The Restoration of Yazidi Heritage: Supporting Stability and the Return of Inhabitants to Sinjar

Azhar Al-Rubaie

Azhar Al-Rubaie is a freelance journalist and researcher from Iraq. His writing focuses on a variety of issues, including politics, health, society, wars, and human rights. He has contributed to VICE, Middle East Eye, Al-Jazeera, Al-Monitor, The New Arab, The Arab Weekly, London School of Economics and more. All photos in this article by Al-Rubaie.

It has been nearly six years since the liberation of the Sinjar District (in of the Nineveh Governorate), putting an end to Daesh’s control and the systematic campaign of destruction waged against the Yazidi community. The terrorist group destroyed temples and religious centers dating to the 12th century, core elements of Yazidi heritage. ALIPH, in cooperation with local organizations, has played a leading role in funding the rehabilitation of this heritage and religious sites so important to Yazidis, particularly the temples of Sheikh Hassan and Sheikh Mand and the shrine of Mam Rashan, located in Sinjar, and the sacred grove of Sheikh Bakr near the village of Bahzani, north-east of Mosul.

The temples of Sheikh Hassan and Sheikh Mand: A light at the end of the tunnel

Support for the reconstruction of Yazidi temples and mausoleums came in response to the strong demand voiced by local populations upon the liberation of their region from Daesh’s control, on 13 November 2015. The religious rites and public events held by this community are strongly tied to these sanctuaries. The INGO Nadia’s Initiative restored the Sheikh Hassan Temple in the village of Gabara, which had been destroyed by Daesh in July 2015; and the Sheikh Mand Temple in Gedala following its destruction on 14 August 2014. The restoration was done in collaboration with two local civil society organizations: Sanabel Future for Civil Society Development (Sheikh Hassan) and Nabu Organization for Awareness (Sheikh Mand).

Salah Hassan, communications coordinator for Nadia’s Initiative, explained that “rehabilitation work on the temples of Sheikh Hassan and Sheikh Mand began in November 2020 and was completed in April 2021, for a total cost of over USD 85,000. Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the region’s craggy, difficult landscapes, our efforts were successful. When we opened the two temples, a large number of inhabitants from the region came to the ceremony given its religious importance for the Yazidi community. And they held prayers and religious rituals traditionally practiced there, before Daesh destroyed the two sites.”

“I felt unimaginably happy at seeing the ruined temple rise up once again. This is a clear message to extremist terrorist groups on their failure to annihilate us, despite their many attempts to do so, because we have the will to survive and meet the challenge. I remember the day Daesh destroyed the temple. I was at the refugee camp with my family when we got the news. We cried, and today, we are witnesses to its reconstruction, as it was before.”

Kernos Qaru Omar, A resident of the village of Gabara

“We come to Sheikh Hassan Temple every Wednesday to pray, invoke God and light holy olive oil candles, to promote love and peace among the Iraqi people. We also come to visit nearby graves, to share food with family and friends, and to help each other out. We are hoping that the reconstruction effort will continue in the Sinjar District, and that organizations will provide support to enable us to fully return to how it used to be, and peacefully practice our rituals with our loved ones.”

Kernos Qaru Omar, A resident of the village of Gabara

Hussein Nayef Khodr, head of the Sheikh Mand Temple, who lives in Gedala, told me that the inhabitants have been gradually returning since the site’s reconstruction: “Dozens of Yazidis have come back to the Sinjar district and are happy to see the temple reopen its doors to visitors and believers.” He added, “Seeing my house destroyed was not as painful for me, as this temple is extremely important for us. At the time when Daesh blew it up, a number of women over the age of 80, unable to flee to the mountains, were hiding in it.”

“I want the missing people and those captured by Daesh in remote areas to come back. I lost seven members of my family.”

Hussein Nayef Khodr, Head of the Sheikh Mand Temple

Reconstruction of the Mam Rashan Shrine: Restoring What Daesh Destroyed

With support from World Monuments Fund (WMF), the Eyzidi Organization for Documentation (EOD), in cooperation with a network of experts, launched a project to research and document the region where the Mam Rashan Shrine is located. This effort began in September 2020 and was completed in October of that year.

The reconstruction of the Mam Rashan Shrine is a three-phase process: research and evaluation (1 to 4 months), restoration (5 to 14 months), and completion (15 to 18 months). In the field, the work is being overseen by the engineer Mirza Haju Murad, and the engineer and advisor for religious affairs Khairi Kdi from EOD, which was created in 2014 following the genocide of the Yazidi population. This organization has the mission of documenting acts of genocide and crimes through the colllecting of evidence and encouraging inhabitants to return to Sinjar now that security has been restored.

Following a field survey at Mount Sinjar, the need to rebuild the Mam Rashan Shrine became clear to the EOD team. According to Murad, engineer for the shrine’s rehabilitation project, “WMF provided enough support for us to finish all phases of the shrine’s restoration, from research and evaluation to the complete reconstruction of the building. We were fully committed to respecting the religious tradition for the shrine’s reconstruction, as with the shape of the dome and other cultural details. Some essential construction materials were modified, but the shrine’s religious and architectural model did not change. Materials used in times past were produced manually, using lime mortar and plaster, as well as other stones. Because of the progress that has now been made, we can replace some of the materials with others that are of better quality.”

We met the Yazidi priest Kamal Bedley Juli, head of the Mam Rashan Shrine, who used to walk several kilometers twice a week to visit the site blown up by Daesh in 2014. “The distance never once bothered me, as I was going in service of God and my religion. I am happy to have witnessed the reconstruction of this shrine, and to have contributed to the effort. This shrine was my workplace for 12 years and is a part of me.”

Juli didn’t leave the Sinjar region upon its invasion by Daesh on 3 August 2014—quite the opposite: he volunteered to fight the organization, defending his community and places of worship.

“Sadly, I lost my cousin and my son. I still don’t know what became of a number of my friends. What hurt me the most was seeing the shrine’s explosion, on 16 October 2014, from Mount Sinjar. I was overcome with sadness and shock at seeing this shrine, which we have protected since it was built in 1844, go up in smoke at the hands of Daesh. I thank all of the international organizations who have worked for the reconstruction of destroyed sites. The restoration of holy temples and shrines has been vital in encouraging displaced Yazidis to come back home after being driven out by Daesh. We have also seen that the region’s inhabitants are visiting these holy sites in growing numbers, which makes us happy.”

Kamal Bedley Juli, Head of the Mam Rashan Shrine

The return of the Sheikh Bakr Al Qatani Grove: The farmers are “extremely happy!”

Twelve kilometers north-east of Mosul, we reached the Sheikh Bakr Al Qatani Grove in Baashiqua-Bahzani, a sacred site of 3,000 olive trees that has been revitalized. Daesh had burnt 800 of them and damaged 2,200 in attacks carried out between 2014 and 2016. Olive trees are sacred and precious to Yazidis, who use olive oil in their religious festivals. They are also the source of income for the 50 farmers formerly employed here.

The Lalesh Cultural and Social Center launched the project to revitalize the Sheikh Bakr Al Qatani Grove. The first step taken was to clean the damaged trees, uprooting burnt ones and replacing them with new trees. A protective barrier was then built to project the grove from animals and vandalism. We met Mumtaz Ibrahim, the agricultural engineer in charge of the Al Qatani Grove, who stated that “the rehabilitation of this grove took place in three phases: first, a 2,400-meter-long barrier was built; next, we installed 200 meters of irrigation canals; and lastly, we planted 1,185 trees.”

Chamel Sulaiman Murad Lasso, a 52-year-old farmer, spoke with us about the quality of the olive trees that were burnt by Daesh when the group captured the village of Bahzani in 2014: “Bahzani’s olive trees are among the best in the world: they can hold up for more than ten years without losing their characteristics, like the taste and color of their olives. The rehabilitation of the grove and construction of the canal has allowed us to protect the trees and more efficiently irrigate them. It used to take hours to irrigate them, but now it takes just 30 minutes.”

Lasso adds, “the restoration of this grove has changed our lives. We are all delighted to see our trees growing once again, and to be able to use more efficient work methods thanks to the efforts of international organizations. These olive trees are part of our identity, and they also imbue our region with beauty.”

The project has a budget of USD145,000, covering the work undertaken on the grove, including its rehabilitation in three phases. The trees were planted on 13–25 February 2021, and the barrier was built in September and October 2020. Work on the canals began in March 2021 and is still underway.

“What the damaged olive trees really need is water, but it’ll take them an average of three years to grow.”

Mumtaz Ibrahim, Agricultural engineer of the Al Qatani Grove

According to Chahd Khoury, coordinator of the Sheikh Bakr Qatani Grove project for the organization Mesopotamia, “Thanks to the funding provided by ALIPH and the Saint Irénée Foundation, two phases of this project are now finished, as well as 60% of the construction of the canals, which will be completed at the end of May 2021. Through this aid, the situation for the farmers has drastically improved, and many of them will benefit from this grove. These trees are their heritage, from one generation to the next.”

The inhabitants of regions liberated from the yoke of Daesh, including those of Sinjar, are continuing this fight to rebuild their destroyed homes and temples, with the help of local and international organizations. Many people are also seeking to return home to these liberated territories and recover a normal life.