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1. Al-Jilwah is said to have been written in 558 A. H., by Šeiḫ Faḫr-ad-Dîn, the secretary of Šeiḫ ‘Adî, at the dictation of the latter. The original copy, wrapped in linen and silk wrappings, is kept in the house of Mulla Ḥaidar, of Baadrie. Twice a year the book is taken to Šeiḫ ‘Adî’s shrine. (Letter from Šammas Jeremia Šamir to Mr. A. N. Andrus, of Mardin, dated October 28, 1892.)

2. The Black Book is said to have been written by a certain Ḥasan al-Baṣrî, in 743 A. H. The original copy is kept in the house of Kehyah (chief) ‘Ali, of Kasr ‘Az-ad-Dîn, one hour west of Semale, a village east of Tigris. The book rests upon a throne, having over it a thin covering of red broadcloth, of linen, and other wrappings. Then is disclosed the binding, which is of wood.

3. The exact number of the Yezidis is unknown. See also Société de Géographie de l’Est, Bulletin, 1903, p. 284; Al Mašriḳ, II, 834.

4. For a fuller account of the literature on the Yezidis, consult J. Menant, Les Yézidis, and Paul Perdrizet, Société de Géographie de l’Est, Bulletin, 1903, pp. 281 ff.

5. Société de Géographie de l’Est, Bulletin, 1903, p. 297.

6. Fraser, Mesopotamia and Persia, pp. 285, 287; Rich, Residence in Kurdistan, II, 69; Al Mašriḳ, II, 396; Badger, The Nestorians and their Rituals, I, 111; Assemani, Bibliotheca Orientalis, III, 439.

7. Michel Febvre, Theatre de la Turquie, p. 364; Société de Géographie de l‘Est, Bulletin, 1903, pp. 299, 301; cf. also J. Menant, Les Yézidis, pp. 52, 86, 132.

8. Oppenheim, Vom Mittelmeer zum persischen Golf, 1900, II, 148; Victor Dingelstedt, Scottish Geographical Magazine, XIV, 295; Southgate, A Tour through Armenia, II, 317; A. V. Williams Jackson, “Yezidis,” in the New International Encyclopedia, XVII, 939; Perdrizet, loc. cit., p. 299.

9. A. V. Williams Jackson, Persia Past and Present, p. 10, New International Encyclopedia, “Yezidis;” Perdrizet, loc. cit.

10. Dingelstedt, loc. cit.; Revue de l’Orient Chrétien, I, “Kurdistan.”

11. Société de Géographie de l’Est, loc. cit.; Encyclopedia of Missions, “Yezidis”; A. V. Williams Jackson, loc. cit.

12. On these sects consult Aš-Šahrastânî, I, 86, 89, 100.

13. Not like Mohammed, to whom, according to Moslem belief, the Koran was revealed at intervals.

14. On the Ṣabians of the Koran, see Baiḍâwi and Zamaḫšari on Suras 2, 59; 5, 73; 22, 17.

15. On the Ṣabians of Ḥarrân, see Fihrist, p. 190; on the Ṣabians in general consult Aš-Šahrastânî, II, 203; on the location of Ḥarrân and Wasit, see Yaḳût, II, 331, and IV, 881.

16. To get more particular information in regard to Yezîd bn Unaisa, I wrote to Mosul, Bagdad, and Cairo, the three centers of Mohammedan learning, and strange to say, none could throw any light on the subject.

17. Al-Haraṯiyah he describes as Aṣḥâb Al-Ḥareṭ (I, 101), al-Ḥafaziyah, Aṣḥâb Ḥafez (ibid.), etc.

18. Ibn Ḫallikân says: “Aš-Šahrastânî, a dogmatic theologian of the Ašarite sect, was distinguished as an Imâm and a doctor of the law. He displayed the highest abilities as a jurisconsult. The Kitâb al-Milal wa-n-Nihal (this is the book in which Aš-Šahrastânî traces the Yezidi sect to Yezîd bn Unaisa) is one of his works on scholastic theology. He remained without an equal in that branch of science.”

19. It is to be noticed also that the name “Unaisa” is very common among the Arabs; cf. Ibn Sa‘ad (ed. Sachau), III, 254, 260, 264, 265, 281, 283, 287, 289; Musnad, VI, 434; Mishkat, 22, 724.

20. Geschichte der herrschenden Ideen des Islams, p. 195.

21. Ibn Ḫallikân (Egyptian edit., A. H. 1310), I, 316; Mohammed al-‘Omari, al-Mauṣili, “Šeiḫ ‘Adî,” quoted by M. N. Siouffi, Journal asiatique, 1885, 80; Yaḳut, IV, 374.

22. ‘Itiḳad Ahl as-Sunna, “Belief of the Sunnites,” the Waṣaya, “Counsels to the Califs”; cf. C. Huart, History of Arabic Literature, p. 273.

23. See p. 61 of this book.

24. Aš-Šahrastânî regards them a Ḫarijíte sub-sect.

25. Layard, Nineveh and its Remains, II, 254.

26. Mohammed al-‘Omari al-Mausili and Yâsîn al-Ḫâtib al-‘Omari al-Mauṣili, “Šeiḫ ‘Adî,” quoted by M. N. Siouffi, Journal asiatique, Série viii, V (1885), 80.

27. George Warda, Bishop of Arbila, Poems, edited by Heinrich Hilgenfeld, Leipzig, 1904.

28. Such as their ceremonies at Šeiḫ ‘Adî (Badger, The Nestorians, I, 117), which have obtained for them the name Cheraḡ Sonderan, “The Extinguishers of Light.” Bar Hebraeus (Chronicon Eccles., ed. Abeloos-Lamy, I, 219) speaks of similar practices among what he calls “Borborians,” a branch of the Manichaeans, and calls them “The Extinguishers of Light.” This name is applied to other eastern sects also; see Abhandlungen für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, V, 124.

29. Professor Jackson, of Columbia University, seems to trace it to the “old devil-worship in Mazandaran” (J A O S, XXV, 178). But it is not certain that the Yezidis believe in Melek Ṭâ´ûs as an evil spirit. In the history of religion the god of one people is the devil of another. Asura is a deity in the Rig Veda and an evil spirit only in later Brahman theology. In Islam the gods of heathenism are degraded into jinns, just as the gods of North Semitic heathenism are called še‘îrîm (hairy demons) in Lev. 17:7; or as the gods of Greece and Rome became devils to early Christians. See W. R. Smith, Religion of the Semites, p. 120; Fihrist, pp. 322, 326.

Professor M. Lidzbarski (Z D M G, LI, 592), on the other hand, argues that Ṭâ´ûs is the god Tammuz. His contention is based on the assumption that the word Ṭâ´ûs must embody the ancient god; that in Fihrist, 322, the god Tâuz has a feast on the 15th of Tammuz (July); that in Kurdish, the language of the Yezidis, m is frequently changed to w. This theory also is untenable, for one might guess at any ancient god. The exact form of the name “Tauz” is uncertain (see Chwolsohn, Die Ssabier, II, 202); the statement that in Kurdish m is frequently changed to w is not true, if one would set it up as a grammatical rule to explain such phenomena; the Kurdish-speaking people never pronounce Tammuz, “Tauz;” and, finally, in the Yezidi conception of Melek Ṭâ´ûs there are no traces of the notion held respecting Tammuz.

30. Such a state of affairs finds a historical parallel in other religions. Take, for example, Christianity. In it we find that the distinctive characteristics of the founder have been wrapped up in many foreign elements brought in by those who came from other religions.