NOTES ON PART I
31 A. H. 295 (A. D. 807-8). This is the date of Al-Muḳtadir’s accession, who reigned till A. H. 320 (A. D. 932); cf. W. Muir, The Caliphate, p. 559.
32 The life of Manṣûr-al-Ḥallâj is given in Fihrist (ed. Flügel), p. 190.
33 The life of ‘Abd-al-ḳâdir of Jîlân is given in Jami’s Nafaḥat (ed. Lee), p. 584.
34 The Hakkari country is a dependency of Mosul, and inhabited by Kurds and Nestorians; cf. p. 104. Ibn Ḫauḳal, Kîtâb al-Masâlik wal-Mamâlik (ed. M. J. De Goeje), pp. 143 f.
35 Yaḳût, IV, 373, calls it Laileš and says that Šeiḫ ‘Adî lived there.
36 Presumably Yezîd bn Mu‘âwiya, the second caliph in the Omayyid dynasty, who reigned, A. D. 680-83; cf. W. Muir, The Caliphate, p. 327.
37 The life of Ḥasan al-Baṣrî is given in Ibn Ḫallikân. He is not to be identified with Ḥasan al-Baṣrî (died 110 A. H., who, according to Mohammedan tradition, first pointed the Koran text, with the assistance of Yaḥyâ bn Yamar.
38 In Menant’s Yzidis, 48, the names of these seven angels are somewhat differently given. According to Mohammedan tradition Zazil or Azazil was the original name of the devil.
39 By the “throne” here is meant the throne of God, and by the “carpet” the earth; cf. Sura 60: 131.
40 According to Moslem belief, wheat was the forbidden fruit; see Baiḍâwi on Sura, ii, 33.
41 Kunsiniyat is an obscure term.
42 ‘Ain Sifni is about five miles from Ba‘adrie; cf. Layard, Nineveh, I, 272.
43 Yaḳût (III, 158) mentions a similar tradition.
44 These are indications of Mohammedan influence and censorship, for no Yezidi will ever write in his sacred book such words as Šeitân, Šar, etc.
45 That is, those of other religions.
46 Sanjaḳ is a Turkish word, meaning banner; it is the name by which the Yezidis generally designate the sacred image of Melek Ṭâ´ûs.
47 See note 27.
48 The Harranian New Year fell on the first day of April, and on the sixth day they slaughtered an ox and ate it; cf. Fihrist, 322.
49 A similar practice is found among the Parsees of India, who hang a string of leaves across the entrances to their houses at the beginning of every New Year.
50 According to Babylonian mythology, human destiny was decreed on the New Year’s day and sealed on the tenth day; cf. the Hibbert Journal, V, January, 1907. And according to Talmud (Mišna, Roš hašana, I:2), New Year’s is the most important judgment day, on which all creatures pass for judgment before the Creator. On this day three books are opened, wherein the fate of the wicked, the righteous, and those of the intermediate class are recorded. Hence prayer and works of repentance are performed at the New Year from the first to the tenth days, that an unfavorable decision might be averted; cf. Jewish Encyclopedia, “Penitential Day.” R. Akiba says: “On New Year day all men are judged; and the decree is sealed on the Day of Atonement;” cf. ibid., “Day of Judgement.”
51 Ibrîḳ al-Aṣfar means “the yellow pitcher.”
52 Bakbûḳ is a pitcher with a narrow spout.
53 Mar Mattie is a Syrian monastery about seven hours’ ride east of Mosul, generally known by the name of Šeiḫ Mattie, in accordance with the general custom of sheltering a Christian saint beneath a Moslem title. Elijah is known as Al-Ḫuder, “the green one.” Aphrates was bishop of Šeiḫ Mattie. The church of this monastery is a large building, chiefly interesting as containing the tomb of the great Bar Hebraeus, known as Abu-l-Faraj, who was ordained at Tripolis, and became in 1246 A. D. Metropolitan of Mosul. He lies buried, with his brother Barsom, in the “Beth ḳadišeh” (sanctuary) of the church, and over them is placed the inscription: “This is the grave of Mar Gregorias, and of Mar Barsome his brother, the children of the Hebrew, on Mount Elpep” (the Syriac name for Jabal Maḳlûb).
54 Kani in Kurdish means a spring; zarr, yellow. In Kurdish, as in Persian, the adjective usually follows the modified noun; cf. Tartibi Jadid, Ta‘alimi Faresi, The New Method for Teaching Persian (in the Turkish language, ed. Kasbar, Constantinople, A. H. 1312), p. 18.
55 Jawîš is a Turkish word, signifying a sergeant.
56 This ceremony, as well as the names ‘Arafat, Zamzam, etc., seems to be a mere copy of the Meccah Pilgrimage. ‘Arafât, “The Mount of Recognition,” is situated twelve miles from Mecca, a place where the pilgrims stay on the ninth day of the day of the pilgrimage, and recite the midday and afternoon prayer. The Mohammedan legend says, that when our first parents forfeited heaven for eating wheat, they were cast down from the Paradise, Adam fell on the Isle of Ceylon, and Eve near Jiddah (the port of Mecca) in Arabia; and that, after separation of 200 years, Adam was conducted by the Angel Gabriel to a mountain near Mecca, where he found and knew his wife, the mountain being then named ‘Arafat, “Recognition.”
57 The god Nisroch of Scripture, II Kings 19:37; Isa. 37: 38.
58 A superstitious name signifying an ill omen.
59 That is, public prayers like those of the Mohammedans and of the Christians; cf. Al Mašrik, II, 313.
60 The text has “her hand.”
61 While the Yezidis venerate ‘Abd al-ḳâdir of Jîlân, the Nusairis curse him; cf. J A O S, VIII, 274.
62 This belief is taken from Mohammedanism.
63 The Arabs worshiped a deity under the form of a nasr (eagle), Aš-Šahrastânî, II, 434; Yaḳut, IV, 780; The Syriac Doctrine of Addai (ed. George Philips), p. 24.
64 Cf. Gen. I: 2, and the Babylonian Creation Epic.
65 That is the spring of Šeiḫ ‘Adî.
66 The reference is to Jabal Maḳlûb, which, according to the Yezidi belief, moved from its place near Lališ to enable every Yezidi, wherever he may be, to direct his morning prayers toward the tomb of ‘Adî.
67 The Moslem begins his prayer by cursing the devil.
68 That is a person of the same faith, a Yezidi.
69 A Nuṣairi, on the contrary, may become a Mohammedan with a Mohammedan, a Christian with a Christian, and a Jew with a Jew; cf. J A O S, VII, 298.
70 The Sabians did not eat purslane, garlic, beans, cauliflower, cabbage, and lentils; cf. Bar. Hebraeus, At-Târîḫ, ed. A. Ṣalḥani, Beirut, 1890, 266.