The Yezidi Oral Tradition in Iraqi Kurdistan

Christine Allison

The Yezidis are a Kurdish-speaking religious minority, neither Muslim, Christian nor Jewish. Their ethnicity has been disputed, but most now claim Kurdish identity. Their heartland, including their holiest shrine, is in the Badinan province of Northern Iraq, and it is the communities in this area which are the main focus of this book. Their highly eclectic religion appears to contain many elements of 'the religions of the book', especially Sufism, upon a foundation of ancient Iranian belief and practice.