Then he placed mullas among them to teach the children the Muslim faith, and ordered the newly converted Yezidis to pray five times every day and to perform all the religious rites. To make them continue to be Mohammedans, he tore down their shrines, especially those at Baḥzanie and Baašiḳa. Such events encouraged the Kurds to come down and add greater cruelty to what was already done. But amir ‘Ali Beg, their chief in civil and religious affairs, after long imprisonment and torture, did not change his religious belief. That he might not be an example of firmness to the Yezidis, the Fariḳ banished him with soldiers to Katamuni, a place near Constantinople. As a consequence of these persecutions, the number of the Yezidis has been considerably decreased. In the fifteenth century there were 250,000. At the beginning of the nineteenth century there were 200,000. They are still declining and remaining under the clouds of misconception, and are consequently objects of aversion and hatred. But they console themselves with the idea that they suffer in the cause of their religious convictions. NOTES ON CHAPTER VII (Footnote not referenced in text. Cherog sonderan is Turkish; sonderan is the participle of the infinitive of to put out, and cherag, literally lamp, is the object of sonderan. In Turkish the object precedes the verb; cf. Yani sarfi Otamani “the New Turkish Grammar” (in the Turkish language, ed. Ahmad Jaudat & Co., Constantinople, 1318 A. H.), p. 77.) [165] Kalimatu, š-Šehâdah is as follows: “I testify that there is no deity but God and that Mohammed is apostle of God.” BIBLIOGRAPHY ARABIC A manuscript containing the Sacred Book of the Yezidis and their traditions. Two other manuscripts containing the history of the Yezidis. Aš-Šahrastani: Kitab Al-Milal wa, n-Niḥal (ed. Wm. Eureton, London, MDCCCXLIII, vol. 1, p. 101 seq). Yasin Al-Ḫatib Al ‘Omari Al-Mauṣili: Al Der al Maknûn fi-l-Miâṯer Al-Maḍiyat min Al-ḳerûn, “Šeiḫ ‘Adi.” Mohammed Al-‘Omari Mauṣili: Manhal-al-Uliya wa Masrab ul Asfiya, “Šeiḫ ‘Adi.” Ibn Ḫallikan: Wafaiyat-el-‘Aiyan (Cairo A. H. 1310, A. D. 1894), vol. 1, p. 316. Fihrist: ed. Flügel: The Religion of Ḥauran, p. 190 seq. Yakout: Lališ. Vol. IV, p. 373. Abu-l-ḳasim Ibn Hauḳal: Kitab Al-Masalik Wal-Mamalik (ed. M. J. De Goeje, 1873, Leyden) Hakkari, p. 144. Anistase: Al-Mašriḳ, vol. II. Tabari on Sabeans: The Sixth Session of the Oriental Congress. Leide, 1883, pp. 300-340. SYRIAC A manuscript containing an abstract about the History of the Yezidis. KURDISH Yezidis Songs and Prayers, in manuscript. TURKISH Vital Cunet: Translation of _La Turquie d’Asie_, Constantinople. Turkish Reader (Constantinople, A. H. 1318), Second Part, p. 20 seq. ENGLISH G. P. Badger: _The Nestorians and Their Rituals_, vol. I. Layard: _Nineveh and Its Remains_, vol. II. Layard: _Nineveh and Babylon_. Ainsworth: _Travels and Researches in Asia Minor_.