Sheikhan (Ain Sifni) Şêxan

Overview

About Sheikhan (Ain Sifni)

Sheikhan, whose administrative centre is the town of Ain Sifni, is one of the two historic cores of Yazidi settlement in Iraq, the other being Sinjar. Its proximity to Lalish makes it central to religious life, and many hereditary religious families are rooted here.

The district lies along the disputed internal boundary between federal Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, and its administration has been contested; this reference records the settlement and its community without endorsing any governance claim.

This is a community place rather than a primarily religious one. Population and return figures move and are always given with a source and a date rather than stated as fixed.

Locate & verify

Coordinates and external references

Coordinates are approximate and provided for orientation. They should be re-checked against an authoritative gazetteer before any operational use.

Source note

References for this place

This entry is an editorial synthesis of the references below, chosen for the place type. It reproduces no restricted or copyrighted text and should be expanded only after specialist review.