Babadağ, Sacred mountain peak in Ismayilli District, Azerbaijan

Babadağ is a 3,629.6-metre summit on the eastern Watershed Range of the Greater Caucasus, in Quba District near the sources of the Qarachay. The Qeychay, Girdimanchay and Babachay also rise at its foot. The mountain is snow-covered most of the year.

Babadağ has long been a pilgrimage site called Həzrətbaba piri, visited by people from Quba, İsmayıllı, Qəbələ and other districts. According to legend, the shrine marks the grave of a former farmhand from Şabran who climbed the mountain after accidentally crushing a grain of rice, which he considered a great sin, and died there. Seven visits to the shrine are said to earn the pilgrim the title "həzrət".

The mountain is also called Həzrətbaba piri, after a shrine said to hold a holy man's grave. Pilgrims from Quba, İsmayıllı, Qəbələ and other districts came to visit it, and seven ascents to the pir are equated with a pilgrimage to Mecca. From Quba, pilgrims walk up led by a mullah who recounts the saint's life.

The ascent is technically easy but long. The most convenient trail starts from Lahıc and follows the Girdimançay riverbed to a base camp known as Qurbangah; the southern trail from Çayqovuşan runs through forest along the Göyçay. Northern approaches come from Kərxun and Rük along the Qaraçay, or from Talış and Dərk along the Babacay.

Pilgrims say only the pure may reach the Hazrat Baba shrine, and seven ascents count as a pilgrimage to Mecca. From Quba, pilgrims climb in groups led by a mullah who recounts the saint's life and final hours.