Yezidism

History/Founder/important persons/saints: Yezidis are a Kurdish sect, named after their supposed founder Yezid, the Umayyad Caliph. The Yezidi revere the Prophet Mohammed and the Sufi mystic Adi Musafir, a descendent of the Umayyad Caliphs (Kalifs). Adi is credited with writing many of the Yezidi Holy texts and is most likely to be the originator of the faith. Islamic writings mention the religion as early as the fourteenth century, but some scholars link them to Mithraism, Zoroastrianism, and even ancient Iraqi Buzzard worshippers. Yezidism is an enigma that has confounded scholars and incited debate for some time. The influence of Islam on the religion is heavy and obscures other aspects. Tantalizing clues point in every direction- rituals involving fire and prayers recited in the direction of the sun are distinctly Zoroastrian; taboos against eating lettuce and beans, baptisms, and the belief that Christ is a prophet hint at Manicheism. Other unusual aspects of Yezidi belief are the reverence of an immortal elemental spirit named Khidir; temple decorations in Lalish are distinctly Mithraic.

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been reading up about this religion for a long time now and i found it very interesting so i thought i would share it with you all.