Sheikh Ubeydullah

[5] Sheikh Ubeydullah was one of several religious leaders who were there to fill the void and reestablish a sense of lawfulness in the former principalities that had been since left to feuding chieftains.

"[5] Sheikh Ubeydullah was able to successfully assert his control over the area by gaining the support of Kurdish tribesmen who were hopeful of his objective to restore order in the war-ravaged region.

British correspondence during the height of Ubeydullah's power indicates that he was able to successful assert control over a vast region that stretched the former Bohtan, Badinan, Hakkari, and Ardalan confederacies.

[3] A late nineteenth century writer, Lord George Curzon, wrote, "A chieftain named Shaykh Obeidallah acquired a great reputation for personal sanctity...and gradually came to be looked upon as the head of Kurdish nationality.

[12] In 1880, Ubeydullah's militia with the support of mercenaries from the assyrian tiyari tribe[13] invaded the northwestern Kurdish territories of Qajar dynasty in attempt to expand his control.

There he was interviewed by the American missionary Henry Otis Dwight to whom he explained that what he wanted for Kurdistan, was inspired by the Masnavi of the Sufi Celaleddin Rumi.