la Secte des Yézidis"”, in the Journal Asiatique, VII, xx, pp. 252–68, and VIII, v, pp. 78–98.Google Scholar

^{page 212 note 1} Layard, , Nineveh and its Remains, vol i, pp. 300–2.Google Scholar

^{page 212 note 2} Brockelmann, “Das Neujahrsfest der Jezîdîs”, in the Zeitschrift der Deutschen Moryenländischen Gesellschaft, vol. lviii, pp. 876 ff.Google Scholar

^{page 212 note 3} Layard, , Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i, pp. 300–2.Google Scholar

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