Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir

Shrine (that also contains the tomb) of Sheikh Adi.

Shaykh ‘Adī ibn Musāfir al-Umawī (Arabic: عدي بن مسافر الاموي‎‎; Kurdish: Şêx Adî‎ [ʃex ɑdi], died 1162), a Yazidi descendant of Umayyad Caliph Marwan ibn al-Hakam, was born in the 1070s in the Beqaa Valley of present-day Lebanon.[1] Adi is said to have been born in the village of Bait Far, near Baalbek, where the house of his birth was – and still is – a place of pious pilgrimage.[2] The Yazidi consider him an Avatar of Tawûsê Melek, which means "Peacock Angel". His tomb at Lalish, Iraq is a focal point of Yazidi pilgrimage.[3]

Shaykh ‘Adī spent much of his early life in Baghdad. To attain a sufi life and seclude himself he sought a quiet haven in Mespotamia.

Despite his desire for seclusion, he impressed the local population with his asceticism and miracles.[1][4]

Adi was said to be very tanned and of middle stature. The Yazidis adopted him as their archetypal saint. Adi was celebrated on account of his saintly life. He founded a religious order named after himself, al-Adawiya. He resided in the mountains, alongside Hakkari Kurds in the region north of Mosul; and died at the age of 90 (1162 CE or 557 Hijra). According to others, he died in 1160 CE (555 Hijra) in the hermitage that he had built himself in the mountains, where his descendants lived after his demise. His sepulchre is indicated by three conical cupolas in the environs of the village of Baadri, 20 miles to the east of the Nestorian convent of Rabban-Hormuzd. His tomb still attracts a great number of people. Nightly processions by torch light include exhibitions of the green colored pall, which covers the tomb; and the distribution of large trays with smoking harisa (a ragout with coagulated milk). His followers believe that he was the incarnation of the divinity.[2]

See also

Succession

Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir
‘Adawiyya and Yezidi Notables
Preceded by
(None)		 Shaikh of the ‘Adawiyya Ṣūfī Order Succeeded by
Sakhr Abu l-Barakat

References

  1. 1 2 Kreyenbroek, Philip G; Jindy Rashow, Khalil (2005), God and Sheikh Adi are Perfect: Sacred Poems and Religious Narratives from the Yezidi Tradition, Iranica, 9, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, ISBN 3-447-05300-3
  2. 1 2 The Encyclopædia of Islam: A Dictionary of the Geography, Ethnography and Biography of the Muhammadan Peoples. Holland: EJ Brill. 1913. pp. 136–137.
  3. ↑ Spät, Eszter (1985), The Yezidis (2 ed.), London: Saqi (published 2005), ISBN 0-86356-593-X
  4. ↑ "Yezidi Reformer: Sheikh Adi". The Truth about the Yezidis. YezidiTruth.org. 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-16.
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