Êzîdî Law, Norms and Dispute Settlement

The Êzîdî know no written code of law and no state judicial apparatus of their own design. Their law is customary law: a web, orally transmitted over centuries, of religious commandments, social norms and fixed competences. This article explains what this law feeds on, who interprets and enforces it, from the Mîr and the Spiritual Council down to Şêx, Pîr and the village elders –, how the strict marriage law works, how disputes are settled, what sanctions there are and how all of this comes under pressure in the diaspora and is renegotiated.

Status: 2026-06-14 · Proper names in Latin Kurmancî spelling · ezdixan.de Wiki

Note on terminology and on the sensitivity of the subject: This article consistently uses the self-designation Êzîdî / Êzîds. Tawûsî Melek, the Peacock Angel, is in Êzîdî theology never understood as the “devil”, this equation stems from polemical foreign literature. Endogamy, social ostracism and the treatment of survivors of sexualized violence are delicate themes. They are presented here factually and source-based, neither glossed over nor sensationalized. Where research is ambiguous or the community itself is in dispute, this is named.

Contents

1. What is “Êzîdî law”?
2. Sources of customary law
3. The instances: Mîr, Spiritual Council, Şêx and Pîr
4. Marriage law: endogamy as the core norm
5. Dispute settlement in the village
6. Sanctions: from rebuke to exclusion
7. Change in the diaspora: state law vs. tradition
8. Reform debates after 2014
9. Glossary of terms
10. Sources

1. What is “Êzîdî law”?

In Êzîdîtism there is no codified law in the Western sense, no constitution, no penal code, no professional judges. What may be called “Êzîdî law” is a customary law (urf / law of usage): an order of commandments and prohibitions grown over generations, partly religiously founded, partly socially evolved, which finds its bindingness in lived practice [1; 3].

Three features are characteristic:

• Orality. Like the religion itself (see Êzîdî religion), the system of norms too is not derived from a holy book but is transmitted orally and embodied through the conduct of the consecrated estates and the elders [1; 4].
• Inseparability of religion and social order. Law, faith and the structure of society interlock. The most important norm, marriage within the community and one’s own caste, is at once a religious commandment and a foundation pillar of the social order (see Social order) [1; 3].
• Personal rather than territorial validity. The law does not adhere to a state territory but to belonging to the community. Precisely for this reason it comes into tension, in the diaspora, with the state law of the host countries (section 7).

This web is presented here in bundled form; the estate structure itself (Şêx, Pîr, Mirîd) is the subject of the article Social order and is taken up here only insofar as it is necessary for law and settlement.

2. Sources of customary law

2.1 Oral tradition

The Êzîdî religion was transmitted without writing over centuries; its holy texts, the Qewl (hymns) and related genres, were memorized and passed on orally by consecrated bearers. Only in more recent times were they systematically committed to writing, and their writing-down and “canonization” investigated scholarly [4]. The same orality shapes the system of norms: what is binding is what the consecrated estates, the dignitaries and the elders hand down and live out as correct. Legal standards are thus embedded in religious knowledge, in narratives and in lived customs, not in paragraphs (see also Traditions) [1; 4].

2.2 Religious commandments as a source of law

A series of commandments has immediately normative force: the commandment of endogamy, the prohibition of conversion in both directions, the rules of ritual purity and the fixed bonds of every lay family to a particular Şêx and Pîr (see Life cycle). Whoever violates them injures not merely a convention but a religiously founded order, which explains the harshness of possible sanctions [1; 3].

2.3 Social consensus and the authority of the bearers

Since there is no written fixation, interpretation is decisive, and thus the question of who speaks with authority. This authority is graduated: the highest religious instance at the level of the community as a whole, the consecrated estates at the level of family pastoral care, the elders at the level of the village (section 3). Customary law is in this respect also an ongoing process of consensus, stabilized by recognized bearers [1; 3].

3. The instances: Mîr, Spiritual Council, Şêx and Pîr

3.1 The Mîr: secular-religious head

At the top of the community as a whole stands the Mîr (Emir, “prince”), the hereditary head of the Êzîds with his seat in the region of Şêxan (Şeikhan) in northern Iraq. The Mîr embodies the highest political and at the same time religious authority of the community. Among his transmitted powers belong, among others, the installation of the Baba Şêx (the supreme spiritual dignitary), the administration of the sanctuary Lalîş and the receipt of the gifts from the procession of the holy standards (sancak) through the communities [2; 5]. The Mîr is thus no mere representative, but a central clasp of the order.

3.2 The Spiritual Council (Encumena Ruhanî)

The highest advisory and deciding instance in religious and communal affairs is the Spiritual Council, also Encumena Ruhanî or Civata Ruhanî / Meclisa Ruhanî (“Council of spiritual dignitaries” / “Council of the wise”). It assembles the leading clergy from Şêxan as well as, depending on the occasion, tribal leaders and village elders; its sessions traditionally take place in Lalîş [5; 6]. The council deals with both religious and “secular” questions of the community and issues fundamental decisions which claim binding force for the community as a whole, such as the much-noticed resolutions on the readmission of the survivors after 2014 (section 8) [6; 7].

Important for understanding: the Spiritual Council is the highest instance for fundamental questions but replaces no comprehensive court system. Everyday conflicts continue to be settled locally (section 5).

3.3 Şêx and Pîr as conciliators

Below this summit, the consecrated estates, Şêx and Pîr: carry a pastoral and conciliatory role. Every lay family (Mirîd) is hereditarily bound to a particular Şêx and a particular Pîr, who accompany them across all stations of life (see Clergy and Life cycle) [1; 5]. Out of this closeness grows authority to settle disputes: in conflicts within the family or between families the competent clergy are called upon as mediators and moral instance. The Baba Şêx too is traditionally credited with the task of settling disputes on his visits to the villages and admonishing correct practice (such as fasting rules) [6].

4. Marriage law: endogamy as the core norm

By far the most powerful piece of Êzîdî law is the marriage law. It rests on one principle: strict endogamy.

4.1 Two levels of endogamy

Endogamy operates on two levels at once [1; 3]:

1. Within the community. An Êzîd may marry only an Êzîdî woman and vice versa. Marriage with non-Êzîds is excluded. Since Êzîdîtism does not proselytize and a conversion into the religion is not possible: one is Êzîdî only if both one’s parents are Êzîds –, a non-Êzîd cannot become marriageable through conversion either (see Êzîdî religion).
2. Within one’s own caste. Even within the community marriage is bound to the estates: Şêx marries Şêx, Pîr marries Pîr, Mirîd marries Mirîd. Marriage across the estate boundaries traditionally does not take place [1; 3]. Within the spiritual estates there are moreover finer subdivisions (lineages/houses) which for their part know endogamous barriers [3].

4.2 Prohibitions and their justification

These barriers are religiously justified: they secure the purity of the holy genealogy and the functioning of the reciprocal Şêx-Pîr-Mirîd system, in which every family has its fixed spiritual place (see Social order). Estate membership is acquired exclusively by birth and cannot be changed; a cross-estate marriage would inextricably confuse the assignment of the children [1; 3].

4.3 Sanction: exclusion

The transgression of these boundaries belongs to the gravest violations. Whoever breaks the endogamy rules risks treatment as an outcast: the loss of belonging for oneself and at times for the descendants [3]. In the older as in the newer research it is documented that such transgressions can lead to deep family conflicts; in the extreme case the reported reactions extend to rupture and violence [1; 3]. Kreyenbroek describes the conflict of conscience arising from this for young Êzîds, for whom in case of doubt loyalty to the family weighs more heavily than a love relationship outside the permissible boundaries [1].

This harshness is historically also a survival strategy of a small, often persecuted minority (see Genocide 2014): strict marriage boundaries secured the continued existence of a community that could neither take in new members nor compensate for emigration. That explains the norm without glossing over its human harshness.

5. Dispute settlement in the village

The everyday life of Êzîdî law does not play out in Lalîş, but in the village. Conflicts over land, inheritance, honour, marriage promises or insults are traditionally settled on the spot and orally.

5.1 The role of the elders

Bearers of local settlement are the village elders and family heads, often in cooperation with the competent Şêx or Pîr and with tribal elders (axa / tribal leaders). They hear the parties, ascertain the facts by the standard of the transmitted custom and mediate a balance [1; 5; 6]. The aim is less punishment than the restoration of social peace between the families involved.

5.2 Reconciliation rituals

Characteristic of the settlement are reconciliation rituals that formally end a dispute: the joint meal, the handshake or oath before witnesses and recognized mediators, where applicable a compensation to the injured family. A particular binding force is held by the institution of the Kirîv (ritual godparenthood, e.g. at the circumcision) and of spiritual siblinghood (birayê/xwişka axretê, “brother/sister of the hereafter”): such artificial kinship bonds oblige to mutual assistance and are also used to knit lasting bonds of peace between families, and across the religious boundary with neighbours [6]. Only when those involved accept the result in the ritual does the dispute count as settled.

5.3 Escalation upward

If a conflict cannot be solved locally, or if it touches fundamental questions of religion and order (e.g. a breach of endogamy), it can be carried to higher instances, the Mîr and ultimately the Spiritual Council in Lalîş [5; 6]. Most disputes, however, never reach this level.

6. Sanctions: from rebuke to exclusion

The enforcement of customary law rests not on state coercion but on social pressure. The sanctions are graduated:

• Reproach and settlement obligation. The mildest form: public rebuke by elders or clergy, combined with the obligation to reconcile or to make amends.
• Social ostracism. Whoever withdraws from the settlement or repeatedly violates norms is shunned, for instance excluded from communal occasions, festivals and the meal community. In a closely knit community this is a sensitive punishment [3].
• Community exclusion. The gravest sanction strikes the violation of fundamental religious boundaries, above all the breach of endogamy or the (de facto) conversion. Here the loss of belonging as such threatens, that is, the status of the outcast [3]. Because there is no conversion back, this loss is as a rule final and potentially affects the marriageability of the descendants as well.

It is precisely the finality of this harshest sanction that is the reason why the treatment of survivors who were forced into conversion in captivity became, after 2014, an existential question for the community (section 8).

7. Change in the diaspora: state law vs. tradition

In the regions of origin customary law could operate largely autonomously. In the diaspora, Germany, Armenia and Georgia, further countries, the situation changes fundamentally (see Social order, section on the diaspora; as well as Women in Êzîdîtism).

7.1 Competition of two legal orders

In the host countries state law applies: the marriage, family and criminal law of the respective state. With this, sanctions such as community exclusion lose their legal, but not their social effect. A marriage outside the caste or the community is without consequence under state law, within family and community it can continue to lead to severe tensions. Empirical studies on the marriage decisions of Êzîdî refugees show exactly this field of tension between individual choice and transmitted norm [1; 8].

7.2 Erosion and adaptation

Research on religion in exile describes a double movement: on the one hand a remarkable stability of the core practices and norms even in the foreign land, on the other hand negotiation and partial loosening where everyday life in a majority society no longer supports the old order [8]. The younger generation in particular discusses endogamy, estate boundaries and gender roles more openly than earlier generations. How far reforms can go without endangering the identity of the community is the subject of an ongoing intra-community debate.

8. Reform debates after 2014

The genocide of 2014 (see Genocide 2014) placed Êzîdî law before an unprecedented test. Thousands of women and girls were abducted, enslaved and forced into conversion by the so-called “Islamic State”. According to the traditional reading, forced conversion could have meant the loss of belonging, which would have punished the victims a second time.

8.1 The decree on the readmission of the survivors (2014/2015)

The spiritual leadership reacted with a step historic for the community. The Baba Şêx declared that the women and girls freed from captivity might return into faith and community without shame; the conversion that had occurred under coercion was assessed as not self-incurred. The survivors were newly admitted into the community in a readmission/baptism ritual in the sanctuary Lalîş. This decision, assessed by research and by human rights organizations as a significant doctrinal opening, paved the way for the broad readmission of the survivors [6; 9].

8.2 The resolution of 2019 and its clarification

On 24/25 April 2019 the Spiritual Council (Supreme Spiritual Council) published a resolution whose wording was at first understood as if it also included the children born in captivity. After strong, predominantly negative echo from parts of the community, however, the council clarified the declaration a few days later: it referred to “all those rescued”, but not to children stemming from rape by IS members; as Êzîds counted, still, only children of two Êzîdî parents [7; 10]. The question of the children thus remained unresolved and is the subject of ongoing, painful debates, within the community as well as in relation to Iraqi personal-status law, which often registers the children of abducted women as Muslims (see Women in Êzîdîtism and Genocide 2014) [7; 9; 10].

These proceedings show exemplarily how Êzîdî customary law functions: not through the amendment of paragraphs, but through authoritative resolutions of the highest instance, which for their part are measured against the consensus of the community, and which can also yield again to that consensus.

Note on language: The self-designation is Êzîdî / Êzîds. The slander that the angel Tawûsî Melek is a “devil” belongs to the ideological pretexts with which persecution and enslavement were justified over centuries; it does not correspond to the self-understanding of the community.

9. Glossary of terms

• Mîr / Emir: hereditary secular-religious head of the Êzîds; installs, among others, the Baba Şêx and administers Lalîş.
• Encumena Ruhanî: Spiritual Council (also Civata/Meclisa Ruhanî), highest instance for fundamental religious and communal questions; convenes in Lalîş.
• Baba Şêx: supreme spiritual dignitary; settles disputes, admonishes correct practice, issued the readmission resolutions after 2014.
• Şêx / Pîr: consecrated estates; hereditarily assigned to each lay family, at once pastors and conciliators.
• Mirîd: lay estate; the great majority of the community.
• Endogamy: commandment of marriage within the community and within one’s own caste/lineage.
• Kirîv: ritual godparenthood (among others at the circumcision); founds binding relationships of assistance and peace.
• urf: custom/customary law; here: the unwritten system of norms of the Êzîds.
• sancak / sancak procession: holy standards, whose procession through the communities is connected with gifts.

Quellen

• Philip G. Kreyenbroek: Yezidism, Its Background, Observances and Textual Tradition, Lewiston/Queenston/Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press, 1995, standard work on social structure, endogamy and oral tradition.
• Birgül Açıkyıldız: The Yezidis: The History of a Community, Culture and Religion, London/New York: I. B. Tauris, 2010, publisher page
• Khanna Omarkhali: The Yezidi Religious Textual Tradition: From Oral to Written. Categories, Transmission, Scripturalisation and Canonisation of the Yezidi Oral Religious Texts, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2017, Open-Access PDF (University of Göttingen)
• Eszter Spät: The Yezidis, Foreword by Philip Kreyenbroek, London: Saqi Books, 2005, review (Abstracta Iranica)
• Encyclopaedia Iranica, entry “Yazidis” (social structure, estates, Mîr and Baba Şêx, endogamy), iranicaonline.org
• “Yazidi social organization” / “Gathering of the spiritual” (Civata/Meclisa Ruhanî), survey presentations with source references, Yazidi social organization (Wikipedia) · Gathering of the spiritual (Wikipedia)
• Conflict & Civicness Research Blog (LSE): Coming to the verge of destruction: Survival, change and engagement in the Yazidi community, 12 March 2019, blogs.lse.ac.uk
• Al Jazeera: Yazidis to accept ISIL rape survivors, but not their children, 29 April 2019 (resolution of 2019 and clarification on the children), aljazeera.com
• Middle East Eye: Yazidi religious body welcomes children of Islamic State rape survivors in ‘historic’ move, April 2019, middleeasteye.net
• C. Çankaya et al. (eds.) / University of Arizona: Marriage Decisions of Iraqi Yezidi Refugees in Germany (diss./thesis, marriage norms and diaspora), repository.arizona.edu (PDF)

Sensitive matters (endogamy sanctions, treatment of survivors, children from captivity) are presented according to the current state of research and reporting (status 2026-06-14) and, where sources diverge, attributed. Proper names follow the Kurmancî-Latin spelling.

Related articles: Social order · Clergy · Life cycle · Women in Êzîdîtism · Êzîdî religion · Traditions · Genocide 2014