Melek Adî

General Information

Also Known As

Melek Adî shrine, Ziyareta Melek Adî, Malak Adi Shrine, ملكادي, ملك آدي

Type

Ziyareta

Nahiya (Subdistrict)

Efrîn

Village or Nearby Villages

Qîbar

Religious Affiliation

Yezidi

The Melek Adî shrine (Kurdish: Ziyareta Melek Adî, Arabic: مزار ملك آدي) is one of the shrines of Qîbar and an old, famous Yezidi shrine at the old Qîbar site.1 Its name is believed to come from Şêx Adî kurê Misafir. The terrain is rugged, and old and current Yezidi cemeteries stand next to it.2

Map and Location

Coordinates: 36.512128, 36.912575

Source: https://akmckeever.substack.com/

Physical & Landscape Features

The shrine lies two kilometers south of Qîbar, 300 meters east of Çilxane, beside the ruins of old Erşqîbar. Its building is made of small stones and has a dome.3

An old Yezidi cemetery lies north of the shrine, about 300 meters away, and Yezidis still bury their dead there.4

The ruins of Birca Cindî stand separately north of the shrine and west of the cemetery. The tower was reportedly built with soil kneaded with milk, because milk was considered pure while water could be polluted.5 A large sacred oak called Dara Bircê stands beside the tower and can be seen from a distance.6

General Background Info

According to Dr. Sebastian Maisel, author of Yezidis in Syria, Yezidis may bring animal, money, or food offerings to shrines and touch sacred objects during visits. He also describes a custom of tying a ribbon to an old tree near a cemetery or local shrine so that a wish may come true.11

Ritual Practices & Beliefs

Formerly, Melekadî was very important among Yezidis. A walnut tree stood in front of it, where the Xerqeya Feqîr, the sacred garment worn by Yezidi feqirs, was dyed, and rites for entering the feqir vocation, the Yezidi ascetic calling, were held.7

Sebastian Maisel identifies the Melekadi shrine in Qibare as the Kurd Dagh place where worn-out kherqe, the feqirs' sacred garments, were stored until they decomposed.8 Birca Cindî had a related but separate role. Worn kherqe were said to have been hidden there, and after bones and decayed clothing were found under the ruins, the Yezidi writer Pir Xidir Suleyman considered it possible that a holy feqir had been buried there with his kherqe.9

Current Status

In 1998, some people demolished the eastern wall of Melekadî and dug beneath it while searching for treasure. Yezidi believers rebuilt it.10 Armed men destroyed the shrine during the first months of the Turkish occupation of Afrin in 2018, and its ruins stand three hundred metres from Çilxane.12

Transcripts

Qîbar (Ax û Welat - Episode 791):

  • 04:42 – A resident mentions the locations of the Chil Khane and Melek Adî shrines.
  • 15:33 – The narrator details how pilgrims, after fasting, visited the Melek Adî shrine wearing sacred cloaks.
  • 18:37 – A local speaker describes the pilgrimage route up the stairs to the Melek Adî shrine behind the village.
  • 30:31 – The narrator explains that the shrine of Melek Adî is located two kilometers south of the village.

Videography

Qîbar (Ax û Welat - Episode 791): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8am1JvEiC4

Bibliography

  • Elî, Mihemed Ebdo. Çiyayê Kurmênc (Efrîn): Lêkolîneke Xaknîgarî ye tevahî. Efrîn, 2008.
  • Maisel, Sebastian. Yezidis in Syria: Identity Building among a Double Minority. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2017.
  • Elî, Mihemed Ebdo. Êzdî û Êzdiyetî li Bakur Rojavaya Sûriyê. Efrîn: Çapnivîsa Kurdî, 2008.
  • TirejAfrin. "Major Shrines in the Efrîn Region." Local copy of www.tirejafrin.com/site/mazarat.htm.
  • Ax û Welat. Episode 791, "Qîbar." Published 2017. YouTube video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8am1JvEiC4.
  • Ezdina. "بالصور: مجهولون يقطعون شجرتين مباركتين في مزار إيزيدي بريف عفرين المحتلة." September 2022. https://www.ezdina.com/2022/09/Reportag-Ezidi598.html.

References

  1. Mihemed Ebdo Elî, Çiyayê Kurmênc (Efrîn): Lêkolîneke Xaknîgarî ye tevahî (Efrîn, 2008). Quote: "Pîrozgeha Melekadî ya Êzdiyan a navdar û kevin jî li wî cihî ye." English translation: "The famous and old Yezidi shrine of Melekadî is also at that place." ↩

  2. TirejAfrin, "Major Shrines in the Efrîn Region," local copy of www.tirejafrin.com/site/mazarat.htm, lines 80-82. Quote: "Its name, Melek Adî, is believed to be derived from Sheikh Adi (Şêx Adî kurê Misafir). The terrain of the site is highly rugged. It features a traditional building, with both the old and current Yezidi cemeteries located next to it." ↩

  3. Ax û Welat, Episode 791, "Qîbar," published 2017, YouTube video, at 30:31-30:50, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8am1JvEiC4. Quote: "Ziyaretgeha Melekê Adî jî li heman aliyê başûrê gund du kîlometra dikeve. Û sê sed metra rojhilatê ziyaretgeha Çilxane dikeve. Avahiya wê jî kevirên biçûk hatiye avakirin û têde qube yek jî hatiye çêkirin. Ev ziyaretgeh jî li rex şûnwarên Eşqîbar a kevnar dikeve." English translation: "The shrine of Melek Adî is also on the same southern side of the village, two kilometers away. It is 300 meters east of the Çilxane shrine. Its building was built of small stones and has one dome. This shrine is beside the ruins of old Eşqîbar." ↩

  4. Mihemed Ebdo Elî, Êzdî û Êzdiyetî li Bakur Rojavaya Sûriyê (Efrîn: Çapnivîsa Kurdî, 2008). Quote: "Li aliyê pîrozgehê yê bakur, û li dûriya dora 300/m, mezelekî Êzdiyan î kevin heye û hîn jî miriyên xwe jî lê vedişêrin." English translation: "On the northern side of the shrine, about 300 meters away, there is an old Yezidi cemetery, and they still bury their dead there." ↩

  5. Elî, Êzdî û Êzdiyetî. Quote: "Ji nîşanên giring yên cihê pîrozgeha Melek Adî, 'Birca Cindî' ye, cihê wê li Bakurê pîrozgehê bi dora 500m e û li aliyê goristanê yê Rojava ye. ... Dibêjin, Birc bi axa ku bi şîr hatiye histiran hatiye avakirin. Çinkî, li gor baweriyên ola Êzdî, guman li ser pakbûna avê heye, lê li ser pakbûna şîr tuneye." English translation: "One of the important signs at the place of the Melek Adî shrine is Birca Cindî; it is about 500 meters north of the shrine and west of the cemetery. ... They say the tower was built with soil kneaded with milk, because according to Yezidi religious beliefs there is doubt about the purity of water, but not about the purity of milk." ↩

  6. Elî, Lêkolîneke Xaknîgarî ye tevahî. Quote: "dareke Sindîganê ya mezin li kêleka Bircê heye, bi ''Dara Bircê'' bi nav dibe, ew li ba Êzdiyan dareke pîroz e, û ji dûr de xuya dibe." English translation: "A large oak tree stands beside the tower; it is called Dara Bircê, is a sacred tree among Yezidis, and can be seen from a distance." ↩

  7. Elî, Êzdî û Êzdiyetî. Quote: "Berê, Melekadî pîrozgeheke pir giring bû li ba Êzdiyan. Dareke Zergozê li ber hebû, pê Xerqeya Fêqîr dihat Morkirin, û rêwresmên ketina nasiktiyê/Feqîrtiyê li ber dihatin lidarxistin." English translation: "In the past, Melekadî was a very important shrine among Yezidis. There was a walnut tree in front of it; the feqir's kherqe was dyed with it, and the rites of entering nasik/feqir status were held there." ↩

  8. Sebastian Maisel, Yezidis in Syria: Identity Building among a Double Minority (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2017), 478-80. Quote: "Whenever the kherqe becomes worn out, it will not be thrown away, but stored at a shrine until it decomposes. In Sheikhan, this place is naturally located in Lalish, in Sinjar at the Pir Akhayi Shrine and in the Kurdagh at the Melekadi shrine in Qibare." ↩

  9. Elî, Êzdî û Êzdiyetî. Quote: "tê gotin ku Xerqeyên riziyayî tê de dihatin veşartin, belkî ew ji bo veşartina hin oldarên pîroz jî bi kar dihat, çinkî gava ku dizên şûnewaran binê kavilên Bircê vedan, qerqodeyekî mirovan û pariyên kincên riziyayî tê de hatin dîtin, lewre ne dûr e, ku ew qerqodeyê Feqîrekî nasik bû, û bi Xerqeya xwe ve di binê bircê de hati bû veşartin." English translation: "It is said that decayed kherqe were hidden there; perhaps it was also used to hide some holy religious figures, because when antiquities thieves dug beneath the ruins of the tower, a human skull and pieces of decayed clothing were found there. Therefore it is not unlikely that the skull belonged to a nasik feqir who had been hidden beneath the tower with his kherqe." ↩

  10. Elî, Êzdî û Êzdiyetî. Quote: "Li sala 1998an, hin kesan dîwarê pîrozgeha Melekadî yê rojhilatî hilweşandin, binê wê kolan û li defîneyan gerîn, lê bawermendên Êzdî ew ji nû ve ava kirin." English translation: "In 1998, some people demolished the eastern wall of the Melekadî shrine, dug beneath it, and searched for treasure, but Yezidi believers rebuilt it." ↩

  11. Maisel, Yezidis in Syria, 516, 526. Quote: "Animals may be sacrificed, money and food is offered, and sacred objects are touched to receive the blessing or confirmation of ones requests"; "Another tradition is to tie a ribbon on the old tree that usually stands next to the cemetery or local shrine for a wish to come true." ↩

  12. Ezdina, "بالصور: مجهولون يقطعون شجرتين مباركتين في مزار إيزيدي بريف عفرين المحتلة" [In Pictures: Unknown Persons Cut Down Two Blessed Trees at a Yezidi Shrine in the Countryside of Occupied Afrin], September 2022, https://www.ezdina.com/2022/09/Reportag-Ezidi598.html. Arabic quote: "وخاصة أنه يقع قرب مقام ملك 'آدي' المبارك الذي يبعد عنه مسافة 300 متر فقط، والذي تم تدميره من قبل المسلحين خلال الأشهر الأولى من احتلال منطقة عفرين." English translation: "Especially since it lies near the blessed maqam of Melek Adi, only 300 metres away from it, which was destroyed by the armed men during the first months of the occupation of the Afrin region." ↩