Amal Hussein, 40, is just beginning to know her 10-year-old daughter Khunaf.

Hussein’s fingers gently trace her daughter’s small, unfamiliar face, a face she hadn’t seen since Khunaf was three months old. Their separation occurred 11 years ago when ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, also known as Daesh) invaded the predominantly Yazidi district of Sinjar in northern Iraq on August 3, 2014.

The Yazidi, a monotheistic ethnoreligious minority, worship a supreme God and venerate Melek Tawwus, the Peacock Angel, as the chief of seven archangels and a benevolent emanation of God’s light. Their faith also blends Sufi influences with ancient pre-Zoroastrian beliefs. Some Muslims have misinterpreted Melek Tawwus as Iblis, or Satan — fueling false accusations of “devil-worship” and centuries o

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