Articles of Faith Yazidis

the Book black Yazidi (here the articles of faith Yazidis) is one of the two books written in the style of a sacred book of the Yazidis in their native Kurmanji (northern Kurdish) language, the other being the Yezidi Book of Revelations (or Apocalypse). 

Yazidi articles of faith

The Yazidi Articles of Faith

At one point (AH 1289; AD 1872), the Ottoman power wanted to recruit an army among them instead of collecting the tax it was due. They presented the government with all the rules that prevented them from complying. These are all religious and moral obligations for them. They are the following:

FIRST ARTICLE

Selon notre religion yézidie, chaque membre de notre secte, qu’il soit grand ou petit, fille ou femme, doit visiter Melek Ṭâ’ûs trois fois par an, c’est-à-dire, d’abord, du début à la fin du mois d’avril, calendrier romain ; deuxièmement, du début à la fin du mois de septembre ; troisièmement, du début à la fin du mois de novembre. Si quelqu’un ne visite pas l’image de Melek Ṭâ’ûs, il est un infidèle.

SECTION II

If a member of our sect, great or small, does not visit his highness Šeiḫ 'Adî bn Musâfir – may God sanctify his mysteries! once a year, that is to say from the fifteenth to the twentieth of September, Roman calendar, he is unfaithful according to our religion.

ARTICLE III

Every member of our sect must visit the place of sunrise every day when it appears, and there must be no Muslims, Christians, or anyone else at that place. If someone doesn't, he's an infidel.

ARTICLE V

Each member of our sect must daily kiss the hand of his brother, his brother from the hereafter, namely the servant of the Mahdi, and the hand of his šeiḫ or pir. If someone does not, he is considered an infidel.

ARTICLE V

According to our religion, it is something unbearable when the Muslim begins in the morning to say in prayer, God forbid! “I take refuge in God, etc. 38 If any of us hear it, let him kill the one who says it and kill himself; otherwise he becomes an infidel.

SECTION VI

When a member of our sect is about to die, if there is no brother of the world to come and his šeiḫ, or his pîr and one of the ḳawwâls with him to say three words about him, to know ; "O servant of Melek Ṭâ'ûs whose ways are high, you must adhere to the religion of the one we worship, who is Melek Ṭâ'ûs, whose ways are high, and not die in any other religion than his .

And if anyone comes and tells you something about the Muslim religion, or the Christian religion, or the Jewish religion, or any other religion, don't believe it and don't follow it. And if you believe and follow another religion than that of the one we worship, Melek Ṭâ'ûs, you will die unfaithful”, he becomes unfaithful.

ARTICLE VII

We have something called the blessing of Šeiḫ 'Adî, meaning the dust of the Šeiḫ 'Adî tomb – may God sanctify its mystery! Every member of our sect must have it in their pocket and eat it every morning. And if he doesn't eat it intentionally, he's an infidel. Likewise at the time of death, if he intentionally does not possess some of this dust, he dies unfaithfully.

ARTICLE VIII

Regarding our fasting, if anyone from our sect wishes to fast, he should fast at his home, not at another's. For during the fast, he must go each morning to the house of his šeiḫ and his pir, and there he must begin to fast, and when he breaks his fast, likewise, he must go to the house of his šeiḫ and his his pîr, and there break the fast by drinking the sacred wine of šeiḫ or pîr.

And if he does not drink two or three glasses of this wine, his fast is not acceptable, and he becomes an infidel.

ARTICLE IX

If a member of our sect goes to another place and stays there for up to a year, then returns home, then his wife is forbidden to him, and none of us will give him a wife. If anyone gives him a wife, that one is an infidel.

ARTICLE X

Regarding our dress, as we mentioned in the fourth article that each of our sect has a brother for the hereafter, he also has a sister for the hereafter.

So if one of us makes a new shirt for himself, it is necessary for his sister for the afterlife to open the neckband of it, that is to say the neckband of this shirt, with his hand . And if she doesn't open it with her hand, and he takes it, then he's an infidel.

ARTICLE XI

If someone from our sect makes a new shirt or dress, he cannot wear it without baptizing it in the holy water which is in the sanctuary of his highness Šeiḫ 'Adî may God sanctify his mystery! If he wears it, he is an infidel.

SECTION XII

We can't wear a light black dress at all. We cannot comb our heads with the comb of a Muslim, a Christian, a Jew or any other. We also cannot shave our heads with the razor used by others than ourselves (Yazidis), unless it is washed in holy water which is at the shrine of His Highness Šeiḫ 'Adî .

So we are allowed to shave our heads. But if we shave our heads without the razor having been washed in this water, we become infidels.

ARTICLE XIII

No Yazidi can enter a Muslim's bathroom, or take a bath in a Muslim's house, or eat with a Muslim spoon, or drink from a Muslim cup, from a cup used by another sect. If he does, he's an infidel.

ARTICLE XIV

Regarding food, there is a big difference between us and other sects. We don't eat meat or fish, squash, bamia (okra), fasulia (beans), cabbage or lettuce. We can't even live where the lettuce is sown.

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

The names of those who affixed their signatures:

THE LEADER OF THE YEZIDI SECT, THE EMIR OF ŠEIḪÂN, ḤUSEIN.
THE ŠEIḪ RELIGIOUS OF THE YEZIDI SECT OF THE ŠEIḪÂN DISTRICT, ŠEIḪ NAṢIR.

THE. CHIEF OF THE VILLAGE OF MAM REŠÂN, PÎR SULEIÂN.

THE HEAD OF THE VILLAGE OF

MUSKAN, MURAD.
ḤATÂRAH, AYYUB.
BEIBÂN, ḤUSEIN.
DAHḲAN, ḤASSAN.
ḤUZRÂN, NU'MÔ.
BAKASRA, 'ALI.
BÂ'AŠÎḲA, JAMÔ.
ḤÔŠABA, ILIAS.
ḲREPAḤIN, SAĠD.
ḲABÂREH, KÔCHAK.
KASO.
SINÂ, 'ABDÔ.
'AIN SIFNI, GURGÔ.
ḲASR-'IZZ-AD-DIN
ḪEIRO.
KIBERTÔ, ṬÂHIR.

AND OTHERS.

They are those whose names appeared in the petition mentioned above, and from which we have copied some elements.

The result was that when they presented this petition, they were exempted from military service, but they paid a tax in silver as the Christians did.