Yezidism: Its Background, Observances and Textual Tradition

Philip G. Kreyenbroek held the chair of Iranian Studies at the University of Gottingen and was not a Yazidi adherent, and this book has stood since 1995 as a standard scholarly reference for Yazidism's background, observances and textual tradition, later built on by his own collaborations with Christine Allison and other Yazidi studies specialists. It draws on Yazidi oral tradition and prior orientalist and ethnographic accounts read critically against each other, including a critical assessment of the so called Black Book and Book of Revelation as later compilations of doubtful ancient authenticity rather than the ancient texts they are sometimes popularly presented as. Edwin Mellen Press is a smaller academic press whose editorial vetting has drawn criticism in some fields, stated here plainly, though this does not extend to Kreyenbroek's own standing as the founding modern authority in Yazidi studies. This record has not traced scholarly rebuttal to his specific claims. Use it for Yazidism's oral transmission and the closed status of its priestly hymns; a claim about the community's post 2014 history needs a more current source alongside it.