---
type: note
tags: [yazidism, mesopotamia, theology, middle east, religious history, kurdish culture, note]
created: 2026-03-20T21:31:33.775+00:00
updated: 2026-04-06T10:57:13.18195+00:00
---# Yazidism

Yazidism, also known as Yezidism or Sharfadin, is a monotheistic ethnic religion primarily practiced by the Yazidi people, a Kurdish-speaking community mainly in northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northern Syria, and parts of Iran and the Caucasus.

Core Beliefs
Yazidis worship one supreme God who created the world and delegated its management to seven holy beings, or angels, led by Tawûsî Melek, the Peacock Angel, who holds the highest authority as God's vicegerent. The faith emphasizes sacred elements like fire, water, air, and earth, which must remain unpolluted, and includes beliefs in soul reincarnation (metempsychosis) through a "change of shirt" metaphor and cyclical time with purificatory floods or disasters.

Origins and History
Rooted in ancient pre-Islamic Mesopotamian, Iranian, and Kurdish traditions, Yazidism evolved with influences from Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir's 12th-century Sufi teachings, forming an independent tradition distinct from Zoroastrianism despite some parallels. Yazidis have endured centuries of persecution from Muslim neighbors, accused of devil worship due to misinterpretations of Tawûsî Melek as Satan, with severe violence including ISIS's 2014 genocide in Sinjar.

This image shows a Yazidi temple in Bashiqa, Iraq, highlighting their distinctive architecture with conical spires central to worship sites like Lalish, the faith's holiest valley.

Practices and Society
Yazidis maintain strict purity taboos (e.g., avoiding blue clothing, certain foods, and the word "Satan"), a caste system, and endogamy, with prayers facing the sun and pilgrimages to Lalish. Numbering 200,000 to 1 million globally, they feature a hierarchical structure led by a supreme sheikh and emir, with 365 holy figures tied to natural phenomena

## Links

- [Perplexity summary Yazidism ](null)


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**Keywords:** yazidism, mesopotamia, theology, middle east, religious history, kurdish culture, note
