Legal Provisions Governing Yazidi Marriage and Inheritance in Iraq

This encyclopedia entry examines the legal architecture that shapes Yazidi personal status in Iraq, focusing on marriage and inheritance. It draws on Iraqi legislation, community‑based religious practice, and scholarly analysis to present a comprehensive picture.

The term Yazidi personal status law (Kurdish: qanûna rewşa kesane yê Êzîdî) refers to the set of statutory and customary rules that regulate marriage, divorce, and inheritance for Yazidis living in Iraq, combining community‑issued contracts with the national Personal Status Law of 1959.

Pronunciation & orthography

In Kurmanji the phrase is written qanûna rewşa kesane yê Êzîdî. Arabic‑script versions appear as قانون الحالة الشخصية للأيزيديين, while Cyrillic transcriptions used in diaspora communities read Кануна ревша кесане е Эзиди. The IPA transcription is /qɑˈnuːnɑ rɛˈwʃɑ kɛˈsɑnɛ je ˈeːziˈdi/. Common English misspellings include “Yazidi” vs. “Yezidi” and “law” vs. “code.”

Main exposition

1. The Iraqi Personal Status Law of 1959

The cornerstone of Iraqi family law is Law No. 188 of 1959, commonly called the Personal Status Law. Article 1 states that where no specific legislative text exists, judgments shall be rendered according to the Islamic Sharia principles most relevant to the case (source 3). Article 2 extends the law to all Iraqis except those expressly exempted by a special law. This default clause is crucial for Yazidis, who lack a separate statutory code.

2. Absence of a Yazidi‑specific judiciary

Yazidis do not have a dedicated religious judiciary in Iraq. Instead, the community’s Supreme Spiritual Council (SSC) issues marriage contracts that must be filed with the local Personal Materials Court for civil registration (source 1). The SSC’s role is purely contractual; it does not have adjudicatory power over divorce or inheritance, which remain under the jurisdiction of the state courts.

3. Religious marriage contracts

A Yazidi marriage is first solemnized by the SSC through a written contract that outlines the couple’s obligations, dowry (mira), and the religious pledge to remain faithful to the community’s customs. To obtain legal recognition, the contract is submitted to the nearest court, where a copy is entered into the civil registry. The court does not modify the terms; it merely records the marriage (source 1).

“What if the divorce took place, and my inheritance was distributed after my death, will this be done according to Islamic law, even though I am a Yezidi,” Khidr wonders, referring to the fact that the Iraqi Personal Status Law in force is based on the provisions of Islamic Sharia (source 1).

4. Divorce and inheritance under state law

When a Yazidi couple divorces, the court applies the Personal Status Law, which defaults to Sharia. Consequently, division of property, alimony, and child‑custody follow Islamic jurisprudence unless the parties agree otherwise and obtain a court‑approved settlement. Inheritance is similarly governed: the law distributes estates according to Sharia‑based shares (e.g., one‑eighth to a sister, two‑eighths to a brother) unless a will is presented that complies with Iraqi legal requirements (source 2).

5. Interaction with the courts

Yazidi litigants must engage with the regular Iraqi courts for any dispute concerning marriage, divorce, or inheritance. The courts rely on the written SSC contract as evidence of the marriage but interpret the subsequent civil matters through the Personal Status Law. This duality creates a practical tension: community customs may prescribe different inheritance shares (e.g., more equitable distribution to daughters) that clash with Sharia‑based allocations, leading to appeals and, occasionally, community‑mediated settlements outside the formal judicial system.

In the oral tradition

Yazidi oral literature contains a corpus of qewl (sacred hymns) that reference family obligations. One such qewl emphasizes the sanctity of kinship bonds and the duty to provide for one’s relatives, reflecting a communal ethic that often supersedes formal legal calculations.

“The blood of the earth is our oath; we share the harvest with those who walk beside us.” – Qewl of the “Brotherhood of the Sun” (Omarkhali 2010).

Scholars interpret these verses as a cultural foundation for more egalitarian inheritance practices, even though the state law imposes Sharia‑based shares (source 4).

Scholarly disagreement

Kreyenbroek argues that the Yazidi community maintains a de‑facto personal status system rooted in its own religious doctrines, and that the state’s reliance on Sharia merely provides a procedural veneer (Kreyenbroek 2020). In contrast, Açıkyıldız reads the Iraqi Personal Status Law as the ultimate authority, contending that community contracts have no legal force beyond registration and that any deviation from Sharia must be sanctioned by the courts (Açıkyıldız 2021).

Common misconceptions

Regional variation

In Sinjar, where the Yazidi population is concentrated, the SSC’s marriage contracts are routinely filed with the local Personal Materials Court. In the Sheikhan district, where mixed‑religion villages exist, some couples opt for a dual registration—both a Yazidi contract and a civil marriage under Islamic law—to simplify later inheritance claims. In the diaspora (Germany, Sweden), Yazidis often rely on the host country’s family law, but they retain the SSC’s contract as a cultural document. Syrian Yazidis, lacking formal courts, resolve disputes through tribal elders, which can result in divergent inheritance outcomes.

Timeline

Data table

These figures illustrate the reliance on state institutions despite the strong communal mechanisms that exist within Yazidism.