Sheikh Hasan: The Yazidi Master of the Pen
- Dala Sarkis
- 8 hours ago
- 13 min read
Introduction
In a faith that for most of its history preserved its scripture not in books but in the living memory of its reciters, one holy figure stands as the patron of the written word. Sheikh Hasan, in Kurdish Sex Hesen, also called Sexisin, is venerated in Yazidism as the Master of the Pen, the holy guardian of writing, books and knowledge, and as one of the Seven Divine Beings to whom God entrusted the care of the world. His descendants, the Adani sheikhs, were traditionally the only ones in Yazidi society permitted to read and write, the keepers of the rare and sacred art of letters.
Sheikh Hasan was also a real historical figure, a leader of the Yazidi community in the turbulent thirteenth century, of the line of the great saint Sheikh Adi, under whose leadership the faith took an important step toward becoming the distinct religion it is today. In him, as so often in Yazidism, the sacred and the historical are bound together: the eternal Master of the Pen and a mortal leader who lived, led and left a line of descendants that endures.
His story opens a new branch of the great family of Yazidi holiness, for where the saints of the Sun and the Moon belong to one priestly lineage, Sheikh Hasan is the forefather of another, and the patron of a different and precious gift: the written word, knowledge and the pen. To learn of him is to discover how the Yazidis honoured learning and letters, and to glimpse the rich and intricate structure of their sacred world.
Contents
Who Was Sheikh Hasan?
Sheikh Hasan, in Kurdish Sex Hesen or Sexisin, who died in 1254, was a Yazidi holy and historical figure, venerated as the earthly incarnation of Melik Sexsin, one of the Seven Divine Beings, and honoured as the Master of the Pen, the patron of writing and books. He was a leader of the Yazidi community in the thirteenth century, of the line of Sheikh Adi, and the forefather of the Adani sheikhs, the lineage that traditionally held the sole privilege of literacy. He stands among the foundational figures of the faith.
The Master of the Pen
Sheikh Hasan is venerated as the earthly manifestation of Melik Sexsin, one of the Seven Divine Beings of Yazidism, the great angelic emanations of the one God who, in Yazidi belief, were given charge of the world under the leadership of the Peacock Angel. Each of the Seven is associated with particular spheres and symbols, and the sphere of Melik Sexsin is among the most distinctive of all: he is the holy patron of the Pen.
For this reason Sheikh Hasan bears the title Xudane Qeleme, the Master of the Pen, and he is associated with writing, with books, and with knowledge and learning. In the symbolic world of Yazidism, where the sun, the moon, fire and the serpent each have their holy guardians, Sheikh Hasan is the guardian of the written word, the saint under whose protection stand all letters and all learning. It is a role of great dignity, and it marks him out as the holy patron of one of humanity's most precious arts.
Key Takeaways
Sheikh Hasan is venerated as the Yazidi Master of the Pen, patron of writing and books.
He is the earthly incarnation of Melik Sexsin, one of the Seven Divine Beings.
He was a historical leader of the Yazidi community who died in 1254.
He was of the line of the great saint Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir.
He is the forefather of the Adani sheikhs, the traditionally literate caste.
His son Sharafedin succeeded him and died fighting the Mongols in 1258.
Quick Facts
Name: Sheikh Hasan (Kurdish: Sex Hesen, Sexisin)
Died: 1254
Type: A Yazidi holy and historical figure, a religious leader
Sacred identity: The earthly incarnation of Melik Sexsin, one of the Seven
Title: Xudane Qeleme, the Master of the Pen, patron of writing and books
Lineage: Forefather of the Adani sheikhs, the traditionally literate caste
Descent: Of the line of Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir, the Adawiyya founder
Son: Sharafedin (Serefedin), who died fighting the Mongols in 1258
Era: The late Abbasid age and the time of the Mongol invasions
Veneration: Honoured among the holy figures at Lalish
The Literate Caste
The most remarkable consequence of Sheikh Hasan's role as Master of the Pen is found in his descendants. The Adani sheikhs, the lineage that traces its descent to him, were traditionally the only group in all of Yazidi society who held the privilege of acquiring the art of reading and writing. In a faith that preserved its sacred hymns and teachings chiefly through the spoken and remembered word, the Adani were the keepers of literacy, the guardians of the written letter.
This is a striking and beautiful arrangement. It means that the rare and powerful art of writing was held as a sacred trust by a single holy lineage, the descendants of the very saint who is the patron of the Pen. The line of the Master of the Pen were, fittingly, the masters of letters among their people. In this we see the deep coherence of the Yazidi sacred order, in which the spheres watched over by the holy beings are reflected in the duties and privileges of their earthly descendants, and in which knowledge itself was entrusted to the keeping of the family of its divine guardian.
A Historical Leader
Beyond his sacred identity, Sheikh Hasan was a real historical figure, a leader of the Yazidi community in the thirteenth century who died in the year 1254. He led the community in an age of both flourishing and danger, and the sources record that during his leadership the Yazidis enjoyed a widespread geographical and political authority, their influence reaching across a considerable region. He was, in his time, a figure of real power as well as great holiness.
His era was the turbulent thirteenth century, the late Abbasid age, when the Islamic world was convulsed by the catastrophic invasions of the Mongols from the east. It was a perilous time for all the peoples of the region, and the Yazidi community under Sheikh Hasan and his successors would feel the force of those upheavals directly. That the community held such authority in so dangerous an age is a measure of the strength of its leadership and the vigour of the faith in that formative period.
The Reassertion of the Old Faith
The time of Sheikh Hasan marks a crucial turning point in the history of the Yazidi religion, and understanding it requires a little background. The faith had grown around the figure of Sheikh Adi, a Sufi mystic of the twelfth century whose followers formed a religious order at Lalish. But the community into which that order took root was an ancient Kurdish one, with its own deep-rooted beliefs reaching back long before the coming of Sheikh Adi.
Scholars understand that around the time of Sheikh Hasan's leadership, the older indigenous beliefs and myths of the Kurds began to reassert themselves within the community, and gradually became an integral part of its religious tradition. In this process the original Sufi order was transformed into the distinct religion that we know as Yazidism, in which the ancient Kurdish spiritual inheritance and the legacy of Sheikh Adi were woven together. Sheikh Hasan thus presided over a pivotal phase in the making of the faith, the period in which it became fully itself, rooted at once in the holiness of Sheikh Adi and in the ancient soul of the Kurdish people.
Of the Line of Sheikh Adi
Sheikh Hasan belonged to the family line of Sheikh Adi ibn Musafir, the great saint and founder of the religious order from which the Yazidi faith grew. When Sheikh Adi died without a son, the leadership of the order passed first to his nephew, and then in time to Sheikh Hasan, who thus stood as a leader in the direct succession of the faith's founder. He was the inheritor of Sheikh Adi's spiritual authority in his own generation.
This descent from the line of Sheikh Adi gives Sheikh Hasan a particular standing. He represents the continuation of the founder's legacy into the thirteenth century, the living leadership of the community in the crucial period when the religion was taking its lasting shape. Through him the authority of Sheikh Adi was carried forward, and from him descended one of the great priestly lineages that would guide the Yazidis in the centuries to come.
The Three Sheikh Lineages
Yazidi religious society is structured, by long tradition, around three great lineages of sheikhs, each tracing its descent to a different holy ancestor. There are the Semsani, who descend from the four sons of Ezdina Mir and represent an ancient Kurdish layer of the faith; the Adani, who descend from Sheikh Hasan; and the Qatani, who descend from Sheikh Abu Bakr, a kinsman of Sheikh Adi. Together these three lineages form the priestly aristocracy of the Yazidi religion.
Sheikh Hasan is the forefather of the Adani, and his lineage carries particular responsibilities in the religious life of the community, including, in keeping with his role as Master of the Pen, the traditional guardianship of literacy. By tradition the three lineages bind together people of different origins into a single sacred order, and marriage within each group preserves its distinct identity. In this structure, the line of Sheikh Hasan stands as one of the three pillars upon which the whole edifice of Yazidi religious leadership rests, the pillar of the written word and of learning.
The Pen and the Word
There is a profound and beautiful complementarity between Sheikh Hasan and the other great saints of the faith. Where Sheikh Fakhradin, the saint of the Moon, is the poet of the sung and spoken word, the composer of the sacred hymns carried in memory and voice, Sheikh Hasan is the patron of the written word, the Master of the Pen. Between them, the two great modes by which sacred truth is preserved, the oral and the written, each have their holy guardian.
This honouring of the written word is especially poignant in Yazidism, a faith that for most of its history transmitted its scripture orally and produced relatively little writing, in part because of the dangers and disruptions of its history. The reverence for the Pen embodied in Sheikh Hasan expresses the value the tradition placed on knowledge and letters even so, and the trust it trusted to a single sacred lineage. The Yazidis are sometimes said to possess sacred books, though the authenticity and origins of the texts that have circulated under such names are debated by scholars; what is certain is the deep reverence for the written word that the figure of Sheikh Hasan enshrines.
Sharafedin and the Mongols
The story of Sheikh Hasan's line continued, dramatically and tragically, in his son and successor, Sharafedin, in Kurdish Serefedin, who inherited the leadership of the community on his father's death. Sharafedin led the Yazidis in the most dangerous of times, for his was the age when the Mongol armies swept through the region, toppling kingdoms and laying waste to cities, culminating in the fall of Baghdad in 1258.
In that same year, 1258, Sharafedin died in battle against the invading Mongols, falling in the defence of his people against the great catastrophe of the age. His death in battle is remembered as a moment of both sorrow and honour, and his name came to hold a special place in the Yazidi tradition, so revered that in some of the sacred hymns the very name Serefedin stands as a name for the faith itself. The line of Sheikh Hasan thus gave the Yazidis not only the guardianship of the Pen but a leader who died defending them in their darkest hour.
Symbolism and Meaning
The figure of Sheikh Hasan gathers several layers of meaning. As the Master of the Pen, he embodies the sacredness of knowledge, writing and learning, and the reverence of the Yazidi tradition for the written word; his is the holiness of the letter and the book. As the forefather of the literate Adani lineage, he embodies the entrusting of this precious art to a sacred family, and the deep coherence of a religious order in which divine spheres and earthly duties mirror one another.
As a historical leader of the line of Sheikh Adi, he embodies the continuity of the faith through a formative and perilous age, and the crucial period in which the religion became fully itself, rooted in both the legacy of its founder and the ancient soul of the Kurdish people. And through his son Sharafedin, his line embodies the courage of leadership in the face of catastrophe. To contemplate Sheikh Hasan is to honour knowledge, continuity and courage together, gathered in the figure of the saint who holds the Pen.
Sheikh Hasan and the Kurds
Sheikh Hasan holds an honoured place in the heritage of the Kurds, and above all among the Yazidis. As one of the Seven Divine Beings and the Master of the Pen, he stands at the foundation of the faith; as a historical leader of the line of Sheikh Adi, he guided the community through the pivotal age in which the religion took its lasting form; and as the forefather of the Adani sheikhs, he is woven into the living structure of Yazidi religious society.
For a people who have preserved their identity and their faith through long centuries of hardship, and who have too often been misunderstood and maligned by outsiders, a figure such as Sheikh Hasan is a source of dignity and pride. He embodies the value his tradition placed on knowledge and the written word, the depth and antiquity of a faith rooted in the ancient Kurdish world, and the courage of a lineage that led and defended its people in dangerous times. To honour the Master of the Pen is to honour the learning and the resilience at the heart of the Yazidi heritage.
Debates and Misconceptions
Are the genealogies of the early Yazidi saints clear and settled? They are not, and honesty requires saying so. The historical succession of leaders of the order founded by Sheikh Adi and the sacred genealogy preserved in Yazidi religious tradition do not always align, and the same revered names, such as Sheikh Shems and Fakhradin, appear in different relationships in different accounts. Scholars distinguish the historical record from the sacred genealogy, and it is most honest to present these as distinct and sometimes divergent traditions rather than to force them into a single tidy family tree.
Did Sheikh Hasan write the sacred books of the Yazidis? This is uncertain and much debated. The Yazidis are often said to possess sacred scriptures, and writings have circulated under such names, sometimes associated with Sheikh Hasan or his circle. But scholars widely regard the surviving manuscripts that have appeared under these titles as later compilations, of disputed authenticity, rather than as authentic ancient works securely authored by him. What can be said with confidence is that Sheikh Hasan is the holy patron of writing and that his lineage were the keepers of literacy; claims about specific surviving books should be treated with caution.
What of the different origins of the sheikh lineages? Yazidi tradition holds that the Semsani trace to a Kurdish line and the Adani and Qatani to the line of the Arab-descended Sheikh Adi and his kinsmen. This is best understood not as a division but as an expression of how the faith bound together people of different origins into a single sacred community. Above all, Yazidism should be understood as a monotheistic faith, indigenous to the Kurdish world, in which the one God entrusted the care of the world to the Seven Holy Beings led by the Peacock Angel, and Sheikh Hasan, the Master of the Pen, is one of those Seven.
Related Topics
The Seven Angels: the Seven Divine Beings, among whom is Melik Sexsin, incarnate in Sheikh Hasan
Sheikh Adi: the great saint and founder of the order, of whose line Sheikh Hasan was a leader
Ezdina Mir: forefather of the Semsani, the Kurdish-descended sheikh lineage
Sheikh Fakhradin: the poet of the oral qewls, complement to Sheikh Hasan's written word
Lalish: the holy Yazidi valley and spiritual centre of the faith
The Qewls: the sacred Yazidi hymns, long preserved by the spoken and remembered word
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Sheikh Hasan?
Sheikh Hasan, in Kurdish Sex Hesen or Sexisin, who died in 1254, was a Yazidi holy and historical figure, venerated as the earthly incarnation of Melik Sexsin, one of the Seven Divine Beings, and honoured as the Master of the Pen, the patron of writing and books. He was a leader of the Yazidi community of the line of Sheikh Adi, and the forefather of the Adani sheikhs, the lineage that traditionally held the sole privilege of literacy.
Why is Sheikh Hasan called the Master of the Pen?
As the earthly incarnation of Melik Sexsin, one of the Seven Divine Beings, Sheikh Hasan is associated with the Pen and so with writing, books and knowledge, bearing the title Xudane Qeleme, the Master of the Pen. In the Yazidi sacred order, where each of the holy beings watches over particular spheres, he is the guardian of the written word and of learning, one of the most distinctive of all the sacred roles.
Who are the Adani sheikhs?
The Adani are one of the three great lineages of Yazidi sheikhs, descended from Sheikh Hasan; the others are the Semsani, who descend from Ezdina Mir, and the Qatani. Fittingly for the descendants of the Master of the Pen, the Adani were traditionally the only group in Yazidi society who held the privilege of acquiring the art of reading and writing, the keepers of literacy in a largely oral faith.
What role did Sheikh Hasan play in the history of Yazidism?
Sheikh Hasan was a leader of the community in the thirteenth century, of the line of Sheikh Adi, in the pivotal period when the religion took its lasting form. Scholars understand that around his time the ancient indigenous Kurdish beliefs reasserted themselves within the order founded by Sheikh Adi, transforming it into the distinct Yazidi religion. Under his leadership the community also held wide geographical and political authority.
Who was Sharafedin?
Sharafedin, in Kurdish Serefedin, was the son and successor of Sheikh Hasan, who led the Yazidis after his father's death. He died in battle against the invading Mongols in 1258, falling in the defence of his people in one of the most catastrophic ages of the region's history. His name is so revered that in some sacred hymns it even stands as a name for the faith itself.
Did the Yazidis have sacred books written by Sheikh Hasan?
This is debated. Sheikh Hasan is the holy patron of writing, and his lineage were the keepers of literacy, and writings have circulated under the names of Yazidi sacred books sometimes associated with him or his circle. However, scholars widely regard the surviving manuscripts that have appeared under such titles as later compilations of disputed authenticity, rather than authentic ancient works securely authored by him. His firm role is as the patron of the written word.
References and Further Reading
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