In this chapter the reader is introduced to the Yazidis; their origin, physical characteristics, language, customs and clothing, and geographical distribution. This chapter also briefly describes their history, social structure, religious doctrines and means of livelihood; also discussed are the history of Sheikh Adi and the Yazidi religious hierarchy. Sheikh Adi is of particular significance as he founded the religious hierarchy of the Yazidis, and historical knowledge of the priestly Yazidi ancestors helps us to understand the social functions of the sacred poems. Reconstructing the history of Yazidi ancestors, in particular, the history of Sheikh Adi, enable the reader to grasp the motives …
Table of Contents
Transliteration / vi A Note on Translation / viii List of Illustration / ix Acknowledgments / xi Vita / xx Abstract of the Dissertation / xxii
Introduction / 1 Chapter I. The Cultural and Historical Setting / 29 Chapter II. Rituals and the Sacred Poems / 116 Chapter III. The Sacred Poems: An Artistic View / 219 Chapter IV. The Sacred Poems: Interpretation And Function / 268 Chapter V. The Dissemination of Religious Knowledge among the Yazidis / 358 Appendix 1 / 410 Appendix 2 / 420 Appendix 3 / 429 Appendix 4 / 434 Appendix 5 / 444 Appendix 6 / 454 Appendix 7 / 460 Appendix 8 / 465 Appendix 9 / 471 Appendix 10 / 475 Appendix 11 / 490 Appendix 12 / 497 Appendix 13 / 505
Bibliography / 516
List of Illustrations
Map I. The genealogy of the Sheikhs according to the Yazidi traditions / 82
Map II. The genealogy of the Pirs according to the Yazidi traditions / 83
Plate I. Yazidis from Sin jar, circa 1820. (Photo: Claudias James Rich, Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan) / 30
Plate II. Wansa and Mayan Khatun, circa 1935. (Photo: ’Abd al-Razzag al-Hasani, al-Yazidiyun f i hadirihim wa madihim) / 33
Plate III. (a) Kochak and Qawwal, circa 1930. (Photo: C. J. Edmonds, A Pilgrimage to Lalish, Royal Asiatic Society) / 34 (b) Jawana Tribesman of Sinjar, circa 1930. (Photo: Ibid.) / 34
Plate IV. Mir Hussein Beg and Abdi Beg, 1849, F. C. Cooper. (Photo: Henry Layard, Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon) / 88
Plate V. Sheikh Nasir, the Yazidi Baba Sheikh, 1849, F. C. Cooper. (Photo: Badger, the Nestorians and their Rituals) / 91
Plate VI. (a) The Standard of Ta’us Malak, 1852, Mrs. G. P. Badger. (Photo: Badger, the Nestorians and their Rituals) / 128 (b) Yazidi Qawwals, 1849, Henry Layard. (Photo: Layard, Discoveries in the Ruin of Nineveh and Babylon) / 128
Plate VII. (a) The Shrine of Sheikh Adi (from the South), 1945. (Photo: C. J. Edmonds, A Pilgrimage to Lalish, Royal Asiatic Society) / 167 (b) The Forecourt of Sheikh Adi's Shrine. (Photo: Ibid.) / 167
Piste VIII. Mixed dancing at the Shrine of Sheikh Adi, 1957. (Photo: Freya Stark, Geographical Magazine) / 168
Piste IX. Three Yazidi Authorities on the Oral Traditions / 419 (a) Faqir Haji, 1979. (Photo: Sulayman, Yazidizim...) / 419 (b) Sheikh Hàji Son of Ismail. (Photo: Ibid) / 419 (c) Faqir Ali, 1992. (Photo: Faqir Ali) / 419
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I owe a great debt to Professor John G. Kennedy under whose perceptive supervision I was able to finish my Ph.D. degree. I appreciate very much the fact that Professor Kennedy readily accepted to supervise my work on the Yazidis in 1984 while I was planning to transfer from the department of Near Easterns Languages and Cultures, D.C.L.A., to that of anthropology after finishing an M.A. in that field. Such an acceptance from the beginning energized my willingness to embark on the graduate program. From then on, Professor Kennedy has showed a keen interest in my work, in the Yazidis, and he has often encouraged me to introduce their humanistic culture to the world.
Professor Kennedy's perceptive guidance included invaluable advice and constant following of my study. During my numerous visits to his office, I always felt in the presence of a dear friend. Professor Kennedy has been generous in giving me time in spite of his busy schedule. In those visits, he always emphasized the positive aspects in my work while criticizing it with the spirit of a responsible scholar. During each visit, he provided me with a list of readings and loaned me his own books. It was in those visits, that I would come up with new ideas and a better understanding of the field of Anthropology. Not only that, but Professor Kennedy also helped me in designing the proposal, working through the rough drafts of this dissertation and even correcting its English.
Moreover, Professor Kennedy has not only given me his academic contributions, but I came to know him all these years as a concerned friend. At all times, he inquired about my well-being, that of my family, and my own people. He often discussed with me the personal difficulties I confronted from time to time and how to solve them. He always encouraged me and wrote me letters of recommendations. He never received me but with utmost kindness. I look forward to be always in contact with Professor John Gorden Kennedy, the man and the anthropologist; his is a sensitive and constructive voice in a world so shattered by egoism and self-interest.
I also express my deep appreciation to Professor Paul Kroskrity for his provoking advice and positive comments. Professor Kroskrity trained me in linguistic Anthropology, and the graduate courses I took with him were very useful in helping me to address the artistic aspect the sacred poems of the Yazidis. Professor Kroskrity also took the time to discuss with me the proposal of my dissertation, and helped me in coming up with its final structure. Professor Kroskrity was very * flexible and generous in arranging our meetings and in answering my questions. He has been always very friendly and gracious toward me.
I express my deep thanks to Professor Nancy Levine. Her valuable advice and special interest in my work were an indispensable source of moral support that made a significant contribution in finishing my graduate program. She at once accepted to work on my M.A. as well as Ph.D. committees, and always encouraged and cooperated with me in finishing my study. While visiting Professor Levine in her office, I always felt her kindness and generous support. I benefitted a lot from her graduate courses along with her positive comments and suggestions which were very helpful in guiding me in the field of socio-cultural Anthropology. Professor Levine's letters of recommendation, her constant questions about my own circumstances and that of my family were a great asset for me throughout my study in the department of Anthropology. I will always remember Professor's Levine kind concern for the study and the welfare of her students, including myself.
I am also very grateful to Professor Afaf Lutfi al-Sayyid-Marsot. I appreciate very much her generous support, kindness and special interest in my work. Her letters of recommendation, her instant readiness to work on my Ph.D. Committee and her moral support have been a source of comfort for me at UCLA. Whenever I visited Professor Marsot, I found her always very friendly and cooperative. I learned a lot from her lively conversations and humanistic outlook toward life.
I owe a great acknowledgement to Professor Andras J.E. Bodrogligeti for the generous support I received from him. He provided me with sound advice and assisted me in getting financial support while I was a student in the M.A. program in the department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures (1981-1984), which was then under his chairmanship. I am very grateful for his support in recommending me to the graduate program at the department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures and that of Anthropology, and for writing for me several letters of recommendation. Throughout these years, I remained in contact with Professor Bodrogligeti; during each visit to his office, I would invariably receive from him a lot of kindness and a constant inquiry about my situation and that of my people. I learned thoughtful lessons from Professor Bodrogligeti's magnificent example, the most important of which is that if advances in the fields of knowledge do not bridge the gap between the individual and his fellow men, then, such advances remain useless and function merely as boastfulness and self-aggrandizement. I am very proud and lucky to have met Professor Bodrogligeti and to have him in my Ph.D. Committee. I will always remember him as an outstanding scholar and as a dear friend.
I am very much indebted to Professor George Sabagh, the director of Near Eastern Center at UCLA. Throughout these years, he has been very kind and friendly toward me. Indeed, I am very grateful for the generous support I received from Professor Sabagh, he assisted me in getting financial aid, and furnished me with the opportunity to use Work Study funds at the Center's projects, a matter that accelerated the process of finishing my Ph.D. degree.
Professor Sabagh also provided me with office space, showed a keen interest in my work, and nourished my poetic talent by organizing on my behalf sessions through the Near Eastern Center in which I read my poems, cordially attending those sessions himself.
In spite of his busy schedule, Professor Sabagh's office has been always open to me; whenever I visit him, I always feel in front of a remarkable man whose life experience has taught him to extend his hand to alleviate, and if possible, to solve others problems, without asking for reward or recognition. I am very proud and lucky to have met and known Professor George Sabagh, I will always remember his amiability and altruism.
I thank very much Professor Richard G. Hovannisian, the Associate Director of Near Eastern Center, for his assistance in getting financial support and interest in my work. He encouraged me from the very beginning to write my dissertation about the Yazidis as a way to introduce some unknown aspects of their culture to the world. Professor Hovannisian has been always very friendly and affable toward me.
I am very grateful to Professor Speros Vryonis, Jr., the former director of Near Eastern Studies at UCLA, for his assistance in getting financial aid and interest in my work. I will always remember Professor Vryonis generous support and kindness toward me.
My special thanks and appreciation go to Miss Ann Walters, the Student Advisor at the department of Anthropology. She has a beautiful personality; she is kind, friendly and supportive. Miss Ann Walters always has been very helpful in answering and solving my questions. I am very grateful to Miss Mary Murrel, the Administrative Analyst at the Near Eastern Center, for her kindness and cooperation while working as a Research Assistant. I am also very grateful to Mr. Raj Duggal, the Administrative Assistant at the Near Eastern Center «at UCLA, for his keen interest in my works, his friendship and his support. And, of course, my thanks and appreciation go to so many friends who have contributed in one way or another in writing this dissertation.
I am very grateful to Mr. John S. Guest; I benefitted significantly from his outstanding book: Ihfi Yazidis. The book is the first history of the Yazidis and it includes also the first ever comprehensive bibliography about them. Through this bibliography, I became acquainted with many sources about the Yazidis and which were previously unknown to me. Mr. Guest has been a dear friend of the Yazidis; he has visited them in the village of Hamdona in Batmdne district in Turkey and in West Germany on several occasions. The Yazidis of Hamdona often spoke to me kindly and respectfully of Mr. Guest. They are very appreciative of his generosity and his philanthropic contributions to their community. The Yazidis are very thankful for Mr. Guest's effort to introduce their history to the world.
Finally, I owe a great debt to the Yazidis who taught me the most noble lesson in life: that if material and social success does not go hand in hand with spiritual and ethical values, the very success will render the process of living destructive and meaningless. An individual can not live on bread alone. To be happy, one's life must involve the principles of friendship, hospitality and communal cooperation, in other words, the principle of love for mankind. The Yazidis teach that these principles must hold supremacy over those of self-interest. I hope that my people will consider this work as a token of appreciation for what they have taught me.
I thank wholeheartedly all those Yazidi informants in Germany who received me in their houses and let me feel at home throughout my fieldwork in 1989. They were very cooperative in answering my questions, and very generous in providing me with additional invaluable data. X refer in particular to Faqir Ali, Yousif Nasro, Mam Jamil, my dear friends: Dr. Darwish Sharro, Dr. Mamo Uthman and the economist: Jahwar Ali. The data I received from them were unique and inestimable. I will always remember their hospitality and friendship. I refer also and with sense of pride to my friend since boyhood, Dr. Khalil Jindi. I visited him in Prague in Czechoslovakia in October 1989. While being my host, he worked laboriously to answer my questions and to explain the meanings of many words in the Yazidi sacred poems. This helped me fundamentally in translating them into English. Dr. Khalil as always has been generous, kind, and humorous. It is needless to say that Khalil's book I-, "Yazidizim..." a book which he coauthored with my friend Khidr Sulayman, and which includes a considerable portion of the Yazidi sacred poems, has contributed significantly toward the writing of this dissertation. I am very indebted to this remarkable work without which the dissertation would not have materialized. I must also acknowledge my dear friend Khidr Sulayman, for sending me his other books about the Yazidis, and from which I benefitted a great deal.
Abstract of the Dissertation
The Sacred Poems of the Yazidis, An Anthropological Approach
By Jasim Elias Murad Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology University of California, Los Angeles, 1993 Professor John G. Kennedy, Chair Chapter I: In this chapter the reader is introduced to the Yazidis; their origin, physical characteristics, language, customs and clothing, and geographical distribution. This chapter also briefly describes their history, social structure, religious doctrines and means of livelihood; also discussed are the history of Sheikh Adi and the Yazidi religious hierarchy. Sheikh Adi is of particular significance as he founded the religious hierarchy of the Yazidis, and historical knowledge of the priestly Yazidi ancestors helps us to understand the social functions of the sacred poems. Reconstructing the history of Yazidi ancestors, in particular, the history of Sheikh Adi, enable the reader to grasp the motives …
Jasim Elias Murad
The Sacred Poems of the Yazidis: An Anthropological Approach
University of California
University of California The Sacred Poems of the Yazidis: An Anthropological Approach Jasim Elias Murad
The Sacred Poems of the Yazidis: An Anthropological Approach A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology by Jasim Elias Murad University of California Los Angeles 1993
