dition6—some even going so far as to connect the name “Yezidi” with “Jesus”!7 Some think that the Yezidi sect takes its name from the Persian word yazd, 'god, or good spirit,' over against Ahriman, the evil principle;8 while others associate it with Yazd or Yezid, a town in central Persia, the inhabitants of which are chiefly Parsees.9 Some finally maintain that the sect was founded by Šeih 'Adî.10
The Yezidis themselves had a curious legend connecting the name with the Caliph Yezîd bn Mu'awiya11 (see p. 37).
In a dissertation presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Harvard University I called attention to a statement of aš-Šahrasãnî the importance of which seems hitherto not to have been appreciated, but which appears to me to give the most probable explanation of the name and of the original affinities of the sect. The passage is as follows (Kitâb al Milal wan-Nihal, ed. Cureton, I, 101):
The Yezidis are the followers of Yezîd bn Unaisa, who kept friendship with the first Muhakkama, before the Azarika; he separated himself from those who followed after them with the exception of the Abadiyah,12 for with these he kept friendly. He believed that God would send an apostle from among the Persians, and would reveal to him a book that is already written in heaven, and would reveal the whole (book) to him at one time,13 and as a result he would leave the religion of Mohammed, the Chosen One–
