Fariha al Jerrahi
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Fariha Fatima al-Jerrahi (born Philippa de Menil; June 13, 1947) is an American art curator and co-founder of the Dia Art Foundation. She is also the spiritual guide and Sheikha of the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order in New York City.[1]
Biography
[edit]She was born in 1947 into a socially committed, eclectic French Catholic family in Houston, Texas. Her parents were 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]
In 1974, de Menil, along with then-husband, art dealer Heiner Friedrich; and Helen Winkler, established the Dia Art Foundation nonprofit to provide funding to artistic endeavors – reminiscent of patronage systems from the Renaissance era.
In 1985, Dia experienced a period of financial upheaval after the collapse of the Schlumberger stock, prompting a series of controversial decisions that severely affected artists' budgets and risking the foundation's collections since de Menil was no longer able to offer financial support personally. Dia was forced to take out a $3.8 million loan from Citibank, secured by 140,000 shares of de Menil's stock. After a restructuring of the board, wherein Friedrich had departed and Winkler was ousted, de Menil's mother, Dominique, had installed former Metropolitan Museum of Art executive vice president Ashton Hawkins as chairman, with Philippa (now under her Sufi Muslim name Fariha al-Jerrahi) still maintaining a seat.[3]
Path to Sufism
[edit]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.[4][5][6][7] 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. Coincidentally, Sheikh Muzaffer, had died the night before the first new Dia board meeting, and she embraced it as a sign of change. After Sheikh Nur's death, she would take on the guidance of the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order and its circles of dervishes around the world.[4]
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, a Sufi lodge in downtown Manhattan, which was opened by the Dia Art Foundation in a former firehouse at 155 Mercer Street, and was later moved to 245 West Broadway during Dia's restructuring.[8] While fostering bonds with the greater Sufi and Muslim American communities, the role of women in Islam and spiritual ecology have been of special importance to her message.[9]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Shaykha Fariha Fatima al-Jerrahi".
- ^ "Meet The De Menils, The French Billionaires Who Turned Houston into a World-Class Center of Art". Texas Standard. April 5, 2018. Retrieved January 24, 2024.
- ^ Hoban, Phoebe (November 25, 1985). New York Magazine. New York Media, LLC.
- ^ a b Urubshurow, Victoria Kennick (2008). Introducing World Religions. JBE Online Books. ISBN 978-0-9801633-0-8.
- ^ "Shaykha Fariha al Jerrahi | WISE Muslim Women Shaykha Fariha al Jerrahi". WISE Muslim Women. November 5, 2009. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
- ^ Howe, Justine (November 9, 2020). The Routledge Handbook of Islam and Gender. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-25654-4.
- ^ "The Rise of the Sheikha". Vice. June 6, 2014. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
- ^ "Remains of the Dia". Vanity Fair. July 12, 2012. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012. Retrieved February 21, 2024.
- ^ Callahan, Sharon Henderson (June 20, 2013). Religious Leadership. SAGE. ISBN 978-1-4129-9908-3.
- 1947 births
- Living people
- 20th-century American clergy
- 20th-century American women philanthropists
- 20th-century Islamic religious leaders
- 21st-century American clergy
- 21st-century American women philanthropists
- 21st-century Islamic religious leaders
- American art curators
- American people of French descent
- American spiritual teachers
- American Sufis
- American women curators
- American women founders
- American women religious leaders
- Clergy from Houston
- Clergy from New York City
- Converts to Islam from Christianity
- Female Islamic religious leaders
- Muslims from New York (state)
- Muslims from Texas
- Organization founders
- People from SoHo, Manhattan
- Religious leaders from Manhattan
- Religious leaders from Texas
- Sufi religious leaders
- Sufi teachers
- Women clergy