One author, of those to whose writings I had access, in an explicit statement regards these people as apostates. I refer to Amin-al-‘Omari-al Mausili (of Mosul). After praising Šeiḫ ‘Adi, the Mosulian goes on to say, “God tried him (_i. e._, ‘Adi) by a calamity, to wit, the appearance of Al-Murtaddoon, called the Yezidis because they pretended to have been descended from Yezid.[113] Another Mohammedan scholar that mentions these people is Yasin Al-Ḫatib-al-‘Omari-al Mausili. Writing on Šeiḫ ‘Adi, and praising him as the former writer does, he says, “He was versed in the knowledge of the divine law. God tried him by a calamity by raising up the Yezidis, who pretend that this Šeiḫ is God, and who have made his tomb the object of their pilgrimage.[114] While these authors throw some light on the subject that the sect in question derives its appellation from a historic person, they leave us entirely in the dark as to who that person was, as the Arab historians mention many prominent men who bore the name Yezid. This obscurity regarding the person of the founder of the sect is made clear by one whose work is equally, if not more, authoritative than that of any other Mohammedan scholar on matters pertaining to religious and philosophical sects. This authority is Mohammed Aš-Šahrastani. He is the only Mohammedan writer that I could reach that, in a clear language, traces this most interesting sect to its founder. “The Yezidis are the followers of Yezid bn Unaisa, who [said that he] kept friendship with the first Muhakkama before the Azariḳa, and he separated himself from those who followed after them with the exception of Al-Abaḍia, for with these he kept friendship. 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,[115] and as a result he would leave the law of Mohammed, the Chosen One, may God bless and save him!—and follow the religion of the Sabians mentioned in the Koran. But these are not the Sabians who are found in Ḥaran and Wasit. But Yezid kept friendship with the people of the book who recognized the Chosen One as a prophet, even though they did not accept his (Mohammed’s) religion. And he said that the followers of the ordinances are among those who agree with him; but that others are hiding the truth and give companions to God and that every sin, small or great, is idolatry.”[116] It is clear, then, that Aš-Šahrastani finds the religious origin of this interesting people in the person of Yezid bn Unaisa. He calls them his _Aseḥab_, _i. e._, his followers, a term by which he designates the relation between a sect and its originator. Al-Ḥaraṯiyah he describes as “Aseḥab al-Ḥareṯ,” and “Al Ḥafeziyah Aseḥab Hafez,” and so on. We are to understand, therefore, that to the knowledge of the writer, bn Unaisa is the founder of the Yezidi sect, which took its name from him.