#FINDY WHIRLING SERIES#

The sheikh leads the ritual with strict regulations.

As the ritual dance begins, the dervish dons a felt cap, a sikke, in addition to a turban wrapped around the head, a trademark of the Mevlevi order. Yet, those who have not had a taste of it do not know!'ДЄmong the Mevlevi order, the practice of dhikr is performed in a traditional dress: a tennure, a sleeveless white frock, the destegul, a long sleeved jacket, a belt, and a black overcoat or khirqa to be removed before the whirling begins. MevlГўna JalГўluddГ®n Rumi says, 'All loves are a bridge to Divine love. The human being has been created with love in order to love. Revolving from right to left around the heart, the semazen embraces all humanity with love. The semazen conveys god's spiritual gift to those who are witnessing the Sema. While whirling, his arms are open: his right arm is directed to the sky, ready to receive god's beneficence his left hand, upon which his eyes are fastened, is turned toward the earth. At the beginning of the Sema, by holding his arms crosswise, the semazen appears to represent the number one, thus testifying to god's unity. By removing his black cloak ( hД±rka), he is spiritually reborn to the truth.

In the symbolism of the Sema ritual, the semazen's camel's hair hat (sikke) represents the tombstone of the ego his wide, white skirt ( tennure) represents the ego's shroud. This dhikr is coupled with physical exertions of movement, specifically dancing and whirling, in order to reach a state assumed by outsiders to be one of 'ecstatic trances'. The dhikr involves recitation of devotional Islamic prayer.

#FINDY WHIRLING SERIES#

Practice Part of a series on IslamДЄ dervish practices multiple rituals, the primary of which is the dhikr, a remembering of Allah. The Prophet himself is revered as the originator of Sufism, which has in turn been traced down through a series of saints. One's silsila extends through the member's individual teacher, to their teacher and so on, through time until one is connected to the Prophet and thus Allah. Each Sufi tariqa stems from a unique silsila, or 'chain of order' in which a member must learn, as the silsila binds each member to Allah through one's chain of order. These turuk (plural of tariqa) were responsible for organizing an Islamic expression of religious life, often founded by independent saints or resulted from the division of existing orders. 'In the 12th century, Sufi fraternities ( Ш·Ш±Ш§Ш¦Щ‚ б№arДЃКѕiq) were first organized as an established leadership in which a member followed a prescribed discipline in service to a sheikh or master in order to establish rapport with him.' A member of such a fraternity is referred to as a Persian darwish. The whirling dervishes were founded by Jelaluddin Rumi (1207-1273). Mevlevi dervishes whirling in Pera by Jean-Baptiste van Mour This has also developed into a performance dance by non-Sufis, including dancers outside the Islamic world. The Mevlevi practice gave rise to an Egyptian form, tanoura, distinguished by the use of a multicolored skirt. This is sought through abandoning one's nafs, ego or personal desires, by listening to the music, focusing on God, and spinning one's body in repetitive circles, which has been seen as a symbolic imitation of planets in the Solar System orbiting the sun.

It is a customary meditation practice performed within the sema, or worship ceremony, through which dervishes (also called semazens, from Persian ШіЩ…Ш§Ш№ШІЩ†) aim to reach the source of all perfection, or karma. Sufi whirling (or Sufi turning) ( Turkish: Semazen borrowed from Persian Sama-zan, Sama, meaning listening, from Arabic, and zan, meaning doer, from Persian) is a form of physically active meditation which originated among certain Sufi groups, and which is still practiced by the Sufi Dervishes of the Mevlevi order and other orders such as the Rifa'i-Marufi.

Findy whirling