Death, Soul, and Rebirth in Êzîdîism

The notions of the afterlife held by the Êzîdî differ fundamentally from the Abrahamic religions of their surroundings. At their core stands not the threat of an eternal hell, but the idea of a long path of purification and perfection of the soul, extending across several earthly lives. In this understanding death is not a final rupture, but a transition, symbolically a change of garment. The teaching is transmitted exclusively orally in the sacred hymns (Qewl) and in the experiential knowledge of the clergy; it is not fixed in a binding dogma, which is why researchers repeatedly point to regional and tradition-bound differences (Kreyenbroek 1995; Omarkhali 2017).

Note on terminology: This article consistently uses the self-designation Êzîdî/Êzîdîs. Tawûsî Melek, the Peacock Angel, is in Êzîdî theology never understood as “devil” or fallen angel, this equation stems from polemical outside literature and contradicts the primary sources entirely. The Êzîdî afterlife, too, knows no cosmic adversary of God.

1. The Soul (ruh) and the Place of the Human Being

In Êzîdî thought the human being possesses an immortal soul (Kurmanji ruh, also gîyan) that continues to exist after death. The body is transient and is regarded, unlike in some ascetic traditions, not as fundamentally rejected, but as the temporary “garment” of the soul. This imagery is central to understanding the entire teaching on the afterlife (Kreyenbroek 1995; Asatrian & Arakelova 2012).

The soul is not by nature in need of redemption in the sense of an original sin. Rather, each person bears responsibility for their deeds, and their moral balance determines the soul’s further path beyond death. Good and evil are not conceived of as a struggle between two cosmic powers, but as stages on a path of purification, a notion closely linked to the non-dualistic basic structure of the Êzîdî religion.

2. Kiras guhertin: “changing the shirt”

The central concept of the Êzîdî teaching on the soul is kiras guhertin (also kiras guhorîn), literally “changing the shirt/garment.” This refers to the transmigration of souls or reincarnation: at death the soul lays aside its body like a worn-out garment and takes on a new “garment” in a new birth (Kreyenbroek 1995; Kreyenbroek & Rashow 2005; Omarkhali 2017).

2.1 Purification across many lives

The purpose of this cycle is the gradual purification and perfection of the soul. A soul is reborn as often as it takes to reach a state of purity. The quality of each subsequent existence depends on moral conduct in the preceding life: whoever lives pure and according to the commandments of the community has a better rebirth in prospect (Asatrian & Arakelova 2012).

In popular tradition there is the notion that a soul heavily defiled by evil deeds can fall back below its previous level, even to rebirth outside the Êzîdî community. Conversely, the return as an Êzîdî is regarded as a sign of a successful trial. Such narratives are attested in the sources, but their precise interpretation varies regionally and should not be misunderstood as a uniform dogma (Asatrian & Arakelova 2012; Spät 2005).

2.2 No memory of the former life

According to the widespread notion, the soul carries no conscious memory of its former existences into its new life. An exception in the tradition is formed by certain gifted individuals, such as the Koçek (visionarily gifted religious figures), to whom a “seeing” across the boundary of the individual lives is ascribed. Families who believe they recognise in a child’s behaviour or features the return of a deceased person interpret this within the framework of kiras guhertin (Spät 2005; Omarkhali 2017).

2.3 Theological significance: purification instead of eternal hell

The teaching on reincarnation has a far-reaching consequence: the Êzîdî worldview knows no eternal damnation. In place of a final hell comes the thought that every soul, through the cycle of rebirths, retains the possibility of improvement and ultimately of return to the divine (Kreyenbroek 1995; Asatrian & Arakelova 2012). In this is shown a vision of salvation fundamentally oriented towards mercy and perfection: a point that clearly sets Êzîdî theology apart from dualistic images of hell.

3. The Path of the Soul Immediately After Death

Besides the long-term reincarnation, the tradition knows a series of figures and stations that accompany the soul immediately in dying and shortly thereafter. These notions are partly interwoven with the teaching on reincarnation, partly they stand as their own strands of tradition beside it.

3.1 Sicadîn and Nasirdîn: the guardians of dying

In dying, according to tradition, two of the holy beings from the circle of the Seven (Heft Sirr) come to the side of the human being:

Both are regarded in the tradition as sons of Ezdîna Mîr and belong to the manifestations of the one God within the holy genealogy. Their task is not punishment, but escort: they lead the soul out of the body and hand it over to the further path (Asatrian & Arakelova 2012; cf. Kreyenbroek & Rashow 2005).

3.2 The Sirat Bridge (Pira Selat)

A well-known motif is the Sirat Bridge, Kurmanji Pira Selat (also Pira Silat). Over it the soul must pass after death in order to reach the realm of salvation. In the tradition the soul is thereby brought before Şêx Adî and questioned; upon passing the test Şêx Adî acts as intercessor before the highest God and leads the soul onward (Asatrian & Arakelova 2012).

The notion has a clear parallel to the Zoroastrian Chinwad Bridge and is regarded by scholarship as evidence of the Old Iranian substrates of Êzîdî eschatology (Asatrian & Arakelova 2012; Kreyenbroek 1995). In Lalîş the bridge is at the same time spatially and ritually present: a Pira Selat in the sanctuary of Lalîş symbolises the transition from the profane to the sacred world, which the pilgrims symbolically accomplish upon entering the shrine (Açıkyıldız 2010). This earthly bridge and the eschatological bridge mirror one another.

Note: The precise interlocking of the bridge-test and reincarnation is not presented free of contradiction in the sources. Both motifs exist side by side; the oral tradition deliberately leaves such tensions open (Omarkhali 2017).

3.3 Birê and Xwişka Axretê: Brother and Sister of the Hereafter

A peculiarity of the Êzîdî social order is the institutional bond to a brother or sister of the hereafter: Kurmanji Birê Axretê (brother) and Xwişka Axretê (sister). Every adult Êzîdî is supposed to enter such a spiritual siblinghood during their lifetime, men as a rule with a “brother,” women with a “sister,” though exceptions occur (Kreyenbroek 1995; Spät 2005).

This person is not merely an earthly confidant, but is supposed to accompany the soul in dying and on the path into the hereafter and to intercede for it. At death the brother/sister of the hereafter takes on a ritual role and belongs to the people who stand by the dying. The bond belongs, alongside the bond to a spiritual teacher (Pîr) and guardian from the rank of the clergy, to the obligatory religious relationships of every Êzîdî.

4. Death Rituals and Burial

The burial follows fixed rules anchored in the traditions of the community and aimed at a swift, dignified return of the body to the earth.

4.1 Washing and preparation

After death has occurred, the corpse is ritually washed. Into the mouth or onto the lips of the deceased is placed earth or water from Lalîş: matter from the holiest place of the Êzîdî, which symbolically connects the dead with the sanctified centre of the religion (Asatrian & Arakelova 2012). Frequently the consecrated earth of the berat (pressed pellets of Lalîš earth) is also used.

4.2 Burial and orientation of the grave

The interment takes place immediately, if possible on the day of death. The corpse is laid so that the head points east and the face is directed towards the sun or the pole star (north) (Asatrian & Arakelova 2012). The orientation refers to the high importance of the sun and of light in Êzîdî piety, in which prayer to the rising sun is a central act.

4.3 Role of the religious figures

At the burial the responsible spiritual carers (Şêx and Pîr) as well as the brother/sister of the hereafter take part. To the Koçek the tradition occasionally ascribes a special role, since they are said to possess the ability to “see” the further fate of the soul or its return (Spät 2005). Laments, a genre of their own within the oral Qewl tradition, accompany death and mourning.

5. Mourning and Commemoration

5.1 Period of mourning

Death is followed by a regulated period of mourning of the relatives, with lament, restraint at festivities, and communal sympathy. The lament for the dead is embedded in a long tradition of collective mourning, which through the history of the genocides (Fermane) has acquired a special depth.

5.2 Funeral meal and commemoration (Ehmen)

A central form of commemoration is the funeral meal and the distribution of food as alms (xêr/sedeqe) in memory of the deceased. In the tradition it is attested that some days after the death an animal (such as cattle) is sacrificed at the grave and its meat distributed to passers-by and the needy, as a charitable act intended to benefit the soul of the deceased (Asatrian & Arakelova 2012). The communal commemorative meal (ehmen) and the remembrance on certain days maintain the connection between the living and the dead.

This commemorative practice fits into the Êzîdî understanding that good deeds of the living: alms, hospitality, intercession, can positively influence the path of the soul in the hereafter.

6. Classification: A Theology of Hope

The Êzîdî notions of the afterlife can be read as a coherent, if not systematically dogmatic, structure:

• Death is transition, not end, a “change of garment.”
• In kiras guhertin the soul passes through a path of purification across many lives.
• Guardian figures (Sicadîn/Nasirdîn), the Sirat Bridge, and the brother/sister of the hereafter accompany and test the soul.
• There is no eternal hell, but purification, intercession, and the prospect of return to the divine.

This vision of salvation oriented towards mercy, purification, and perfection belongs to the most theologically distinctive features of the Êzîdî religion and at the same time points to its deep roots in the Old Iranian and ancient Mesopotamian religious worlds of the region (Kreyenbroek 1995; Asatrian & Arakelova 2012; Omarkhali 2017).

Sources

• Philip G. Kreyenbroek: Yezidism, Its Background, Observances and Textual Tradition. Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press, 1995.
• Philip G. Kreyenbroek & Khalil Jindy Rashow: God and Sheikh Adi are Perfect, Sacred Poems and Religious Narratives from the Yezidi Tradition. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2005.
• Khanna Omarkhali: The Yezidi Religious Textual Tradition, From Oral to Written. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2017.
• Eszter Spät: The Yezidis. London: Saqi Books, 2005.
• Birgül Açıkyıldız: The Yezidis, The History of a Community, Culture and Religion. London: I.B. Tauris, 2010.
• Garnik S. Asatrian & Victoria Arakelova: “The Hereafter in the Yezidi Beliefs”, in: Iran and the Caucasus 16/3 (2012), pp. 309–318., brill.com · academia.edu
• “Yazidis”, in: Encyclopaedia Iranica., iranicaonline.org
• Khanna Omarkhali: “The Book Revealing the Future in a Religion without Books: the Apocalyptic Visions of Yezidi Seers” (on Koçek/seers)., academia.edu
• Supplementary on the death-guardians: Wikipedia, “Sicadîn”, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicadîn · “Nasirdîn”, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasirdîn · “Silat Bridge”, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silat_Bridge

Related articles: Êzîdî religion · Tawûsî Melek · Lalîş · Traditions · Social order · Clergy · Qewl tradition · Holy genealogy · Mythology & symbolism