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Fariha Fatima al-Jerrahi (born Philippa de Menil; 13 June 1947) is an American art curator and co-founder of the Dia Art Foundation. She is also the spiritual guide and current Sheikha of the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order in New York City.

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. In 1974, she, 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 oil 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 personally offer financial support. Dia was forced to take out a $3.8 million loan from Citibank, secured by 140,000 shares of Fariha’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 executive vice president Ashton Hawkins as chairman, with Philippa (now under her Sufi Muslim name Fariha al-Jerrahi) still maintaining a seat.

Path to Sufism

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. 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 passed away the night before the first new Dia board meeting, and she embraced it as a sign of change. 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.

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. 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.

See also

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

References

1. "Shaykha Fariha Fatima al-Jerrahi".
2. "Meet The De Menils, The French Billionaires Who Turned Houston Into A World-Class Center Of Art". Texas Standard. 2018-04-05. Retrieved 2024-01-24.
3. Hoban, Phoebe (1985-11-25). New York Magazine. New York Media, LLC.
4. ^ Urubshurow, Victoria Kennick (2008). Introducing World Religions. JBE Online Books. ISBN 978-0-9801633-0-8.
5. "Shaykha Fariha al Jerrahi | WISE Muslim Women Shaykha Fariha al Jerrahi". WISE Muslim Women. 2009-11-05. Retrieved 2022-06-10.
6. Howe, Justine (2020-11-09). The Routledge Handbook of Islam and Gender. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-25654-4.
7. "The Rise of the Sheikha". www.vice.com. 6 June 2014. Retrieved 2022-06-10.
8. "Remains of the Dia | The Magazine | Vanity Fair". Vanity Fair. 2012-07-12. Archived from the original on 2012-07-12. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
9. Callahan, Sharon Henderson (2013-06-20). Religious Leadership. SAGE. ISBN 978-1-4129-9908-3.

• American people of French descent
• American religious leaders
• American spiritual teachers
• American Sufis
• Clergy from New York City
• Converts to Islam from Christianity
• Female Islamic religious leaders
• People from Houston
• Religious leaders from New York (state)
• Religious leaders from Texas
• Sufi religious leaders
• Sufi teachers
• 1947 births
• Living people