Yezidis and Their Theocracy

optional courses

The student should be interested in the subject, have a general knowledge of the geography of the Middle East and the main principles of Islam and Christianity.

Classroom

The Theocratic Yezidi community and its religious principles are the subject of the lecture.

The lecture focuses on the Yezidis - followers of one of the least known religions of the Middle East, their history, ethnic identity and theocratic social structure. The course will discuss the religious principles of Yezidism and its cosmogony and anthropogony, as well as forms of worship and sacred architecture. The relationship of Yezidism to other religions of the Middle East (Zoroastrianism, Mithraism, Sabeism, Gnostic movements, Mandaism and Yarsanism) will also be outlined, and the relationship of the Yezidi religion to Islam and Christianity will be discussed. Students will learn about the sanjak, ster, mshur, berat and why the Yezidis consider Wednesday to be a holy day, as well as who Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir, the Sultan of Yezid and Tawusi Melek are. They will also learn about the history of Yezidology and the current state of knowledge in this field.

B. Açıkyıldız, The Yezidis: the History of a Community, Culture and Religion, I.B. Tauris, London 2010.

Ch. Allison, „Unbelievable Slowness of Mind”: Yezidi Studies, from Nineteenth to Twenty-First Century, “Journal of Kurdish Studies” 6 (2008), s. 1–23.

С. А. Егиазаров, Краткий этнографическо-юридический очерк езидов Эриванской губернии, [w:] „Записки Кавказского отдела императорского Русского географического общества” vol. 13, 2 (1891), s. 171–232.

R. Y. Ebied, M.J.L. Young, An Account of the History and Rituals of the Yazīdīs of Mosul, „Le Muséon” 85 (1972), s. 481–522.

J. S. Guest, Survival Among the Kurds: A History of the Yezidis, Kegan Paul International, London – New York 1993.

Ph. G. Kreyenbroek, Yezidism – its Background, Observances and Textual Tradition, E. Mellen Press, Lewiston 1995.

A. H. Layard, Nineveh and its Remains, vol. I, John Murray, London 1849.

R. Lescot, Enquête sur les Yezidis de Syrie et du Djebel Sindjār, Librairie du Liban, Beyrouth 1938.

Abū ’l-Faraj Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq Ibn al-Nadim, The Fihrist, ed. and tr. B. Dodge, Great Books of the Islamic World, New York 1998, s. 745–773.

Kh. Omarkhali, On the Structure of the Yezidi Clan and Tribal System and its Terminology among the Yezidis of the Caucasus, „Journal of Kurdish Studies” 6 (2008), s. 104–119.

A. Rodziewicz, Kełle, święte hymny Jezydów, „Przegląd Orientalistyczny” 265–266 (2018), s. 73–90.

A. Rodziewicz, Jezydzkie hymny kosmogoniczne: „Hymn o Nieszczęsnym Rozbitku" (Qewlê Zebûnî Meksûr) i „Hymn o Be i A" (Qewlê Bê û Elîf), „Przegląd Orientalistyczny” 265–266 (2018), s. 207–222.

A. Rodziewicz, The Yezidi Wednesday and the Music of the Spheres, „Iranian Studies”, 53 (2021), s. 259–293.

A. Rodziewicz, The Blessed Handful of Light: Genesis and Message of the Yezidi berat, „British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies” 49 (2022), ss. 1–23.

A. Rodziewicz, Between Orthopraxy and Orthodoxy: International Yezidi Theological Academy in Tbilisi, „Kulturní studia” 18 (2022), ss. 81–116.

A. Rodziewicz, Eros and the Pearl: The Yezidi Cosmogonic Myth at the Crossroads of Mystical Traditions, Peter Lang, Berlin 2022.

E. Spät, Shahid bin Jarr, Forefather of the Yezidis and the Gnostic Seed of Seth, „Iran & the Caucasus” 6 (2002), s. 27–56.

KNOWLEDGE

- A student is familiar with the essentials of the Yezidi religion, the social structure of the Yezidi community, its history, sacred figures and basic religious terminology.

- A student has knowledge of the major festivals and sacred objects of the Yazidi religion.

- A student is familiar with the most important Yezidi religious commandments and prohibitions, especially those relating to the use of writing, and understands the role of sacred religious hymns in Yezidism.

SKILLS

- A student is able to recognise and identify the basic elements of Yezidism, to formulate and analyse research questions concerning Yezidism, to select appropriate research methods and tools for the analysis of Yezidism.

- A student is able to recognise basic research paradigms concerning Yezidi community and religion and use elementary Yezidi terminology in discussion.

- A student is able to recognise basic terms in the Kurmanji dialect of the Kurdish language and in Arabic.

SOCIAL COMPETENCES

- A student is sensitive to religious diversity and multiculturalism.

- A student is open to inter-religious dialogue and sensitive to the issue of religious minorities and their persecution.

Attendance at the lecture is obligatory, only two unexcused absences are allowed.

The form of assessment: a test.