The Yazidi Black Book or Meshaf Resh (Kurdish: مسحهفا ڕهش, Mishefa Reş) is one of the two holy books of the Yazidi religion, the other being the Book of Revelation (Kitêba Cilwe).
Yezidis believe the Black Book originated when the Lord descended Black Mountain. The Yazidi holy books are written in the Kurmanji dialect of the Kurdish language. The Black Book is not divided into chapters and is longer than the Book of Revelation. The first half of it contains a creation myth, beginning with the creation of a white pearl and Melek Taus, the Peacock Angel. There follows an account of the Fall (in which the forbidden comestible is wheat), and the creation of Eve after Adam has been driven from Paradise.
This is followed by the names of ancient kings who belonged to the Yazidi community. Next comes a statement of food taboos of the Yazidis, prohibitions connected with personal hygiene and verbal taboos.
The discussion then reverts to the subject of ancient Yazidi kings, and the Book concludes with another account of the Creation, which diverges quite considerably from the first.
The original text of the Yazidi Black Book is kept in the village of Qasr 'tzz at-Din. Nevertheless, scholars generally agree that the manuscripts of both books published in 1911 and 1913 were forgeries written by non-Yazidis in response to Western travelers’ and scholars’ interest in the Yazidi religion; they do reflect authentic Yezidi traditions, however. The real core texts of the religion that exist today are the hymns known as qawls.
Famous quotes containing the words black and/or book:
“There with vast wings across the canceled skies,
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Of nothing, nothing, nothing—nothing at all.”
—Archibald MacLeish (1892–1982)
“It is remarkable that, notwithstanding the universal favor with which the New Testament is outwardly received, and even the bigotry with which it is defended, there is no hospitality shown to, there is no appreciation of, the order of truth with which it deals. I know of no book that has so few readers. There is none so truly strange, and heretical, and unpopular. To Christians, no less than Greeks and Jews, it is foolishness and a stumbling-block.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)