摘要: Description　　Lalish Temple located in Sheikhan district in Nineveh Governorate, about (60) km northwest of Nineveh, and about (40 km) from Dohuk Governorate in northern Iraq. It is located in a mounta

Description

　　Lalish Temple located in Sheikhan district in Nineveh Governorate, about (60) km northwest of Nineveh, and about (40 km) from Dohuk Governorate in northern Iraq. It is located in a mountain strait surrounded by mountains on its three sides and the road leading to it is a winding road in mountain valley.

　　Lalish Temple considered the main temple of the Ayzidi religion, which is known in Arabic sources as (Yazidis) .. Yezidis visit it from all over the world, and it is a unique spot where silence and calm , fresh air, greenery, trees and domes above the heights that extend on both sides of the holy valley,are distributed among them pictures and scenes talking and conveying to us various stories and each story has a historical and religious background related to the Yazidi religion.

　　Many travelers and writers who wrote the history of this temple have provided many interpretations of its origin and foundation, so we find the archaeological researcher Abd al-Raqeeb Yusuf describing the temple as the oldest existing site in the area . The researcher relies in this saying to the presence of many symbols of the Mithraic religion in it, as this statement is confirmed by some Yezidi researchers, as they consider the Yazidi religion as an extension of the Mithraic religion, as it consists of races and religious traditions similar to what existed in Mithraism.

　　Also, the prevailing belief about Mithraism is that it is only the result of the blending of the beliefs of Mesopotamia and Persia, where the Iranian God (Mithra) was embodied with Shamash, the sun god in Mesopotamia.

　　Lalish Temple, which includes the tomb of Sheikh Uday bin Musafir al-Hakari, is a rectangular building measuring (30 x 12) m. The temple has been exposed to expansion and increases during its long life.

　　The main entrance of the temple constructed of square-shaped stones and in close dimensions. Its wall rises to more than four meters and a large door made of beech wood dating back more than forty years, according to those in charge of the temple, and to the right side of the main temple door, where the entrance to the temple rises above the image of the black serpent sanctified by the Yezidis.

　　In front of temple gate , a large Iwan is spread with an open square, which has been paved with stones of one size.

　　The Iwan of the temple is surrounded by seven pillars built of stone at a height of five meters where each column represents one of the seven angels in Yezidi religion holiness, and not far from the entrance there is a pool of water called (Nasir Din pool - A guardian of Yazidis).

　　On both sides of the entrance there are several sites (lamps) It light every Wednesday of the week (which is the holy day for Yazidis), and then the tomb of (Sheikh Uday bin Musafir Al Hakari) located.

　　The temple complex covers a group of domes, and the domes of the temple are characterized by a conical shape that is not represented in Iraq by a temple or a grave. The conical domes are policed into straight edges that join from top to bottom within a circle that is based on a base that represents the earth, all of which receive the sun's rays, so Yazidis called the holy place (Mekka Rakka) and the word means the home of the sun.

　　Lalish temple is a rare artistic style in architecture and building, in which Seljuk art as well as the old eastern mixes with local heritage in terms of large buildings, in addition to the presence of remnants of very old signs and symbols dating back to the first centuries BC that are drawn on the outer wall and can be observed (Eye of the sun, Open ring,Other signs that are not noticeable unless you look at them well).

　　A lot of conservation work was done for the temple, the last of which was in 1979, and one of the serious threats that the temple faced and happened to it when the terrorist organization (ISIS) occupied the Sinjar district in June 2014.

　　In addition to the terrorist massacres carried out by the organization against the Yazidi population in the region, the terrorist organization destroyed (39) dome buildings and shrines belonging to the Yezidis.

　　With the liberation of the region, efforts are being made to rebuild and rehabilitate the sites that were damaged as a result of the existence of the terrorist organization. Campaigns for the conservation and rehabilitation of the Lalish Temple were carried out, with local support and financing from private sector.

　　The German company Bosnick has also carried out conservation and restoration work for the temple. Also, efforts focused now to establish infrastructure facilities for the site, especially since the temple is visited by many people from countries in the world and in the temple is the tomb of Sheikh Uday bin Musafir, holy to followers of the religion, as it is the seat of the Spiritual Council of the Yazidi religion in the world. Where the Yezidis perform pilgrimage at least once during their lives to Lalish temple, where the pilgrimage lasts for six days.