Born in 1933, the fifth child of Sa'id Beg and Meyan Khatun, Tahsin was appointed head of the Yezidis in 1944 following his father's death.

He has said that his mother, along with the Yezidi religious council and tribal leaders, chose him as his father's successor.

His mother, Meyan, ruled the Yezidis as his representative until he was 18 years old.

Beg fled Iraq in the 1970s after he was falsely implicated in a failed coup attempt against the Hussein regime, first living in Iran, then London.

After 1981, he returned to Iraq, but it appears that he has divided his time between Iraq and Germany, where a large Yezidi community exists.