Lalish ( ku, لالش, translit=Laliş, also known as Lalişa Nûranî) is a mountain valley and temple in
Shekhan, Duhok Governorate in
Iraq. It is the holiest temple of the
Yazidis. It is the location of the tomb of the
Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir, a central figure of the
Yazidi faith.
The temple is above the town of
Shekhan, which had the second largest population of Yazidi prior to the
persecution of Yazidis by ISIL
A genocide of Yazidis by the Islamic State was carried out in the Sinjar area of northern Iraq in the mid-2010s. The genocide led to the expulsion, flight and effective exile of the Yazidis. Thousands of Yazidi women and girls were forced i ...
.
The temple is about sixty kilometers north of
Mosul and 14 kilometers west from the village
Ayn Sifna. The temple is built at about 1,000 meters above sea level and situated among three mountains, Hizrat in the west, Misat in the south and Arafat in the north.
At least once in their lifetimes, Yazidis are expected to make a six-day
pilgrimage to Lalish to visit the tomb of Şêx Adî and other sacred places.
[ These other sacred places are shrines dedicated to other holy beings. There are two sacred springs called Zamzam and the Kaniya Spî (White Spring).]Sheikh Hesen
Sheikh Hasan ibn Sheikh ‘Adī II () is a holy and historical figure in that is revered in Yazidism and considered the physical or earthly incarnation of Melik Şêxsin, one of the Seven Divine Beings to whom God assigned the World's affairs. Me ...
is situated a cave.
History
Lalish Temple dates back about 4000 years.
In the early 12th century, Adi ibn Mosāfer moved to Lalish. Adi died in 1162 and was buried. During a major battle against the Yazidi in 1415, the tomb of Adi was razed.[
The Lalish valley was annexed in 1892 by the surrounding Muslim tribes under the leadership of Ottomans, the mausoleum of Yezidi saints were looted and damaged and the Lalish Temple was converted into a ]Quranic school
Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...
. The occupation of the temple eventually led to a fierce and widespread rebellion by Yezidis of Shekhan and Shingal
Sinjar ( ar, سنجار, Sinjār; ku, شنگال, translit=Şingal, syr, ܫܝܓܪ, Shingar) is a town in the Sinjar District of the Nineveh Governorate in northern Iraq. It is located about five kilometers south of the Sinjar Mountains. Its ...
against the Ottomans and the neighbouring Muslim Kurdish tribes. It was not until 1904 that the Ezidis, under the leadership of Mîr Alî Beg, succeeded in forcibly recovering their temple and driving out the Muslims.
Beginning on 3 August 2014, Yazidi refugees fled from Sinjar and took shelter in the temple after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant placed Sinjar and its environs under siege.Kurdistan Workers' Party
The Kurdistan Workers' Party or PKK is a Kurdish militant political organization and armed guerrilla movement, which historically operated throughout Kurdistan, but is now primarily based in the mountainous Kurdish-majority regions of south ...
(PKK),Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
and circled around the north of the Sinjar mountain range to reach Lalish and Shekhan in Kurdistan Region.[
]
See also
* Genocide of Yazidis by ISIL
* Yazidi Black Book
* Yazidism
* Yazidis in Iraq
* List of Yazidi holy places
References
{{Commons category
Valleys of Asia
Nineveh Governorate
Yazidi holy places
Yazidi populated places in Iraq
Pilgrimage sites
Kurdish words and phrases