mark made by his horse, a spring and even the
spiritual hierarchy of Islam He is the eternal
tomb of his groom and sister who had accompa-
omnipresent Prophet, “the Verdant One,” who
nied him on his dragon-slaying expedition 238
appears to believers to help and advise them in
Moreover, “cures were performed at the site by
need and console them in grief 242 Khiḍr is invested
the use of earth and scrapings of the wall which
with an eschatological significance in both pri-
surrounded the place of the dragon ”239 The
mordial and apocalyptic times, appearing some-
zāwiya of Elvān Çelebi thus (in Sara Wolper’s
times as the light of Muḥammad ( nūr Muḥammadī;
words) “functioned as a place where a matrix of
the Prophet’s pre-existing entity) but more gen-
associations between Bābā Ilyās, local Christians
erally as his helper, as well as that of the entire
and Khiḍr were linked ”240
Muslim community 243 He is closely associated
This cross-cultural convergence between
with the element of water and is stil revered today
Muslim and Christian societies throughout the
in Mesopotamia as patron saint of water 244 The
Turko-Iranian region thus allowed at a popular
place of pilgrimage gained in importance when
level for an intensification of interchange, spe-
the figure of the martyr Mār Behnām was con-
cifically with regard to saintly cults It resulted in
flated with Saint George, and then in turn equated
a double veneration at many cult sites, with the
with the conspicuous Islamic mythical Saint
frequent equation of the saint of one faith with
Khiḍr 245
a saint of the other faith This also manifested in
Significantly, it is because of the syncretism of
the visual culture The phenomenon of local trans-
Mār Behnām (Saint George) and Khiḍr that in
ference and subsequent joint cult, which once
694/1295 the Ilkhan Baidu, grandson of Hülegü/
again is manifestly exemplified in the figure of
Hūlāgū (r Jumādā I to Dhu ’l-qaʿda 694/March-
the dragon fighter, found its way into many local
October 1295), is said to have spared the mon-
legends and sanctuaries
astery of Mār Behnām from destruction while
An example of such fusion is shown in the
other monasteries were ravaged 246 The Ilkhan’s
monastery of Mār Behnām, which became an
presence at the monastery is documented by an
important place of pilgrimage for miraculous
inscription in Old Turkish (Uighur) in the crypt,
cures for both Christians and Muslims, known
invoking the blessing of Khiḍr Ilyās on behalf of
by the latter as Deir al-Khiḍr 241 The figure of
the Khān and his entourage 247 In the inscription
al-Khiḍr/al-Khaḍir is a very important one in the
Khiḍr is addressed as “Khiḍr Ilyās ” The Islamic
238 Hans Dernschwamms Tagebuch, ed Babinger, 1923,
the symbiotic coexistence of Jewish, Christian and Muslim
pp 201–6; Hasluck, 1929, vol 1, pp 48–9
beliefs On the Qurʾānic account of Mūsa and Khiḍr, see
239 The earth was used to cure fever, see Hasluck, 1929,
also Franke, 2000, pp 60–80
vol 1, pp 48, 263, vol 2, p 571
244 Al-Khaḍir is said to live upon a green carpet (ṭinfisa)
240 Wolper, 2000, p 315
in the heart of the sea (al-Bukhārī, Tafsīr, surā 18, 4)
241 The official designation of the monastery of Mār
and at the spring of life (al-Ṭabarī, Mukhtaṣ ar taʾrīkh al-
Behnām is “monastery of Khiḍr ” Muslim and yezidi pil-
rusul wa ’l-mulūk wa ’l-khulafāʾ, vol 1, p 417); Wensinck,
grims still come today to visit the tomb of Khiḍr, “the father
“al-Khaḍir, al-Khiḍr,” EI² IV, 902b; Franke, 2000, pp 88–101
of Muḥammad ” Fiey, 1965, p 575
Khiḍr is considered as guardian of the Fountain of Eternal
242 Wensinck, “al-Khaḍir, al-Khiḍr,” EI² IV, 902b; Fried-
Life which symbolises the Water of Sacred Knowledge Cf
laender, “Khiḍr,“ ERE, vol 14, 1915, pp 694–5 For a com-
Mélikoff, 1960, vol 1, pp 163–4 and n 1; Franke, 2000,
prehensive recent investigation of al-Khiḍr, see Franke,
pp 45–52
2000
245 Fiey, 1965, vol 2, pp 575–6; Baumer, 2005, p 110
243 Franke, 2000, pp 121–31; van Lint, 2005, p 364
On the frequent conflation of Khiḍr and Saint George, see
Henry Corbin (1998b, p 55) relates how Khiḍr Ilyās, identi-
Clermont-Ganneau, 1876; Friedländer, 1910, pp 92–110
fied in Muslim tradition as unnamed guide of Mūsa (Qurʾān,
and 161–246, as well as idem, “Khiḍr,“ p 695; Franke, 2000,
sūra 18, 59–81), initiates the biblical Prophet “into the sci-
p 155, n 512, and pp 159–60 In his apologia the Byzantine
ence of predestination ” Khiḍr thus reveals himself as “the
emperor John VI Kantakouzenos (d 1383) explains that
repository of an inspired divine science, superior to the
Saint George is also venerated by Muslims who however call
[religious] law (sharīʿa) ” Whereas Moses was invested with
him Χετήρ ᾽Ηλίας (“Khiḍr Ilyās”). Hasluck, 1929, vol 1,
the prophetic mission of revealing a sharīʿa, Khiḍr has thus,
p 322
says Corbin, shown himself to be “superior to Moses in so
246 Baidu not only returned the treasures that were looted
far as He reveals to Moses precisely the secret, mystic truth
from the monastery but added a personal donation Pognon,
(ḥaqīqa) that transcends the sharīʿa, and this explains why
1907, pp 132–42, 235, no 76; Braun, 1900, pp 50–2; Fiey,
the spirituality inaugurated by Khiḍr is free from the servi-
1965, pp 584–5
tude of literal religion ” Khiḍr, identified with Elijah, Saint
247 M(a)r kıdır ilyaznıŋ kutı alkıšı elhanka bäglär
George and other figures who in a number of traditions have
hatunlarka konzun ornašzun “May the happiness and praise
a close affinity and whose identities have at times merged to
of Khiḍr Elias befall and settle on the Il-khan and the nobles
become effectively interchangeable, is seen as an initiator
and the noblewomen!” The English tr is cited after Harrak
of a mystic truth which emancipates the seeker from literal
and Niu, 2004, pp 66–70, tr on p 68 See also Pognon,
religion This transcendence of exoteric religion fostered
1907, pp 132–42, no 79; Fiey, 1959, p 50 As pointed out
the symbiotic coexistence of Jewish, Christian and Muslim
by Professor Dr Peter Zieme (personal communication)