She was born in 1947 into a socially committed, eclectic
French Catholic family in
Houston, Texas. Her parents were French-American art collectors and philanthropists
Dominique de Menil, and
John de Menil, both of whom established respective art foundations: the
International Foundation for Art Research, and the
Menil Collection. Dominique was an heiress to the
Schlumberger Limited oil-equipment fortune. In 1974, de Menil, along with then-husband, art dealer
Heiner Friedrich; and Helen Winkler, established the Dia Art Foundation nonprofit to provide funding to artistic endeavors – reminiscent of patronage systems from the Renaissance era. In 1985, Dia experienced a period of financial upheaval after the collapse of the Schlumberger stock, prompting a series of controversial decisions that severely affected artists' budgets and risking the foundation's collections since de Menil was no longer able to offer financial support personally. Dia was forced to take out a $3.8 million loan from
Citibank, 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 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 on the path of
Sufism 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 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
dervishes 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 lodge in downtown
Manhattan, which was opened by the Dia Art Foundation in a former firehouse at 155
Mercer Street, and was later moved to 245
West Broadway during Dia's restructuring. While fostering bonds with the greater
Sufi and
Muslim American communities, the role of women in Islam and spiritual ecology have been of special importance to her message. ==See also==