“Hands to the Universe” / Whirling Dervishes

“HANDS TO THE UNIVERSE” / WHIRLING DERVISHES

Sufism or tasawwuf in Arabic, is considered by teachers and Sufis to be the inner, mystical, esoteric or psycho-spiritual dimension of Islam. Despite the various forms of expression, Sufi practices are intrinsically simple: a Sufi repeatedly submits to Allah in love, meaning that the essence of conscience (sense, thoughts, feelings and self-perception), gifted by Allah, or more specifically the manifestation form of Allah, is surrounded with love. The Sufi philosophical school emerged in the Middle East in the 8th century, but nowadays it has branches all over the world.

Sufism has given birth to a great amount of poetry in Turkish, Persian and Urdu, among which some of the most noteworthy are the works of Mawlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī (مولانا جلال الدين محمد رومي, or in Turkish Celâladin Mehmet Rumi, 1207–73 AD, poet and Sufi teacher). There are also various traditions of devotional dance, such as Sufi whirling and qawwali music that have emerged from it.

In Konya, nowadays the territory of Turkey, 1273, the followers of Rūmī founded Mevlevi, one of the best known Sufi orders,. They are also known as whirling dervishes thanks to their famous dance and music ceremony sema, in which dikhr – the whirling – symbolises remembrance of Allah.
The Mevlevi Order had during the Ottoman Empire, organically blended in with the Turkish society, where many of its members were serving in central roles. The centre of the Mevlevi Order was in Konya, where Rūmī was buried. There is a Mevlevi monastery in Istanbul, in which public sema ceremonies are conducted.

Sufi whirling that symbolises thinking and reflecting while spinning, originates from old Indian mystics and Turkish Sufis. It is even currently conducted by dervishes of the Mevlevi Order (members of the Sufi ascetic religious fraternity tarika, who are known for extreme poverty and rigour). Sema expresses the way one’s soul is elevated towards perfection, through its mystical journey of spirituality and love. The disciples choosing the road of truth, grow through love, abandon their egos, find the truth and reach “perfection”. They then return from their journey as people, who have reached maturity and higher perfection, to love and serve all creation.