Esoteric Other Worlds

Exploring Mysticism, and Parapsychology.This blog is also an attempt to promote awareness of a Modern Universal Paradigm known as Multi-Dimensional Science. It offers a "Scientific" testable Hypothesis for a more "objective" understanding of claimed Psychic and Spiritual Phenomena. A link to this subject should be found onsite or alternatively easily traceable via a word search. Please note that the Internet articles here may not reflect the views of the Blogger.

Friday, 4 October 2013

Dervishes

A Dervish or Darvesh^[1] (from Persian درویش, Darvīsh^[2] via Turkish,^[3] Somali: Daraawiish, Arabic: درويش‎, Darwīš) is someone treading a Sufi Muslim ascetic path or "Tariqah", known for their extreme poverty and austerity. In this respect, Dervishes are most similar to mendicant friars in Christianity or Hindu/Buddhist/Jain sadhus.^[4]

Etymology[edit source | edit]

A Pakistani Dervish at Tulamba (May 2008).

The Persian word darvīsh (درویش) is of ancient origin and descends from a Proto-Iranian word that appears in Avestan as drigu-, "needy, mendicant", via Middle Persian driyosh^[5] The Iranian word is probably a cognate with the Vedic Sanskrit word adhrigu-, an epithet of uncertain meaning applied to several deities. The Vedic word is probably to be analysed as a-dhrigu-, that is "not dhrigu-," perhaps "not poor", i.e. "rich." The existence of this Vedic cognate suggests that the institution of the holy mendicant was as prominent among the ancient Indo-Iranian people as it has been historically in later Iran in the form of dervish brotherhoods and also in India in the form of the various schools of sannyasis.^[6] However, because the etymology of the word is not apparent from the point of view of the modern Persian language, there have been attempts to make the parts of the word interpretable in terms of contemporary words and with reference to Sufic mystical concepts. Dar in Persian means "a door"; "dervish" has been interpreted as "one who goes from door to door".^[1] The Persian word also gives terms for "ascetic" in some languages, as in the Urdu phrase darveshaneh tabi'at, "an unflappable or ascetic temperament".

Religious practice[edit source | edit]

A dervish.

Many Dervishes are mendicant ascetics who have taken a vow of poverty, unlike mullahs. The main reason they beg is to learn humility, but Dervishes are prohibited to beg for their own good. They have to give the collected money to other poor people. Others work in common professions; Egyptian Qadiriyya – known in Turkey as Kadiri – are fishermen, for example.
Some classical writers indicate that the poverty of the Dervish is not merely economic. Saadi, for instance, who himself travelled widely as a dervish, and wrote extensively about them, says in his Gulistan:

Of what avail is frock, or rosary, Or clouted garment? Keep thyself but free
From evil deeds, it will not need for thee
To wear the cap of felt: a darwesh be
In heart, and wear the cap of Tartary.^[7]

Rumi writes in Book 1 of his Masnavi:^[8]

Water that's poured inside will sink the boat
While water underneath keeps it afloat.
Driving wealth from his heart to keep it pure
King Solomon preferred the title 'Poor':
That sealed jar in the stormy sea out there
Floats on the waves because it's full of air,
When you've the air of dervishood inside
You'll float above the world and there abide...

Whirling Dervishes[edit source | edit]

Main article: Sufi whirling

Whirling dervishes, Rumi Fest 2007

The whirling dance or Sufi whirling that is proverbially associated with Dervishes is best known in the West by the practices (performances) of the Mevlevi order in Turkey, and is part of a formal ceremony known as the Sema. It is, however, also practiced by other orders. The Sema is only one of the many Sufi ceremonies performed to try to reach religious ecstasy (majdhb, fana). The name Mevlevi comes from the Persian poet, Rumi who was a Dervish himself. This practice, though not intended as entertainment, has become a tourist attraction in Turkey.^[9] ^[10]^[11]

Orders[edit source | edit]

Dervish mannequins (Mevlâna mausoleum, Konya, Turkey)

There are various orders of Dervishes, almost all of which trace their origins from various Muslim saints and teachers, especially Imam Ali. Various orders and suborders have appeared and disappeared over the centuries. Dervishes spread into North Africa, Turkey, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Iran, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
Other groups include the Bektashis, connected to the janissaries, and Senussi, who are rather orthodox in their beliefs. Other fraternities and subgroups chant verses of the Qur'an, play drums or whirl in groups, all according to their specific traditions. They practice meditation, as is the case with most of the Sufi orders in South Asia, many of whom owe allegiance to, or were influenced by, the Chishti order. Each fraternity uses its own garb and methods of acceptance and initiation, some of which may be rather severe.

Dervish State[edit source | edit]

Main article: Dervish State

Somali Dervish State soldiers engage their British counterparts at sea.

The Dervish State was an early 20th-century Somali Sunni Islamic state that was established by Muhammad Abdullah Hassan ("Mad Mullah"), a religious leader who gathered Somali soldiers from across the Horn of Africa and united them into a loyal army known as the Dervishes. This Dervish army enabled Hassan to carve out a powerful state through conquest of lands claimed by the Somali Sultans, the Ethiopians and the European powers. The Dervish State acquired renown in the Islamic and Western worlds due to its resistance against Britain and Italy. The Dervish State successfully repulsed British forces four times and forced them to retreat to the coastal region.^[12] The polity also maintained relations with other authorities, receiving support from the Ottoman and German empires. The Turks also named Hassan Emir of the Somali nation,^[13] and the Germans promised to officially recognize any territories the Dervishes were to acquire.^[14]

Other historical uses[edit source | edit]

Mahdists[edit source | edit]

Various western historical writers have sometimes used the term dervish rather loosely, linking it to, among other things, the Mahdist uprising in Sudan and other rebellions against colonial powers. In such cases, the term "Dervishes" may have been used as a generic (and often pejorative) term for the opposing Islamic entity and all members of its military, political and religious institutions, including persons who would not be considered "Dervishes" in the strict sense.
For example, a contemporary British drawing of the fighting in Sudan was entitled "The defeat of the Dervishes at Toski" (see History of Sudan (1884–1898)#British response).

Gallery[edit source | edit]

A Qajar-era Persian dervish, seen here from an 1873 depiction of Tehran's Grand Bazaar.
An Ottoman Dervish in Istanbul, 1878
Dervishes photographed by William H. Rau near Damascus, circa 1903
A Palestinian Dervish in 1913
Muhammad Ahmad, leader of the Sudanese Dervishes
Sufi kaskuls were often made from a coco de mer which ordinary beggars would have difficulty to find