Sacred Books and Traditions of the Yezidiz, by Isya Joseph, [1919], at sacred-texts.com

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ARTICLES OF FAITH

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.

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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.

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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

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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

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For these and other reasons, we cannot enter the military service, etc.

The names of those who affixed their signatures:

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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, Beirut, 1890, 266.