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The Yezidis, People of the Spoken Word in the midst of People of the Book

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

Zaïm Khenchelaoui
Zaïm Khenchelaoui*
Affiliation:
Centre d'anthropologie, Toulouse

Extract

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Among the Yezidis the cross-fertilization between the so-called religions of the Book and religions with an oral tradition is reaching a climax. Over the centuries layers of heterogeneous dogmas have been piled one upon another, creating one of the most astonishing syncretisms known to humanity. But in order to penetrate the mysteries of the centuries-old cross-breeding that brought about this situation, we need to try to define what Yezidism is. For we must remember that this is a religion whose mysterious origin and process of development have not yet been traced. Its first appearances on the stage of history are still shrouded in utter darkness.

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 47 , Issue 187 , September 1999 , pp. 20 - 37
Copyright
Copyright © ICPHS 1999

References

Notes

1. J.S. Guest (1987, new ed. 1993), Survival Among the Kurds: A History of the Yezidis (London & New York, Kegan Paul International), p. XIII.

2. Urfa, Diyarbakir, Mardin, Sivas, Siirt, Antakiya and Entab districts.

3. al'Hasaka, Halep, Lataquieh and Damascus districts.

4. Tabriz, Mahabâd, Karamanshâh and Khorasân districts.

5. According to statistics dating from the late 1970s, in the former USSR there were 40-50,000 Yezidis in a community totalling 150,000 Kurds. See A. Bennigsen & C. Lemercier-Quelquejay (1986), Le Soufi et le commissaire. Les confréries musulmanes en URSS (Paris, Editions du Seuil), pp. 19-29.

6. Around the city of Rostov.

7. Mossul, Dahûk, Erbil, Karkûk and Sulaymâniya districts.

8. During solemn ceremonies Yezidi priests wear robes similar to their Zoroastrian counterparts in India and Iran. See G. Furlani (1940), The Religion of the Yezidis, Religious texts of the Yezidis, translation, introduction and notes (Bombay), pp. 82-93.

9. V.F. Büchner (1934), Yazdan in Encyclopédie de l'Islam, 1st ed. E.J. Brill & C. Klincksieck (Leiden-Paris), vol. IV, pp. 1225-1226.

10. T. Menzel (1934) Yazîdî, ibid, p. 1228.

11. H. Broca (1995), Dirâsât fî mîthôlôjiyâ al-diyâna al-yazîdiya (Studies on the mythology of the Yezidi religion), private publication (Berlin), p. 22.

12. T. Menzel, loc. cit., p. 1228.

13. H. Broca, op. cit., p. 24.

14. The Arab-Iranian cosmographer al-Bîrûnî (eleventh century) also mentions a people he calls 'al-shamsiyye' (Worshippers of the Sun) in Al-âthâr al-bâqiya fi al-'umam al-khâlia (the Chronology of the Ancient Nations) (Leipzig 1878, republished Frankfurt 1998, Institut fur Geschichte de Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaft), p. 318.

15. A. Guérinot (1908), Les Yézidis, Revue du Monde Musulman, May, no. 5, p. 583.

16. A.V.W. Jackson (1906), Persia Past and Present (New York), p. 12.

17. S.S. al-Ahmed (1971), Al-yazîdiyya: ahwâluhum wa mu'taqadâtuhum (The Yezidis: their origin and their beliefs), (Baghdad, Edition Presse Universitaire), p. 24.

18. A. Guérinot, op. cit., p. 583.

19. S. al-Badlîsî (undated), Sharaf nâmeh fî târîkh al-duwal wa al-imârât al-kurdiyy (History of the Kurdish states and principalities) (Cairo), p. 156.

20. A. Guérinot, op. cit., p. 593.

21. J. Menant (1892), Les Yezidis, Episodes de l'histoire des adorateurs du Diable (Paris, Ernest Leroux), p. 48.

22. The cult of the god Mithra was Christianity's most formidable competitor and this situation lasted for several centuries. On this subject Renan wrote: ‘If the growth of Christianity had been halted by some fatal disease, the world would have been Mithraic.' The sacrifice of the bull, which the Yezidis still practise at their annual celebrations, was the subject of a large number of bas-reliefs decorating the main portion of the sanctuaries of Mithra; it was the symbolic image par excellence which summarized the whole doctrine of its mysteries for the initiate. We should remember that the Bull-God is one of the primal divinities that appeared in the Near East and in Asia Minor in the Neolithic, between the tenth and the fourth millennium. There are numerous monuments attesting to the presence of Mithra in the Rhine and Danube valleys. Many examples can be seen in the Louvre, including one huge one from the Capitol in Rome. The Guimet museum holds one, which was also found in Italy. Belief in the divinity of the stars came from the Chaldees and then was passed on to the Gnostic and Manichean sects, which came later. Could Yezidism be another form of this cult, which was once very widespread? See in particular M.G. Lafaye (1906) L'initiation mithraïque in Annales du Musée Guimet (Paris, Ernest Leroux), pp. 89-111.

23. S.S. al-Ahmed, op. cit., p. 70.

24. T. Menzel, loc. cit., p. 1232.

25. ibid., p. 1229.

26. ibid., p. 1229.

27. ibid., p. 1230.

28. H. Broca, op. cit., p. 31.

29. ibid., p. 31.

30. S.S. al-Ahmed, op. cit., p. 75.

31. ‘And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine; and he was the priest of the most high God.' (Genesis XIV, 18).

32. G. Vadja (1943-1945), Melchisédec dans la mythologie ismaélienne in Journal Asiatique, pp. 173-183.

33. S.S. al-Ahmed, op. cit., p. 191.

34. F. Nau (1915-1917), Recueil de textes et de documents sur les Yézidis, Revue de l'Orient Chrétien, vol. X, p. 255.

35. According to extracts from manuscripts 306 and 324 in the Bibliothèque Nationale's Syriac collection relating to the Yezidis: ‘Adam and Eve quarrelled and there was an argument between them about the reproduction of the human race, each saying: "I shall be the one to bring it forth." They saw the beasts reproducing by coupling of male with female. Then each one placed (the fruit of) their desire in a jar which they closed with their seals. After nine months they opened them. They saw a pair of children, male and female, in Adam's jar, and our race originates from them; but when they opened Eve's jar, they saw only stinking maggots, fetid and filthy. Then God made Adam grow breasts with which he suckled his children for two years; and since that time men have breasts. After that Adam lay with Eve and she brought forth twins, a male and female pair, from whom Christians, Jews and Muslims are descended. Seth, Enoch, Noah, just men, our patriarchs, come from Adam alone.' See J.B. Chabot (1896), Notice sur les Yézidis, Journal Asiatique, January-February, p. 118.

36. The Yezidis hold that God speaks neither Syriac, as the Christians say, nor Hebrew, as the Jews would have it, but Kurdish, which is the true tongue. See F. Nau, loc. cit., p. 255.

37. T. Menzel, loc. cit., p. 1229.

38. N. Siouffi (1880) Une courte conversation avec le chef de la secte des Yézidis ou les adorateurs du Diable, Journal Asiatique, January, pp. 79-80.

39. According to the Iraqi scholar ‘Abd al-Razzâq al-Hasanî, all the words that appear in the copies of the Koran preserved by Yezidi dignitaries, and that allude to Satan or his curse, were systematically blotted out by them with wax, for they say it was Muslims who added them later. According to the same scholar, during a class a Yezidi pupil who comes across the name of Satan in a book automatically puts a finger on it to hide it. Sometimes it even happens that the pupil shuts the book and leaves the class, for a Yezidi should neither speak nor even hear the name of Satan. In order to lessen Yezidis' daily mental torment, it is correct social behaviour in Iran for non-Yezidis to respect this taboo in the presence of people from the Yezidi community. K. al-Djarrâd (1995), al-yazîdiyya wa al-yazîdiyyun (Yezidism and the Yezidis), (Lattaquié), p. 85.

40. F. Nau, loc. cit., pp. 149-154.

41. For reasons that are still quite obscure other Muslim saints are venerated by the Yezidis, in particular al- Hallâdj, Hasan al-Basrî and ‘Abd al-Qâdir al-Djîlânî. See K. al-Djarrâd, op. cit., p. 87.

42. F. Nau, loc. cit., pp. 150-153.

43. N. Siouffi (1885), Notice sur le Cheikh Adi et la secte des Yézidis, Journal Asiatique, January, p. 80.

44. K. al-Djarrâd, op. cit., p. 83.

45. ibid., p. 83.

46. ibid., pp. 188-189; 192-193.

47. ibid., pp. 185-186.

48. According to some versions of the Muslim myth of original sin, the peacock is an intermediary between the serpent and Satan and meets the same fate as them.

49. Though these Archangels are all venerated by the Yezidis, who establish places to worship them at vari ous points around the main sanctuary in Lâlesh, Iraq, only the Peacock-Angel is worshipped regularly and centrally. See K. al-Djarrâd, op. cit., p. 26.

50. C. Herrenschmidt (1988), Le mazdéisme in Le grand Atlas des religions (Paris, Editions Encyclopaedia Universalis), p. 70.

51. F. Nau, loc. cit., p. 271.

52. He is supposed to have filled seven pitchers with his tears over a period of 7000 years of penitence, and the flames of hell were extinguished forever by them. The Yezidis do not believe in either devil or hell. See T. Menzel, loc. cit., p. 1229.

53. N. Siouffi (1882), Notice sur la secte des Yézidis, Journal Asiatique, August-September, pp. 254-255.

54. F. Nau, loc. cit., p. 143.

55. T. Menzel, loc. cit., p. 1233.

56. Mistakenly called ‘John the Baptist Christians' by the first missionaries to come across them, although they consider the ‘Roman' or ‘Byzantine' Christ, as they call him, to be an imposter. This what Hibil-Ziwa, leader of the uthras (eons) of the Mandean pantheon, says on this subject (extract from the community's sacred texts, which are in Babylo-Aramaic): ‘(…) But then he (Jesus) shall corrupt John's preaching, alter the baptism in the Jordan, denature the words of fidelity and preach fraud and malice everywhere. (…) The Roman Christ shall cause upheaval among the peoples, the twelve seducers shall travel about the world, for thirty years the Roman shall appear to humankind.' See J. Steinman (1972), Saint Jean Baptiste et la spiritualité du désert (Paris, Editions du Seuil), pp, 128-129.

57. ‘Those that believe, both the followers of Judaism and also the Sabians and the Christians, provided they believe in God and the last Day, and carry out the work of salvation, no fear of them should be enter tained, nor shall they have regrets…' (The Table Spread, V: 69).

58. Ibn al-Nadîm (1971), Kitâb al-fihrist (Book of bibliographical index) (Tehran), p. 385.

59. See J. Hadot (1995), Mandéisme in Encyclopédie Universalis, Corpus XIV (Paris), pp. 422-423.

60. This is what the Koran says about the ahl al-kitâb (People of the Book): ‘Do not debate (you Muslims) with the People of the Book except in the gentlest way (…) - It is good that it be so: We have sent the written Word down upon you (upon Mohammed), and those to whom We have already given the Scripture believe in it, and there are those among them who believe in the written Word (…).' (The Spider, XXIX: 47-48)

61. Prince Ismael Gül (1934), Al-yazîdiyya qadiman wa hadîthan (Yezidism, past and present) (Beirut), p. 84.

62. This sacred Book, as well as mushaf-i rasht (the Black Book), was translated into English from the Arabic text by E.H. Browne and published as an appendix to O.H. Parry (1895), Six Months in a Syrian Monastery (London). The Arabic text was edited and translated into English by Isya Joseph (1908-1909), Yezidi Texts in The American Journal of Semitic Languages, vol. XXV. A replica of the Kurdish text was edited, with a French translation of two Arabic manuscripts, by Father Anastase Marie (1911) in Anthropos, vol. VI, pp. 1-39. The Kurdish text, written in cryptographic characters, was edited by M. Max Bittner, ibid, pp. 628-639. Finally a collection of texts and documents on the Yezidis was selected, translated and edited by F. Nau (1915-1917) in La Revue de l'Orient Chrétien, vol. X, pp. 142-200, 225-252.

63. F. Nau, loc. cit., p. 156.

64. According to the 1986 official census, 89,000 Iranians are classed as ‘other', as opposed to 97,557 Chris tians, 90,891 Zoroastrians and 24,722 Jews. The Bahai minority is not recognized. See S.M. Hachemi (1998) La République islamique au regard de sa constitution, Les Cahiers d'Orient, Iran special edition, first quarter, p. 14.

65. ibid., pp. 16-17.

66. ibid., p. 17.

67. ‘Those who believe, followers of Judaism, Sabians, Christians, Zoroastrians, those associated: among all of them God shall decide on the Day of resurrection. God is witness to everything.' (Pilgrimage, XXII: 17)

68. N. Siouffi (1880), loc. cit., pp. 80-82.

69. Marguerite-Marie Thiollier (1966-71) did as much, generously allowing it space in her little Dictionnaire des religions (Paris, Larousse; new edition Le Sycomore & L'Asiatique, 1980).

70. K. al-Djarrâd, op. cit., pp. 30-31, 41-42.

71. L. & A. Chabry (1987), Politique et minorités au Proche-Orient, les raisons sacrées d'une explosion (Paris, Maisonneuve et Lerose), p. 108.

72. ibid., p. 111.

73. N. Siouffi (1885), loc. cit., p. 87.

74. N. Siouffi (1880), loc. cit., pp. 81-82.

75. S.S. al-Ahmed, op. cit., p. 183.

76. ibid., p. 19.

77. N. Siouffi (1880), loc. cit., pp. 81-82.

78. F. Nau, loc. cit., p. 196.

79. ibid., p. 153.

80. A. Guérinot, op. cit., pp. 595-598.

81. H. Broca, op. cit., pp. 105-106.

82. J. Menant, op. cit., pp. 116-117, and A. Guérinot, op. cit., p. 630.

83. H. Broca, op. cit., p. 25.

84. The French translation of this most revealing text, which is published here in English for the first time, was kindly carried out by J. Blau, lecturer in Kurdish at INALCO, to whom we are most grateful.

85. ibid., p. 98.

86. S.S. al-Ahmed, op. cit., p. 10.

87. L. & A. Chabry, op. cit., p. 106.

88. R. Lescot (1938), Enquête sur les Yézidi de Syrie et du Djebel Sindjâr (Beirut), pp. 70-71.

89. A. Guérinot, op. cit., 595-598.

90. N. Siouffi (1882), loc. cit., p. 253.

91. S.S. al-Ahmed, op. cit., p. 104.

92. L. & A. Chabry, op. cit., p. 112.

93. This day is especially unlucky in Muslim tradition.

94. All Yezidis are in agreement about the fact that the first time this entity came down to earth was on an eastern Wednesday 1 April (western 14 April) on Mount Lâlesh in Iraq. From that time Wednesday became the equivalent for them of Friday for Muslims, Saturday for Jews and Sunday for Christians. Indeed it is in honour of that date that they celebrate Sri-Sâl (New Year) as the first day of the Yezidi calendar. We should remember that this date (1 April) is in fact the feast-day of Akito, which marks the New Year in the ancient Babylonian calendar, the day when the god Mardûk's victory over cosmic chaos was celebrated. See H. Broca, op. cit., p. 166.

95. I. Gül, op. cit., p. 84.

96. L. & A. Chabry, op. cit., p. 105.

97. R. Lescot, op. cit., p. 72.

98. F. Nau, loc. cit., p. 251.

99. J. Menant, op. cit., p. 57.

100. T. Menzel, loc. cit., p. 1230.

101. G. Furlani, op. cit., pp. 15-16.

102. Ibn al-Nadîm, op. cit., p. 387.

103. S.S. al-Ahmed, op. cit., p. 31.

104. A. al-'Azzâwî (1935), Târîkh al-yazîdiyya wa asl ‘aqâ'dihim (The history of the Yezidis and the origin of their beliefs), p. 80.

105. S.S. al-Ahmed, op. cit., p. 128.

106. ibid., p. 69.

107. Yezidis criticize Jews, Christians and Muslims for recognizing only one Adam, when according to them there were 72 Adams (71 were created on earth after the first) and each one's rule lasted 10,000 years. Yezidis say the Bible and the Koran tell us only what happened after the last Adam. See F. Nau, loc. cit., pp. 254-255, 260.

108. F. Nau, loc. cit., pp. 260-261.

109. The most popular magazine among Yezidis of the diaspora bears the highly significant name Dênge Êzidiyan (The Yezidi Voice).