LIBER AZERATE (The Black Book)

In the beginning, God created the White Pearl out of his most precious essence. He also created a bird named Angar. He placed the pearl white on the back of the bird, and dwelt in it for 40 thousand years. On the first day, Sunday, God created Melek Anzazîl, and he is Ta'us-Melek, chief of all, On Monday he created Melek Dardâel, and he is Seih Ḥasan. Tuesday he created Melek Israfel, and he is Seih

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[Paragraph continues] SAMS (ad-Din). Wednesday he created Melek Mihael, and he is Abu Bakr Seih. Thursday he created Melek Azrael, and he is Sajad-ad-Din. Friday he created Melek Šemnâel, and he is Nasir-ad-Din. Saturday, he created Melek Nurâel, and he is Yadin (FAHR-ad-Din). And he did Melek Ta'us ruler over all. 8

After that God made the form of the seven heavens, the earth, the sun and moon. But FAHR-ad-Din created man and animals, and the birds and animals. Put them in pockets of cloth and left the pearl accompanied by angels. Then he shouted at the Pearl aloud. So Pearl White was divided into four parts, and your middle and left the water, which has become an ocean. The world was round, and it was divided. So he created Gabriel and the image of the bird. It sent Gabriel to define four corners. He also made a vase and dropped it for thirty thousand years. After that, he went and dwelt in the mountain Lalis. Then he shouted to the world, and the sea became solidified and the land appeared, but he started to tremble. At this time he commanded Gabriel to bring two pieces of the White Pearl, one he put in the ground, the other stood at the door of heaven. He then put them the sun and moon, and the pieces of the White Pearl he created the stars in the sky hung as ornaments. He also created fruit trees and plants and mountains of decorations for the land. He created his throne on the carpet. 9 Then the Great God said, "O angels, I'll

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creating Adam and Eve, and the essence of Adam Shafi shall Jebr billion, a separate community, and it should appear on the earth, that Azazil, ie Melek Ta'us, which is the sect of the Yezidis. Then he sent Seih 'Adi Musafir billion land of Syria, and he came (and dwelt in Mount) Lalis. Then the LORD came down to Black Mountain. Shouting, he created thirty thousand Meleks, and divided them into three divisions. They raved about 40,000 years, when he gave Melek Ta'us that went up with them to heaven. At this time, the Lord descended to the Holy Land (al-Kuds), and ordered Gabriel to bring earth from the four corners of the world, earth, air, fire and water. He created and put into it a spirit of its own power, and named him Adam.

Then he ordered Gabriel to escort Adam in Paradise, and tell him that he could eat from all the trees, but not wheat. 10 Here Adam remained for a hundred years. Thereupon, Melek Ta'us asked God how Adam could multiply and have descendants if he were forbidden to eat the grain. God replied: "I put the whole matter in your hands." Shortly after Melek Ta'us visited Adam and said, "Have you eaten the grain?" He replied: "No, God forbid me." Melek Ta'us answered and said: "Eat of the grain and everything will be better with you." Then Adam ate the grain and immediately his belly was inflated. But Melek Ta'us expelled him from the garden, and leave it, ascended into heaven. now

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[Paragraph continues] Adam was troubled because his belly was inflated because he had no way out. So God sent a bird to him which pecked at his anus and made an outlet, and Adam was relieved.

Now Gabriel was away from Adam for a hundred years. And Adam was sad and crying. Then God commanded Gabriel to create Eve under the left shoulder of Adam., Now happened, after the creation of Eve and all the animals, Adam and Eve quarreled over the question of whether the human race should be his or her descendant for each wanted to be the sole parent of the race. This discussion originated in his observation of the fact that among animals in both males and females were factors in the production of their respective species. After a long discussion Adam and Eve agreed on the following: each must shed their seed in a jar, close it and seal it with his own seal, and wait for nine months. When they opened the bottles after the completion of this period, they found the two sons of Adam bottle, men and women. Now from these two our sect, the Yezidis, are descended. In Eva bottle found nothing but rotten worms emitting a foul odor. And God caused nipples to grow for Adam that he can suckle the children that came from her bottle. This is why men have nipples.

After this Adam knew Eve and she gave birth to two children, men and women, and these Jews, Christians, Muslims and other nations and sects are descended. But our first parents are Seth, Noah,

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and Enosh, the righteous, who were descended from Adam only.

Happened that the problem arose between a man and his wife, resulting from the refusal by the woman that the man was her husband. The man insisted her claim that she was his wife. The problem between the two was resolved, however, by one of the most righteous men of our sect, which decreed that at every wedding a drum and a pipe should be played as a testimony to the fact that as a man and a woman were legally married.

So Ta'us Melek descended to earth for our sect (ie, the Yezidis), servants, and appointed kings for us, besides the kings of ancient Assyria, Nisroch, which is Nasir-ad-Din; Kamush, who is Melek Fahr-ad-Din, and Artâmîs, who is Melek Sams- (ad) Din. After that, we had two kings, sabur (Shapur) Opening (224-272 AD) and second (309-379), who reigned 150 years, and our emirs until the present day have been a descendant of his lineage. But we hated four kings.

Before Christ came into this world our religion was paganism. King Ahab was between us. And the God of Ahab was called Beelzebub. Nowadays, we call him Pir Bub. We had a king of Babylon, whose name was Baḫtnasar, another in Persia, whose name was Aḥšuraš, and yet another in Constantinople, named Agriḳâlus. Jews, Christians, Muslims, and even the Persians, fought us, but they do not overwhelm us, because the strength of the Lord

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prevailed against them. He teaches us the first and last of science. And one of its teachings is:

Before heaven and earth existed, God was upon the sea, as I wrote earlier. There was a ship and traveled in the same kunsiniyat 11 seas, so have fun in itself. He then created the White Pearl and ruled over it for 40 years. After that, increasingly angry with the Pearl, he fired, and it was a big surprise to see the mountains formed out of their cry; the hills outside of its wonders, the heavens out of its smoke. Then God ascended into heaven, solidified him ourselves without pillars. He then spat on the floor and took a pen in his hand, began to write a narrative of all creation.

Earlier, he created six gods of himself and of his light, and his creation was like a light to light another light. And God said: "Now I created the heavens, let some of you go up and create something in it." Then, the second god created the sun rose and, third, the moon, the room, the vault of heaven, fifth, Fargo (ie the morning star), the sixth heaven, the seventh, the hell. I told you that after that they created Adam and Eve.

And know that, apart from the flood of Noah, there was another flood this world. Now our sect, the Yezidis, are descended from Na'umi, an honored person, king of peace. We call Melek Miran. The other sects are descended from Ham, who despised his father. The ship rested in a village called 'Ain Sifni, 12 distant

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Mosul about five parasangs. The cause of the first flood was the mockery of those who were without, Jews, Christians, Muslims and other descendants of Adam and Eve We, on the other hand, are only descendants of Adam, as already indicated:. This second flood came about our cult the Yezidis. As the water rose and the ship floated, came above Mount Sinjar, 13, which ran aground and was injured by a stone. The snake twisted itself like a cake and stopped the hole. Then the ship moved on and rested on Mount Judie.

Now, the species of the snake rose and began to bite man and animal. He was finally captured and burnt, and their ashes fleas were created. Since the time of the flood until now there are seven thousand years. Every thousand years, one of the seven gods descends to establish rules, statutes and laws, after he returns to his abode. While below, he sojourns with us because we have all kinds of sacred places. This last time that God dwelt among us more than any other gods before him. He confirmed the saints. He spoke in Kurdish. He also illuminated Mohammed, the prophet of the Ishmaelites, which had a servant called Mu'awiya, When God saw that Mohammed was not standing before him, he afflicted with a headache. The prophet then asked his servant to shave his head for Mu'awiya knew how to shave. He shaved his master in haste, and with some difficulty. As a result, he cut off the head and bled. Fearing that the blood may fall

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to the ground, Mu'awiya licked with his tongue. Thus, Muhammad asked: "What are you doing, Mu'awiya?" He replied: "I licked thy blood with my tongue, for I feared he might fall to the ground." Then Muhammad said to him, "You have sinned, O Mu'awiya, you must draw a nation behind you you should oppose my sect.." Mu'awiya replied, and said: "So I will not go into the world, I will not marry! '

Came to pass, after some time, God sent scorpions on Mu'awiya who bit him, causing his face to go with poison. Doctors asked her to marry lest he die. Hearing this, he consented. Brought him an old woman, 80 years old. so that no child can be born. Mu'awiya met his wife, and in the morning she appeared a woman of twenty-five years by the power of the great God. And she conceived and bore our god Yezid. But foreign sects, ignorant of this fact, saying that our God came from heaven, despised and driven by the great God. For this reason, they blaspheme it. In this they were wrong. But we, the Yezidi sect, does not believe this, because we know that he is one of the seven gods above. We know that the shape of his person and his image. It is shaped like a rooster that we have. None of us is allowed to utter his name, or anything resembling it, such as seitan (Satan), Kaitan (cable), sar (evil), SAT (river), and so on. Also do not rule mal'ûn (damn), or la'anat (curse), or Na'al 14 (horseshoe), or any word that has a similar sound. All of these are we forbidden by respect

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for it. So Hass (lettuce) is prevented. We do not eat it,. for it sounds like the name of our prophet Ḫassiah. Fish is prohibited, in honor of the prophet Jonas. The same way deer, deer are for the sheep from one of our prophets. The peacock is prohibited our Seih and his disciples, for the sake of our Ta'us. Squash is also prevented. Urinate standing or sitting for dressing, or go to the living room to the bathroom or take a shower according to the custom of the people is prohibited. 15 For whosoever shall do the contrary it is an infidel. Now, other sects, Jews, Christians, Muslims, and others, do not know these things, because they do not like Melek Ta'us. He therefore did not teach them, nor visit them. But he dwelt among us, he gave us the doctrines, rules and traditions, which have become an heirloom, passed down from father to son. After that, Melek Ta'us returned to heaven.

One of the seven gods did the sanjaks 16 (standards) and gave them to Solomon the wise. After his death, our kings received. And when our god, the barbarian Yezid, was born, he received these sanjaks with great reverence, and deposited them in our sect. In addition, he composed two songs in the Kurdish language to be sung before sanjaḳas that language, which is the oldest and acceptable. The meaning of the song is this:

Hallelujah to the jealous God.

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[Paragraph continues] As they sing, they march before the sanjaks with timbrels and pipes. These sanjaks remain with our emir, who sits on the throne of Yezid. When these are turned away, the ḳawwâls meet with the emir, and the great general, the Seih, who is the representative of Seih Nasir-ad-Din, ie Nisroch, god of the ancient Assyrians. 17 They visit the sanjaks. Then they send each Sanjak care in a ḳawwâl into place, one for Ḥalataneye, one for Aleppo, one for Russia and one for Sinjar. These are given to four sanjaks ḳawwâls contract. Before being sent to; are presented Seih 'ADI tomb, where they are baptized amidst much singing and dancing. After that each contractor takes a load of powder ADI Seih 'from the grave. He fashions them into small balls, each the size of a gall nut, and brings them together with sanjaks to give them as blessings. When he approaches a town, he sends. one preacher before him to prepare the people to accept their ḳawwâl and Sanjak with respect and honor. All come in fine clothes, carrying incense. The cry of women, and all together sing joyful songs. The ḳawwâl have fun with the people he stops. The rest gives him gifts of silver, each according to his ability.

Besides these four sanjaks there are three other in all seven. These three are kept in a sacred place for healing purposes. Two of them, however, remain with Seih 'Adi, and the third remains in the village of Baḥazanie, which is distant from Mosul about four hours. Every four months, these ḳawwâls

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travel about. One must travel in the province of the emir. They travel in a fixed order, differing each year. Every time he goes out, the traveler must cleanse themselves with water made with milk summaḳ (Sumac) and anoint with oil. It should also light a lamp at each idol that has a camera. This is the law with regard to sanjaks.

The first day of our new year is called the Serṣâlie, ie, the beginning of a year. He falls on Wednesday of the first week of April 18th. That day, there must be meat in every family. The wealthy must slaughter a lamb or an ox, the poor have to kill a chicken or something. These should be cooked the night, the morning of which is Wednesday, New Year's Day. With the break of day the food should be blessed. On the first day of the year alms should be given in tombs where the souls of the dead lie.

Now the girls, big and small, are to gather from the fields of flowers of all kinds that have a reddish color. They are doing them in bundles and then to keep them three days, they are to hang them on doors 19 as a sign of the baptism of the people living in the houses. In the morning all ports will be seen well decorated with red lilies. But women are to feed the poor and needy passing and have no food, what is to be done at the graves. But as for the ḳawwâls are to go around the tombs with tambourines, singing in Kurdish. To do so, they are entitled to money. In the aforementioned day Serṣâlie are instruments of joy are being reproduced because

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[Paragraph continues] God sits on the throne (arranging decrees for the year), 20 and commanding all wise and neighbors to get to him, and when he tells them he's going to come down to earth with song and praise, all UP! and rejoice before him and play on top of each squash party. So, God seals them with his own label. And the great God gives sealed for God to come down decision. He, moreover, gives you the power to do all things according to his own will. God prefers to do good and charitable to fast and pray. The worship of an idol, as Seyed-ad-Din or Seih SAMS is better than fasting. Some layman is giving a banquet for Kochak after fasting for the last 40 days, whether in summer or winter. If he (Kochak) says that this entertainment is an alms given to the Sanjak, then he is not released from his fasting. When it comes to pass that the annual tithe-gatherer finds that people do not fully paid the tithe, he pulls them until they get sick and some even die. People are giving kôchaks money to fight the Roman army, and thus save the sect (Yezidis) from the wrath of man of the year.

Every Friday a load of gifts should be brought as an offering to an idol. At that time, a servant is calling the people on high from the roof of a house Kochak voice, saying it is the prophet's call for a party. Everyone must listen with reverence and respect, and to hear him, each is to kiss the ground and the stone on which he becomes lean.

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It is our law that no ḳawwâl razor over his face. Our law on marriage is that, at the time of marriage a piece of bread should be taken from the home of a Kochak and be divided between the bride and groom, each half cat. Can, however, eat a bit of dust Seih 'ADI's tomb instead of bread for a blessing. Wedding in April is forbidden because it is the first month of the year. This rule, however, does not apply to ḳawwâls because they can get married during this month. No layman is allowed to marry a daughter of Kochak. Everyone is having a wife from his own class. But our emir may have a wife who pleases anyone to love. A layman may marry between the ages of ten to eighty, it can lead to a wife after another, for a period of one year. On her way to the groom's house, the bride must visit the shrine of all idols she may happen to pass, even if it passes by a Christian church, she should do the same. On his arrival at the groom's house, he should beat her with a small stone in the symbol of the fact that it must be under his authority. In addition, a piece of bread must be broken over his head, like a sip of what she must love the poor and needy. In Yezidi may sleep with his wife the night the morning of which is Wednesday morning and at night it is Friday. Whosoever does contrary to this commandment is an infidel. If a man steal his neighbor's wife, nor his own ex-wife or sister or mother, he is not obliged to give her dowry, for

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it is the estate of his hand. Daughters can not inherit wealth from his father. She can be sold as an acre of land is sold. If she refuses to get married, then she must redeem himself by paying her father a sum of money earned by their service and the work of your hand.

Here ends Kitab res, which is followed by several stories, some of which are said secretly, some openly.

Footnotes

37: 8 In his days of Menant Yezidis, 48, the names of these seven angels are given slightly different. According to Muslim tradition Zazil or Azazil was the original name of the devil.

37: 9 the "throne" here is meant the throne of God, and the "carpet" the land; cf. Sura 60: 131.

38:10 According to Muslim belief, wheat was the forbidden fruit, see Baiḍawi in Sura, ii, 33.

41:11 p. 84 Kunsiniyat is an obscure term.

41:12 'Ain Sifni is about five miles from Ba'adrie, cf. Layard, Nineveh, I, 272.

42:13 Yakut (III, 158) cites a similar tradition.

43:14 These are signs of Muslim influence and censorship, not Yezidi will never write in his book Sacred words like seitan, sar, etc.

44:15 That is, those of other faiths.

44:16 Sanjak is a Turkish word which means flag, is the name by which the Yezidis generally designate the sacred image of Melek Ta'us.

45:17 See note 27.

46:18 The Harranian New Year fell on the first day of April, and on the sixth day they killed an ox and ate; cf. Fihrist, 322.

46:19 A similar practice is found among the Persians from India who hang a rope of sheets through the entrances to their homes at the beginning of each New Year.

47:20 According to Babylonian mythology, human destiny was decreed on the day of the New Year and sealed on the tenth day; cf. The Hibbert Journal, V, January 1907. And according to the Talmud (MISNA, Ros Hasana, 1: 2), the New Year is the most important judgment day, on which all creatures pass for judgment before the Creator . On this day three books are opened, where the fat