Abiderde Türbesi

Abi-Dərdə tomb — one of the well‑known pilgrimage sites of the southeast region of the Republic of Azerbaijan. It is located in the open area belonging to the village of Ərsilə, between the villages of Ləzran and Ərsilə in Yardımlı district. The tomb is known by the names Abuzərə, Abudərzə, Abidərzə, Abazərdə, Abuzərə and Abidərdə. Local residents, however, most often call the tomb Abi‑Dərdə (Abidərdə).

Architectural features

The Abi‑Dərdə tomb has a circular structure, built of baked brick and covered with a dome. Behind the tomb there is an old cemetery that has sunk into the earth on a smooth plain. Inside the tomb, at the head of the burial, a partially broken stone bears an incomplete Arabic script inscription.

History

Because the tomb has no inscription, it is difficult to state with certainty the identity of the person buried there and the date of its construction. Saidəli Kazımbəyoğlu noted that the person sleeping in the Abi‑Dərdə tomb was one of the closest companions of the Prophet Muhammad. While providing information about the tomb, he wrote: “One of the four hundred and seven noble and famous companions of the Prophet, the last of the prophets, Hazrat Muhammad, is a holy‑spirit person named Əbudərdə. The grave in which he is buried is located in the village of Ərsilə of the Ucarud area (now the territory of Yardımlı district). The high‑ranking officials of the current state changed the name of that place to Üçtuği‑Sefidəşt (the work was written in 1869). The local population has great faith in this holy grave.” According to Doctor of Philosophy Mirnağı Nəzərli, the person buried in the tomb is Abu Dərdail, a companion of the Fourth Rashidun Caliph and of the First Imam, Hazrat Ali ibn Abi Talib. Folk poet Sabir Rüstəmxanlı, in “The Book of Life”, refers to the tomb as Abidərzə and writes that specialists associate it with one of the alphabetic disciples (a teaching spread in the 14th–15th centuries). Researcher‑journalist Gülməmməd Məmmədzadə stated that the monument belongs to Abu Zurə Abdülvahab ibn Muhammad ibn‑Eyubi, the greatest Sufi thinker of Ardabil in the 10th–11th centuries, a sheikh of a tariqa, an Azerbaijani philosopher and traveler.

Although the identity of the person buried in the Abi-Dərdə tomb is unknown, based on the fact that the grave is visited, it can be said that he/she is considered a saint, a miracle worker, or a holy person. In the Azerbaijan Soviet Encyclopedia, the tomb is recorded as a historical monument under the name Abidərdə and is thought to belong to the 14th–15th centuries. During archaeological research in the Yardımlı district in the summer of 2008, expedition members dated the Abi-Dərdə tomb to the 13th–14th centuries.

Restoration and preservation

The tomb, preserving its original form, was repaired in 1985 and in the 2000s. With the personal funds of Yardımlı city resident Hacı Sabir İsmayılov, a resting room and a mosque 17 meters long were built next to the shrine in 2011. Abi-Dərdə is one of our most visited shrines, and people come here from various places. The Abi-Dərdə tomb, with 4471 inventory items, is registered by the state as a locally significant architectural monument from the 14th century and is protected.