Enslavement and Captivity of Yezidi Women by Ottoman Authorities, Local Rulers and Tribes: A Historical Review of the Islamic Contexts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.32859/yezidistudies/1/1/7-40Keywords:
Yezidis, Yezidi Women, Captivity, Enslavement, Firmān, Genocide, Ottoman Empire, ISIS, Kurds, Islamic law and slaveryAbstract
This article addresses the history of the enslavement and captivity of women during the Islamic military campaigns, invasions, conquests and firmāns inflicted on the Yezidi religious minority. It focuses on periods of the Ottoman authorities, local rulers, tribes, Kurdish princedoms, and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). In the context of that and because of the vital importance of this phenomenon, this article seeks to shed light and understanding on the historical background of servitude in the legal and juristic provisions of slavery in Islam, and its practices on those who are considered the capture of ahl al-kitāb (the People of the Book) such as Jews and Christians, the so-called dhimmīs (protected people), and those who were non-ahl al-kitāb, such as the Yezidis. A considerable number of documents, original, primary and secondary sources, and the Yezidi oral tradition, have documented many of those firmāns and the enslavement of Yezidi women that accompanied campaigns.
