Biography:Fariha al Jerrahi

From HandWiki
Short description: American Sufi leader

Fariha Fatima al-Jerrahi (born Philippa de Menil; 13 June 1947) is the spiritual guide and current Sheikha of the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order in New York City .[1]

Biography

She was born in 1947 into a socially committed, eclectic French Catholic family in Houston, Texas . Her parents are French-American art collectors and philanthropists Dominique de Menil, and John de Menil, both of whom established respective art foundations: the International Foundation for Art Research, and the Menil Collection. Dominique was an heiress to the Schlumberger Limited oil-equipment fortune.[2] At the age of 29, she met her mentor and guide on the path of Sufism upon his first visit to the Americas, Sheikh Muzaffer Özak Âșkî al-Jerrahi of Istanbul. She received direct transmission from him in 1980.[3][4][5][6] Sheikh Muzaffer also gave direct transmission to fellow American dervish Sheikh Nur al-Anwar al-Jerrahi, who envisioned a radical and illumined path of the heart which he called Universal Islam. After Sheikh Nur's passing, she would take on the guidance of the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order and its circles of dervishes around the world.[3]

Sheikha Fariha al-Jerrahi leads devotional prayers, ceremonies of divine remembrance, and provides spiritual guidance to initiates from her seat at the Dergah al-Farah in downtown Manhattan. While fostering bonds with the greater Sufi & Muslim American communities, the role of women in Islam and spiritual ecology have been of special importance to her message.[7]

See also

  • Muzaffer Ozak
  • Lex Hixon
  • Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order
  • Jerrahi Sufi Order
  • Dia Art Foundation

References