Shaykh Fakhr ad-Dīn ibn al-Hasan, known also by the Kurdish

Kurdish language

Kurdish is a dialect continuum spoken by the Kurds in western Asia. It is part of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian group of Indo-European languages....

 name Şêx Fexreddin, was a descendant of Umayyad

Umayyad

The Umayyad Caliphate was the second of the four major Arab caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. It was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty, whose name derives from Umayya ibn Abd Shams, the great-grandfather of the first Umayyad caliph. Although the Umayyad family originally came from the...

 Caliph

Caliph

The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word   which means "successor" or "representative"...

 Marwan ibn al-Hakam

Marwan I

Marwan ibn al-Hakam was the fourth Umayyad Caliph, who took over the dynasty after Muawiya II abdicated in 684. Marwan's ascension pointed to a shift in the lineage of the Umayyad dynasty from descendants of Abu Sufyan to those of Hakam, both of whom were grandsons of Umayya...

. He was the son and religious heir of al-Hasan ibn ‘Adī after the death of al-Hasan's son. Şêx Fexreddin was the seventh and last known ‘Adawī shaykh, leaving the Lalish

Lalish

Lalish is a small mountain valley situated in northern Iraq about 60 km northwest of the city of Mosul. It is the location of the tomb of Şêx Adî, main figure of the Yazidi faith....

 area (and the historical record) for the Kurdish-founded Ayyubid Egypt

Ayyubid dynasty

The Ayyubid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty of Kurdish origin, founded by Saladin and centered in Egypt. The dynasty ruled much of the Middle East during the 12th and 13th centuries CE. The Ayyubid family, under the brothers Ayyub and Shirkuh, originally served as soldiers for the Zengids until they...

 in 1276.

Life

Şêx Fexreddin's life was unusual for several reasons. Unlike his predecessors, he was on good standing with the Mongols, who had been responsible for the death of his two immediate predecessors. He also succeeded his nephew rather than his father. Additionally, he was the first ‘Adawī leader to face internecine rivalry: in 1275, Şêx Fexreddin's brother Shemseddin revolted and attempted to seize power from him. Şêx Fexreddin and his allies defeated Shemseddin, who fled to Syria

Syria

Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....

. Finally, he is the last known ‘Adawī shaykh.

Succession