Who are the Yazidis?

They are a Zoroastrian sect of the Kurdish people. Zoroastrianism is an ancient religion,over three thousand years old, and it was one of the first monotheistic religions. It has been said the Three Wise Men (The Magi) who visited the Christ Child were Zoroastrians.

The Yazidis are often regarded as devil worshipers because the deity they worship, Melek Taus, is equated by Muslims and middle eastern Christians with Satan. Melek Taus is an archangel like figure who was made Lord of the Earth by God. Because of this Yazidis believe that is Melek Taus, and not God, who must be worshiped. However they do not believe that Melek Taus is an evil being (unlike the Jewish/Christian/Muslim concept of Satan), as they believe that the source of all evil lies within the human heart.

From The New Century Dictionary, 1944 ed., “Yezidis: A people or sect of Mesopotamia, akin to the Kurds: commonly called “devil-worshipers.””

Also from what I can tell the Yazidi faith seems to be largely a syncretism of Zoroastrianism and Gnosticism. At least that’s what it appears like to my, admittedly not greatly knowledgeable, mind.

Like the Kurds, they have generally been allies of the Western forces.