This detailed study investigates the considerable role of nature and its elements in the Yezidi tradition, both as beliefs and practices. The focus is on the four elements of nature-fire, water, earth and air/wind -which are regarded as sacred in Yezidism. Several earlier publications on Yezidism mention the holiness of these elements without drawing attention to the considerable importance of beliefs and observances connected with them in Yezidi religious life. In other words, these elements

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... ve not yet been the subject of detailed systematic in-depth research. This study therefore constitutes an initial attempt to fill that gap. The study draws primarily on the religious textual tradition in the form of religious poetic texts and living religious tradition, as well as other helpful sources such as religious sayings, religious material culture, observational method, qualitative interviews and secondary data. The study has mainly made use of the analytical and descriptive methods. Moreover, the emic point of view plays a role in interpreting oral religious tradition, documents and material culture, etc. The fieldwork of the dissertation was carried out in Yezidi areas in the Kurdistan region of Iraq and in Northern Iraq. This study consists of two parts including nine chapters in all. The first part explains the role of the natural elements in Yezidi religious beliefs and includes four chapters: Chapter One demonstrates the role of the light and other elements of nature in Yezidi implicit theology. Chapter Two explains the role of the sacred natural elements in the Yezidi cosmogonical and cosmological myths. In Chapter Three the focus shifts to the role of the sacred natural elements in the anthropogenic myth, the creation and the death of human beings. Chapter Four is dedicated to the role of the natural elements and their phenomena in Yezidi eschatology. The second part deals with the role of the natural elements in religious practices and observances in five chapters: Chapter One discusses the role of nature and its four elements in Yezidi acts of worship and devotion, such as in prayers, in the rites of pilgrimage and in fasting. Chapter Two looks at the role of the natural elements in connection with religious places. Chapter Three explores the role of the natural elements