Sheikh Ubeydullah was an influential landowner in the 19th century and a member of the powerful Kurdish Şemdinan family from Nehri. He was the son of Sheikh Taha and a nephew to Sheikh Salih, from whom he inherited the leadership of the Naqshbandi order in Şemdinan.[4] After his rebellion was suppressed, he was exiled first to Istanbul, then to Hijaz where he died.[2]