On the Shi‘a Constituent in the Yezidi Religious Lore

Built on the Islamic, primarily Sufi substrate, the religious beliefs of the Yezidis incorporate Gnostic, Christian, local pagan elements, and primitive beliefs. If certain parallels between Yezidism and the heterodox Shi‘ism are mainly part of common shibboleths typical of Near Eastern non-dogmatic milieu, the existence of key Shi‘a figures as objects of veneration and respect in the Yezidi religious lore seems to be a really enigmatic phenomenon. Proper Shi‘a elements in Yezidism have never been particularly discussed.

This paper focuses on the analysis of Shi‘a characters in the Yezidi religious folklore.

Built on the Islamic, primarily Sufi substrate, the religious beliefs of the Yezidis incorporate Gnostic, Christian, local pagan elements, and primitive beliefs. If certain parallels between Yezidism and the heterodox Shi‘ism are mainly part of common shibboleths typical of Near Eastern non-dogmatic milieu, the existence of key Shi‘a figures as objects of veneration and respect in the Yezidi religious lore seems to be a really enigmatic phenomenon. Proper Shi‘a elements in Yezidism have never been particularly discussed.

This paper focuses on the analysis of Shi‘a characters in the Yezidi religious folklore.