A member of an Islamic ascetic or mystical fraternity. Since the founding of the Qadiriya order in the 12th-c, numerous orders with lodges situated across the Muslim world have been established, each with its own ethos and rituals. One of the most famous orders is the Mevlevi, or whirling dervishes of Turkey who practice trans-inducing ecstatic dances.
The word Dervish, especially in European languages, refers to members of Sufi Muslim ascetic religious fraternities, known for their extreme poverty and austerity, similar to mendicant friars.
As Sufi practitioners, dervishes were known as a source of wisdom, medicine, poetry, enlightment, and witticisms.
Religious practice
Many of the dervishes are mendicant ascetics who have taken the vow of poverty.
There are also various dervish fraternities (Sufi orders), almost all of whom trace their origins from various Muslim saints and teachers, especially Ali and Abu Bakr.
Whirling dance, which is the practice of the Mevlevi Order in Turkey, is just one of the physical methods to try to reach religious ecstasy (majdhb, fana).
Whirling dervish dances have also become a tourist attraction, particularly in Turkey (home of the Mevlevi order), and some are organized solely for that purpose. Topics in Islamic Sufism
| Sufi philosophy : | Ihsan • Lataif • Cosmology • Tajalli • Noor • Maqaam • Haal • Manzil • Yaqeen • Fanaa • Baqaa • Index of Sufi Concepts |
| Practices: | Dhikr • Muraqaba • Sama • Qawwali • Sufi whirling • Hadhra |
| Sufi orders : | Chishti • Jerrahi • Mevlevi • Naqshbandi • Oveyssi-Shahmaghsoudi • Qadri • Rifa'i • Suhrawardiyya • Shadhili • Index of Sufi Orders |
| Famous medieval Sufis : | Uwais Qarni • Hassan Basri • Rabia • Bayazid • Junayd • Ghazali • Jilani • Ibn Arabi • Rumi • Sadi • Data Gunj • Gharib Nawaz • Khusro • Baba Farid • Kabir • Alf Sani • Shah Waliullah • Bhittai • Attar |
| Famous modern Sufis : | Idries Shah •Omar Ali Shah •Salaheddin Ali Nader Shah Angha • Muhammad al-Maliki • Hisham Kabbani • Kabir Helminski • Inayat Khan • Shamsuddin Azeemi • Keller • Martin Lings |
| Miscellaneous: | Sufi texts • History • Sufi poetry • Sufi art • Sufi Music • Sufi Fiction • Sufi studies • Sufi academics • Shrines |
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