PART I

THE TRANSLATION OF THE ARABIC TEXT

p. 28 p. 29

PREFACE

In the Name of the Most Compassionate God!

With the help of the Most High God, and under his direction, we write the history of the Yezidis, their doctrines, and the mysteries of their religion, as contained in their books, which reached our hand with their own knowledge and consent

In the time of Al-Muḳtadir Billah, A. H. 295 1, there lived Manṣûr-al-Ḥallâj, 2 the wool-carder, and Šeiḫ ‘Abd-al-Ḳâdir of Jîlân. 3 At that time, too, there appeared a man by the name of Šeiḫ ‘Adî, from the mountain of Hakkari, 4 originally from the region of Aleppo or Baalbek. He came and dwelt in Mount Lališ, 5 near the city of Mosul, about nine hours distant from it Some say he was of the people of Ḥarrân, and related to Marwân ibn-al-Ḥakam. His full name is Šaraf ad-Dîn Abû-l-Fadâîl, ‘Adî bn Musâfir bn Ismael bn Mousa bn Marwân bn Al-Ḥasan bn Marwân. He died A. H. 558 (A. D. 1162-63). His tomb is still visited; it is near Ba‘adrei, one of the villages of Mosul, distant eleven hours. The Yezidis are the progeny of those who were the murids (disciples) of Šeiḫ ‘Adî. Some trace their origin to Yezid, 6 others to Ḥasan-Al-Baṣrî 7.

---