The Yezidis, frequently called “Devil-Worshippers,” are a small and obscure religious sect, numbering about 200,000.[3] They are scattered over a belt of territory three hundred miles wide, extending in length from the neighborhood of Aleppo in northern Syria to the Caucasus in southern Russia. The mass of them, however, are to be found in the mountains of northern and central Kurdistan and among the Sinjar Hills of Northern Mesopotamia.
By reason of their mysterious religion, the Devil-Worshipers have been an object of interest and investigation for several generations. Our chief firsthand sources of information in regard to the manners, customs, and practices of these people are: Sir Henry Layard, Nineveh and its Remains (1849), Nineveh and Babylon (1853); G. P. Badger, The Nestorians and their Rituals (1852); my honored teacher, Rev. A. N. Andrus, veteran missionary of the A. B. C. F.M., resident in Mardin, Mesopotamia, “The Yezidis,” in the Encyclopaedia of Missions; P. Anastase, “The Yezidis,” in the Arabic periodical, Al-Mašrik, Vol. II (1899); Professor A. V. Williams Jackson, of Columbia University, Persia Past and Present (1906); “The Yezidis,” in the International Encyclopaedia, s. v.; also in J A O S, XXV, 178; M. N. Siouffi, in the Journal Asiatique, 1882 (viie série, T. 20), p. 252, and 1885 (viiie série, T. 5), p. 78. Siouffi was the first to discover and establish the historical character of Šeiḫ ‘Adî, about whom the scholars had been puzzled. He published an extract relating to ‘Adî from Ibn Ḫallikân’s Wafaiyât ‘al-Ayân (bibliographical work). Of the second-hand sources of information may be mentioned Les Yezidis, by J. Menant (Paris, 1892), and the article by Victor Dingelstedt, “The Yezidis,” in the Scottish Geographical Magazine, Vol. XIV, pp. 259 ff.[4]
In addition to these descriptions, several manuscripts have come to light of recent years which give a great deal of information about the beliefs and customs of the Yezidis.
Two of these manuscripts are in the Bibliothèque Nationale, in Paris (Fond Syriaque, Nos. 306 and 325). A translation of the Arabic (Carshuni) texts in these manuscripts relative to the Yezidis was published by Professor E. H. Browne in an appendix to O. H. Parry, Six Months in a Syrian Monastery, 1895. Professor Browne at that time proposed to edit the Arabic text (see J.-B. Chabot, Journal Asiatique, 1896, ixe série, T. 7, p. 100); but so far as I can ascertain this intention has not been carried out.
The manuscript translated by Browne, which according to Parry (loc. cit., p. 357) was written by a native of Mosul, seems to be closely related to that translated below. There are, however, some differences in contents and arrangement: my copy is divided into the Book of Revelation, the Black Book, and an Appendix; while Browne’s embraces the Book of Revelation which corresponds to that in my manuscript), and two other “Accounts,” the greater part of which is contained in the Black Book of my text, and the rest in the Appendix. Further, in my manuscript Al-Jilwah immediately follows the Introduction; while in Browne’s the discussion of the sacerdotal system, the petition to the Ottoman government, and some other matters, are inserted between the Introduction and Al-Jilwah. In Browne’s, moreover, the Poem in Praise of Šeiḫ ‘Adî, and the Principal Prayer (in Kurdish) are absent, while the petition to the Turkish government is briefer, and lacks articles iv and xiv. The text of this petition, in its original form, was published by Lidzbarski in Z D M G, LI, 592 ff., after a manuscript in Berlin which was procured from Šammas Eremia Šamir.
Two Syriac texts have also been printed. The first, edited and translated by J.-B. Chabot in the Journal Asiatique, 1896 (ixe série, T. 7), p. 100 ff., from the Paris manuscripts referred to above, corresponds, with slight variations, to the second “Account,” of Browne (Parry, loc. cit., pp. 380-87).
The second was published with an Italian translation, by Samuel Giamil, under the title, Monte Singar; Storia di un Popolo Ignoto (Rome, 1900), from a manuscript copied for him in 1899 from an original in the monastery of Rabban Hormizd. The author of this work, a Syrian priest, Isaac, lived for a long time among the Yezidis, and not only had unusual opportunities of observation, but, as is evident from several anecdotes, possessed their confidence and esteem in a singular degree. His work is in catechetical form: a youthful Yezidi inquirer questions a teacher about the beliefs, traditions, and customs of his people, and the answers contain the fullest exposition of these matters we at present possess. Occasionally the author falls out of his role, and lets it appear that the questioner is no other than Priest Isaac himself.
The work is divided into ten sections, which treat respectively of the works of God and his abode (p. 3); the creation of Adam and Eve (p. 8); the wonderful deeds of the god Yezîd (p. 16); the Yezidi saints (p. 27); the New-Year (p. 32); marriage customs (p. 46); death and burial (p. 53); the pilgrimage to Šeiḫ ‘Adî’s shrine (p. 67); the festivals and assemblies at Šeiḫ ‘Adî (p. 80); and the Yezidi kings (p. 87).
Apart from the Kitâb al-Jilwah, Priest Isaac’s work is clearly the source from which is derived most of the material in the Syriac and Arabic manuscripts that have hitherto come to light.
Beside the Arabic manuscript from Dâud aṣ-Ṣâîḡ which is translated below, I have in my possession two others, which were sent me by the Rev. A. N. Andrus. The first of these written by Šammas Eremia Šamir (designated in the notes hereafter as SS), seems to be a duplicate of that from which Browne’s translation was made. They agree in contents and arrangement, and in certain readings in which they differ from the other texts. At the close of SS the writer says that he compiled it (chiefly from Al-Jilwah) for the benefit of some of his friends who wished to acquaint themselves with the Yezidi religion.