Fariha Fatima al-Jerrahi (born Philippa de Menil; June 13, 1947) is an American art curator and co-founder of the

Dia Art Foundation Dia Art Foundation is a nonprofit organization that initiates, supports, presents, and preserves art projects. It was established in 1974 by Philippa de Menil, the daughter of Houston arts patron Dominique de Menil and an heiress to the Schlumbe ...

. She is also the

spiritual guide A spirit guide, in Spiritualism, is an entity that remains as a discarnate spirit to act as a guide or protector to a living incarnated individual. Description In traditional African belief systems, well before the spread of Christianity ...

and

Sheikha Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning "elder (administrative title), elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim ulama, scholar. Though this title generally refers to me ...

of the

Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order The Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order, also known as the Jerrahi Sufi Order, is a Sufi order based in New York City and Mexico City. Founded by Muhammad Nur al-Din al-Jerrahi, in Turkey in the 1700s, it is led by American Sufis Lex Hixon ( ''alias'' Nu ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

Biography

She was born in 1947 into a socially committed, eclectic French

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

family in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, Texas. Her parents were French-American art collectors and philanthropists

Dominique de Menil Dominique de Menil (née Schlumberger; March 23, 1908 – December 31, 1997) was a French- American art collector, philanthropist, founder of the Menil Collection and an heiress to the Schlumberger Limited oil-equipment fortune.Helfenstein, Jos ...

, and

John de Menil John de Ménil (January 4, 1904 – June 1, 1973) was a Franco-American businessman, philanthropist, and art patron.Helfenstein, Josef, and Laureen Schipsi. ''Art and Activism: Projects of John and Dominique de Menil''. Houston: The Menil Coll ...

, both of whom established respective art foundations: the

International Foundation for Art Research The International Foundation for Art Research (IFAR) is a non-profit organization which was established to channel and coordinate scholarly and technical information about works of art. IFAR provides an administrative and legal framework within w ...

, and the

Menil Collection The Menil Collection, located in Houston, Texas, refers either to a museum that houses the art collection of founders John de Menil and Dominique de Menil, or to the collection itself of paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, photographs a ...

. Dominique was an heiress to the

Schlumberger Limited Schlumberger (), doing business as SLB, is a global multinational oilfield services company. Founded in France in 1926, the company is now incorporated as Schlumberger NV in Willemstad, Curaçao, with principal executive offices in Houston, ...

oil-equipment fortune. In 1974, de Menil, along with then-husband, art dealer

Heiner Friedrich Heiner Friedrich (born April 14, 1938, in Stettin) is an art dealer and collector of minimal art and conceptual art.Citibank Citibank, N.A. ("N. A." stands for "National bank (United States), National Association"; stylized as citibank) is the primary U.S. banking subsidiary of Citigroup, a financial services multinational corporation, multinational corporation. Ci ...

, 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 The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...

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 A guide is a person who leads travelers, sportspeople, or tourists through unknown or unfamiliar locations. The term can also be applied to a person who leads others to more abstract goals such as knowledge or wisdom. Travel and recreation Exp ...

on the path of

Sufism Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

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 The heart is a muscular Organ (biology), organ found in humans and other animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels. The heart and blood vessels together make the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrie ...

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

dervish Dervish, Darvesh, or Darwīsh (from ) in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity (''tariqah''), or more narrowly to a religious mendicant, who chose or accepted material poverty. The latter usage is found particularly in Persi ...

es 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 Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

lodge in downtown

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

, which was opened by the Dia Art Foundation in a former firehouse at 155 Mercer Street, and was later moved to 245

West Broadway West Broadway is a north-south street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, separated into two parts by Tribeca Park. The northern part begins at Tribeca Park, near the intersection of Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue), Walker Street ...

during Dia's restructuring. While fostering bonds with the greater

and

Muslim American Islam is the third-largest religion in the United States (1.34%) after Christianity (67%) and Judaism (2.4%). The 2020 United States Religion Census estimates that there are about 4,453,908 Muslim Americans of all ages living in the United St ...

communities, the role of women in Islam and spiritual ecology have been of special importance to her message.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jerrahi, Fariha 1947 births Living people 20th-century American clergy 20th-century American women philanthropists 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century Islamic religious leaders 21st-century American clergy 21st-century American women philanthropists 21st-century American 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 American organization founders People from SoHo, Manhattan Religious leaders from Manhattan Religious leaders from Texas Sufi religious leaders Sufi teachers Women clergy

Biography

Path to Sufism

See also

References