Yazidi << YEHZ uh dee >> also spelled Yezidi, are a Kurdish -speaking people of the Middle East . Their exact population is difficult to determine. Most experts estimate the Yazidi population to be between about 200,000 and 500,000 people. Most live in Iran , Iraq , Syria , and southeast Turkey . The name means worshipers of God. It probably comes from a Persian word meaning angel or god.
Yazidi religious practices are include many elements of Zoroastrianism , a religion founded between 1200 and 1000 B.C. in Persia . Zoroastrianism centers around the belief in a battle between good and evil. The Yazidi also include elements of Christianity , Islam , and Judaism in their religious traditions. Yazidis pray to Malak Taus, an angel who has the form of a peacock. They also believe that the soul survives after death and can be reborn in another person.
Yazidi are cautious of outsiders, and their religious customs are secretive. They do not accept converts to their religion or allow marriage outside of their faith. Throughout history, the Yazidi have been persecuted as devil worshipers, a description acquired through a misunderstanding of their beliefs. Another name for Malak Taus is Shaytan, which is Arabic for devil. Like early Christians, the Yazidi believe the Devil was once the chief angel but was expelled from heaven because of his rebellious pride. According to the Yazidi, however, the Devil repented and was restored to his former position by God. The Yazidi worship Malak Taus as this chief angel, who rules the world on behalf of God.
In 2014, Sunni Muslim extremists—organized as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and later simply the Islamic State —attacked Yazidi villages Iraq. The extremists killed hundreds of Yazidis and drove them from their homes. Thousands of Yazidis fled and sought refuge on Mount Sinjar in northern Iraq, creating a humanitarian crisis. By early 2015, the Islamic State had freed some Yazidis. Other Yazidis fled the region, while an unknown number remained in areas of Iraq controlled by the Islamic State.
The severe treatment of Yazidis by the Islamic State—including killings by burning and beheading, torture, and enslavement—was aimed at exterminating the Yazidi population. In 2016, Nadia Murad, a member of the Yazidi minority in northern Iraq and one of thousands of Yazidi girls and women who were victims of rape and other abuses by Islamic State militants, was named the United Nation’s first Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking. After she had escaped from the Islamic State, Murad spoke widely to draw global attention to the abuses that she and others suffered. In 2018, Murad was awarded a share of the Nobel Peace Prize for her activism.
