Iraq Keywords:, Yezidis, Kurds A. O. POBEDONOSTSEVA (Saint Petersburg) One of the little-studied religious communities in the Middle East is still the Yezidis. This is mainly due to their strict prohibition on non-disclosure of intra-community information to non-believers, the main purpose of which is to preserve the safety of community members. Actually, this very mystery was behind our desire to go on a journey to the Yezidi Kurds of Iraq and see with our own eyes how this ancient people lives. There are different opinions about the origin of Yezidism. Most researchers see its roots in Zoroastrian cults. Despite some similarities with Zoroastrianism (the cult of fire), the attitude to good and evil in Zoroastrianism and Yezidism is different. There is no personification of evil in Yezidism, and the epithets given by representatives of other religions to the "evil spirit" are not accepted by Yezidis. So, they consider it a great sin to call one of the angels "cursed", "fallen", etc. A similar attitude to the" fallen angel " is also found in some Sufi interpretations. Although, according to the Muslim tradition, when God created the first man - Adam - and ordered all creatures to worship him, the angels fulfilled the command, and Iblis * refused: "I was made of fire, and he of clay." Then he was banished from paradise 1. Yezidis believe in one Creator God and in his seven angels, at the head of which, according to ancient texts, God placed Malak-Tawusa 2. According to the sacred texts, no one can go against God, since nothing can happen without his will.3 Yezidi society is based on the caste principle. There are 2 castes of clergy-sheikhs and pirs, as well as the lay caste-murids. Every Yezidi is already born into a certain caste, and marriages between representatives of three castes are prohibited among Yezidis. The responsibilities of sheikhs, pirs, and murids are unchangeable and inherited, but lay murids can become preachers, interpreters of sacred texts,and mon ... Read more