Dervish

[[File:Indischer Maler um 1650 (II) 001.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Dervish with a lion and a tiger, Mughal painting, {{circa|1650}}]] [[File:Preziosi - Derviş cerşetor.jpg|thumb|200px|right|Ottoman Dervish portrayed by Amedeo Preziosi, {{circa|1860s}}, Muzeul Naţional de Artă al României]] {{Sufism}}

A '''dervish''', '''darvesh''', '''darwēsh''', or '''darwīsh''' ({{langx|fa|درویش|Darwēš}})<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/Dervish |title=Dervish – Definition and More from the FreeMerriam – Webster Dictionary |publisher=M-w.com |access-date=2012-02-19}}</ref> is a Muslim who seeks salvation through ascetic practices and meditations.<ref name=":2">MacDonald, D.B. (2012). Darwīs̲h̲. In P. Bearman (ed.), ''Encyclopaedia of Islam New Edition Online (EI-2 English)''. Brill. <nowiki>https://doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_1731</nowiki></ref><ref name="EI2" /><ref name="iranica">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/darvis |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |publisher=Iranicaonline.org |year=2011|author=Mansour Shaki |author2=Hamid Algar |title= DARVĪŠ}}</ref> It can refer to an individual or to a member of a Sufi order (''tariqah'').<ref name="Ebrahim-Hirtenstein 2017">{{cite encyclopedia |author1-last=Ebrahim |author1-first=Alireza |author2-last=Hirtenstein |author2-first=Stephen |year=2017 |title=Darwīsh (Dervish) |translator-last=Brown |translator-first=Keven |editor1-last=Madelung |editor1-first=Wilferd |editor2-last=Daftary |editor2-first=Farhad |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Islamica |location=Leiden and Boston |publisher=Brill Publishers |doi=10.1163/1875-9831_isla_COM_035987 |issn=1875-9823}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{citation|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/dervish|title=Dervish|publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica|quote=Dervish, Arabic darwīsh, any member of a Ṣūfī (Muslim mystic) fraternity, or tariqa.}}</ref><ref name=EI2>{{cite encyclopedia |author-last=MacDonald |author-first=D. B. |year=1965 |title=Darwīs̲h̲ |editor1-last=Bosworth |editor1-first=C. E. |editor1-link=Clifford Edmund Bosworth |editor2-last=van Donzel |editor2-first=E. J. |editor2-link=Emeri Johannes van Donzel |editor3-last=Heinrichs |editor3-first=W. P. |editor3-link=Wolfhart Heinrichs |editor4-last=Lewis |editor4-first=B. |editor5-last=Pellat |editor5-first=Ch. |editor5-link=Charles Pellat |editor6-last=Schacht |editor6-first=J. |editor6-link=Joseph Schacht |encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill Publishers |volume=2 |doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_1731 |isbn=978-90-04-16121-4}}</ref> Their focus is on the universal values of love and service, deserting the illusions of ego (''nafs'') to reach God. This is usually done by performing a lifestyle which decreases bodily function to a minimum in order to attain what would be called "esoteric knowledge" in Western terminology.<ref>Laut, Jens Peter. "Vielfalt türkischer Religionen." (1996). Spirita pp. 31-32</ref> In most Sufi orders, a dervish is known to practice ''dhikr'' through physical exertions or religious practices to attain the ecstatic trance to reach God.<ref name=":0" /> Their most popular practice is Sama, which is associated with the 13th-century mystic Rumi.

For centuries, this was an individual practice, but in the 12th century, it began to be mostly practiced in fraternities.<ref name=":2" /> The oldest historical fraternity is the Qadiriyya order, founded by Abdul Qadir Gilani.<ref name=":2" /> According to Islamic beliefs, each order derives their history from the Islamic prophet Muhammad and are authorized by God (Allah) and taught by the angel Gabriel.<ref name=":2" /> The theology of such fraternities is always based on Sufism and can vary from quietism to anti-nomianism.<ref name=":2" /> Those adhering to law are called ''ba-shar'' and those who do not follow law are called ''bi-shar''.<ref name=":2" /> In folklore, dervishes are often credited with the ability to perform miracles and ascribed supernatural powers.<ref>Frederick William ''Hasluck Christianity and Islam Under the Sultans, Band 1'' Clarendon Press 1929 p. 281</ref>

==Etymology== The actual etymology of the term is unknown.<ref name="EI2" /> The New Persian word ''darwēš'' ({{lang|fa|درویش}}) may derive from Middle Persian ''drayōš'' "poor, needy".<ref name=iranica/> The term has also been constructed from the composition of ''dar'' "door" and ''awēz'' "hanging", referring to someone who "hangs around doors," i.e. begs at the doors.<ref name="EI2" /> However, the term ''drayōš'' contradicts this.<ref name="EI2" />

These proposed meanings belong to folk etymologies.<ref>Laut, J. P. (2003). Zur Sicht des Islam in der Türkischen Republik bis zum Tode Atatürks. in "Von Zentralasien bis Anatolien Philologische und religionswissenschaftliche Perspektiven auf die türkische Welt Kleine Schriften von Jens Peter Laut Herausgegeben von Gökhan Shilfeler und Hans Nugteren Harrassowitz Verlag pp. 401-405</ref> Furthermore, there is no essential connection between begging and a dervish, and it is also said that a "true dervish" would abstain from begging.<ref>Laut, J. P. (2003). Zur Sicht des Islam in der Türkischen Republik bis zum Tode Atatürks. in "Von Zentralasien bis Anatolien Philologische und religionswissenschaftliche Perspektiven auf die türkische Welt Kleine Schriften von Jens Peter Laut Herausgegeben von Gökhan Shilfeler und Hans Nugteren Harrassowitz Verlag pp. 401-405</ref>

Given the obscure etymologies in Persian dictionaries, and that it is mostly used in Central Asian, Turkish, and Persian cultures, it has been suggested that the term may be of Turco-Buddhist origin and derive from the terms dharani and ''arvis'' (Old Turkic), referring to a "specialist in magic", as they are credited as folk healers, engaged in healing, performance of miracles, protection spells and more.<ref name=":1">Laut, J. P. (2003). Zur Sicht des Islam in der Türkischen Republik bis zum Tode Atatürks. in "Von Zentralasien bis Anatolien Philologische und religionswissenschaftliche Perspektiven auf die türkische Welt Kleine Schriften von Jens Peter Laut Herausgegeben von Gökhan Shilfeler und Hans Nugteren Harrassowitz Verlag pp. 401-405</ref>

==Religious practice== Dervishes try to approach God by virtues and individual experience, rather than by religious scholarship.<ref>Jens Peter Laut ''Vielfalt türkischer Religionen'' 1996 p. 29 (German)</ref> 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 from begging 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.

A study on dervishes among Bedouins reveals the process of initiation. It is believed that one does not choose to become a dervish, but is chosen to be one by God.<ref name=":3">Al-Krenawi, Alean, John R. Graham, and Benjamin Maoz. "The healing significance of the Negev's Bedouin Dervish." ''Social Science & Medicine'' 43.1 (1996): 13-21.</ref> This happens by receiving ''barakah'', which happens during a dream or a conscious encounter with an angel.<ref name=":3" /> Barakah is usually received after an encounter with evil forces, supposedly manifesting in a preceding process of mental suffering.<ref name=":3" /> After receiving divine blessing, the gift might be forfeited if the dervish betrays God.<ref name=":3" />

Dervishes also work as exorcists and healers.<ref name=":3" /> They are believed to be able to detect the presence of evil spirits, such as jinn and devils, by means of divine gifts.<ref name=":3" /> The exorcism can include negotiations or confrontations with the spirit in a spiritual world.<ref name=":3" />

Some classical writers indicate that the poverty of the dervish is not economic. Saadi, for instance, who himself travelled widely as a dervish and wrote extensively about them, says in his ''Gulistan'': {{Quotation|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.<ref>chapter 2 story 16: [https://archive.org/stream/gulistnorrosega00eastgoog/gulistnorrosega00eastgoog_djvu.txt "The Gulistān; or, Rose-garden, of Shek̲h̲ Muslihu'd-dīn Sādī of Shīrāz, translated for the first time into prose and verse, with an introductory preface, and a life of the author, from the Ātish Kadah"] a story later adapted by La Fontaine for his tale 'Le songe d'un habitant du Mogol'</ref>}}

Rumi writes in Book 1 of his Masnavi:<ref>''The Masnavi: Book One'', translated by Jawid Mojaddedi, Oxford World's Classics Series, Oxford University Press, 2004. {{ISBN|978-0-19-955231-3}}, p. 63.</ref> {{Quotation|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 dervishhood inside You'll float above the world and there abide...}}

==Whirling dervishes== thumb|180px|right|Whirling dervishes, Rumi Fest 2007 [[File:Dervishes Avanos.JPG|thumb|Sama ceremony at the Dervishes Culture Center in Avanos, Turkey]] {{Main|Sufi whirling}} The whirling dance or Sufi whirling that is proverbially associated with dervishes is best known in the West by the practices (performances) of the Turkish-origin Mevlevi Order and is part of a formal ceremony known as the sama. It is, however, also practiced by other orders. The Sama is only one of many Sufi ceremonies performed to attain religious ecstasy (''jadhb'' or ''fana''). The name ''Mevlevi'' comes from the Persian-language poet Rumi, who was a dervish himself. This practice, though not intended as entertainment, has become a tourist attraction in Turkey.<ref>{{cite web|last=Koentges|first=Chris|title=13 Things The Whirling Dervishes Can Teach You About Spinning Until You're Dizzy Enough To Puke|url=http://veryethnic.wordpress.com/2012/06/29/13-things-the-whirling-dervishes-can-teach-you-about-spinning-until-youre-dizzy-enough-to-puke/|publisher=The Very Ethnic Project|date=2012-06-29}}</ref><ref>B. Ghafurov, "Todjikon", 2 vols., Dushanbe 1983-5</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Rumi {{!}} Biography, Poems, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Rumi |access-date=2022-07-18 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref>

==Orders== [[File:Dodwell Dervishes 1.jpg|thumb|180px|The dance of the dervishes, Athens, Ottoman Greece, by Dodwell]] There are various orders of dervishes, almost all of which trace their origins to various Muslim saints and teachers, especially Imam Ali. Various orders and suborders have appeared and disappeared over the centuries. Dervishes spread into North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Turkey, Anatolia, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Iran, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan.

Other dervish groups include the Bektashis, who were associated with the janissaries, and the Sanusiyya of the Maghreb, which is comparatively orthodox in theology and otherwise orthoprax. Other fraternities and subgroups chant āyat (Qur'anic verses), 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 tariqa (order) has its own garb and methods of acceptance and initiation, some of which may be rather severe. The form of dervishism practised during the 17th century was centred on esotericism, patience, and pacifism.<ref>Erdoan, Nezih. "Star director as symptom: reflections on the reception of Fatih Akn in the Turkish media." ''New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film'' 7.1 (2009): 27–38.</ref>[[File:Madhist Dervish.jpg|thumb|180px|A Mahdist Dervish from Sudan (1899)]]

== In literature and art == Various books discussing the lives of Dervishes can be found in Turkish literature. ''Death and the Dervish'' by Meša Selimović and ''The Dervish'' by Frances Kazan extensively discuss the life of a dervish.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Milivojević|first1=Dragan|last2=Selimović|first2=Meša|last3=Rakić|first3=Bogdan|last4=Dickey|first4=Stephen M.|date=1997|title=Death and the Dervish|journal=World Literature Today|volume=71|issue=2|page=418|doi=10.2307/40153187|jstor=40153187|issn=0196-3570}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Frances.|first=Kazan|title=The dervish: a novel|date=2013|publisher=Opus|isbn=978-1-62316-005-0|oclc=946706691}}</ref> Similar works on the subject have been found in other books such as ''Memoirs of a Dervish: Sufis, Mystics and the Sixties'' by Robert Erwin.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Robert|first=Irwin|title=Memoirs of a Dervish: Sufis, Mystics and the Sixties|date=2013|publisher=Profile Books Ltd|isbn=978-1-86197-924-7|oclc=1015811956}}</ref> Majdeddin Ali Bagher Ne'matollahi has said that Sufism is a core of being and bridge between religion and science.{{cn|date=January 2024}} Winston Churchill uses the term in his autobiography My Early Life. The Whirling Dervishes painting by Mahmoud Sa'id (in 1929) sold in 2010 for USD 2,546,500.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mahmoud Said (Egyptian, 1897-1964) "The Whirling Dervishes" |url=https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5362152 |website=Christie's}}</ref> A Soviet-Azerbaijani movie from 1976 features a song called {{Langx|az|Dərvişin mahnısı|4=Song of the Dervish|label=none}}.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Liseler |first=Kiliseler ve |date=2020-08-02 |title=Dərvişin Mahnısı |url=https://kvlrap.com/2020/08/02/d%C9%99rvisin-mahnisi/ |access-date=2026-05-03 |website=Kiliseler ve Liseler |language=tr}}</ref>

== Views on Dervishes == Dervishes and their Sufis practices are accepted by traditional Sunni Muslims but different groups such as Deobandis and Salafis regard various practices of Dervishes as un-Islamic.<ref>Syed, Jawad; Pio, Edwina; Kamran, Tahir; Zaidi, Abbas (2016-11-09). ''Faith-Based Violence and Deobandi Militancy in Pakistan''. Springer. {{ISBN|978-1-349-94966-3}}.

"They also criticises various practices including sama, qawwali, whirling etc. Whereas Sufis/[http://www.shattariyah.blogspot.com/p/barelvi.html Barelvi] consider their beliefs and practices as mystical practices."</ref>

==Gallery== <gallery>

File:Dervish rug.jpg|Dervish Azerbaijani rug, XIX c. Tabriz school, State Museum of Azerbaijan Carpet and Applied Art File:Amedeo Preziosi - Turks.jpg|Ottoman Dervishes portrayed by Amedeo Preziosi in Istanbul, 1857 File:Darvish bazaar.jpg|A Qajar-era Persian dervish, seen here from an 1873 depiction of Tehran's Grand Bazaar File:Constantinople(1878)-begging dervis.png|An Ottoman Dervish in Istanbul, 1878 File:Wrau-dervishes-damascus-cropped.jpg|Dervishes photographed by William H. Rau near Damascus, {{circa|1903}} File:Dervish, 1913.jpg|A Palestinian Dervish in 1913 File:Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi.jpg|Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi, leader of the Sudanese Dervishes File:Keskul GrantBowl.JPG|Sufi kashkuls were often made from a coco de mer which ordinary beggars would have difficulty to find File:Kashkul, or Beggar’s Bowl, with Portrait of Dervishes and a Mounted Falconer, A.H. 1280.jpg|''Kashkul, or Beggar's Bowl, with Portrait of Dervishes and a Mounted Falconer'', A.H. 1280. Brooklyn Museum File:Brooklyn Museum - A Gathering of Dervishes.jpg|A Gathering of Dervishes in the Mughal Empire File:Brooklyn Museum - A Family of Dervishes.jpg|A family of Dervishes, possibly by Antoin Sevruguin (between 1876 and 1925) File:Dodwell Dervishes 2.jpg|The dance of the dervishes, Athens File:Friday afternoon Dervishes (8625532149).jpg|Sufi dervishes in Omdurman, Sudan File:Mohammed Abdullah Hassan-dj.jpg|Sayyid Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, head of Darawiish File:Sheykh_of_the_Rufai_Dervishes.jpg|A Sheikh of the Rifa'i Sufi Order </gallery>

==See also== {{EB9 Poster|Dervish}} {{NIE Poster|year=1905}} {{Commons category|Dervishes}} * Derviş, a variant of the spelling * Dervish movement (Somali) of 1889-1920 * Fakir, Sufi Muslim ascetic * Qalandariyya Sufi order

===Books=== * ''The Tale of the Four Dervishes'', 13th-century Persian story collection * ''The Mongol Invasion'', historical trilogy (1939-1955) by Soviet writer Vasily Yan; the connecting element is a dervish and chronicler * ''Death and the Dervish'', 1966 novel by Yugoslav writer Meša Selimović

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Relevant literature== *Xavier, Merin Shobhana. ''The Dervishes of the North: Rumi, Whirling, and the Making of Sufism in Canada''. University of Toronto Press. 2023. {{Sufism terminology}} {{Portal bar|Religion|Islam|Education|Psychology}} {{Authority control}}

Category:Dervish Category:Islamic honorifics Category:Sacred dance Category:Sufism Category:Islamic mysticism Category:Mysticism Category:Religious orders Category:Islamic orders Category:Turkic mythology