List of Yazidi holy figures

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This is a list of holy figures (Kurdish: Xudan, Xas, Babçak, Mêr) in Yazidism.[1]

There are a total of 365 Yazidi holy figures venerated by Yazidis.[2] Many Yazidi tribes and lineages are named after Yazidi holy figures and there are many temples and shrines built in their honor.[3][4] Holy figures in Yazidism are designated by various special terms including Babçak,[2] Xudan (lord, master, owner, holder, proprietor, protector, deity), Xas (selected, notable, special, elite) and Mêr which translates to (holy) man.[5][6] According to Yazidi belief God is almighty and absolute, and the Xudans are a part of His power, moreover, in relation to nature, Yazidis believe in Xudans for most of natural elements and phenomena and they are regarded as divine powers that have control over these phenomena. In Yazidi mythology, the Xudans appeared after the creation of the world for the four elements of nature and their manifestations.[6]

  1. ^ Kreyenbroek, Philip (1995). Yezidism: its background, observances, and textual tradition. Lewiston NY: E. Mellen Press. ISBN 0-7734-9004-3. OCLC 31377794.
  2. ^ a b Spat, Eszter (8 October 2016). "Hola Hola Tawusi Melek, Hola Hola Şehidêt Şingalê: Persecution and the Development of Yezidi Ritual Life". Kurdish Studies. 4 (2): 155–175. doi:10.33182/ks.v4i2.426. ISSN 2051-4891.
  3. ^ Omarkhali, Khanna (2017). The Yezidi religious textual tradition, from oral to written: categories, transmission, scripturalisation, and canonisation of the Yezidi oral religious texts. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-10856-0. OCLC 994778968.
  4. ^ Kreyenbroek, Philip (2005). God and Sheikh Adi are perfect: sacred poems and religious narratives from the Yezidi tradition. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. ISBN 978-3-447-05300-6. OCLC 63127403.
  5. ^ Voskanian, Vardan (1999). "Dewrēš E'Rd the Yezidi Lord of the Earth". Iran and the Caucasus. 3–4 (1): 159–166. doi:10.1163/157338499x00128. ISSN 1609-8498.
  6. ^ a b Aysif, Rezan Shivan (2021). The Role of Nature in Yezidism. Göttingen: Göttingen University Press. pp. 94, 107. doi:10.17875/gup2021-1855. ISBN 978-3-86395-514-4. S2CID 246596953.