For the Love of God: Whirling Dervishes in Turkey
The Whirling Dervishes were founded in the 13th century by the great Sufi mystic and poet, Muhammad Jalaluddin Rumi. Rumi, born in Afghanistan in 1207, he came to Turkey when the Mongols invaded his homeland and settled in the city of Konya with his family. Following in his father's footsteps, Rumi became a scholar in spiritual readings, and a practitioner of Sufism. Sufism is a mystical sect of Islam that believes God is in everything, and that humans can come in direct contact with the divine spirit through love of life and all that is around them. Rumi firmly believed that Muslims are by no means the only people to whom God has revealed himself...love of God transcends particular religions and nationalities.
Rumi turned to poetry and losing himself in dance and song to reach ecstatic states and thus commune with God. His disciples called him Mevlana (our leader), and that's where the Mevlevi Whirling Dervishes took their name.
The Whirling Dervishes of Turkey are a spectacular sight to behold. Dancers enter wearing tall conical felt hats and long white robes with full skirts covered with heavy black cloaks. The white robes symbolize their shrouds, while the black cloaks symbolize their worldly tombs and the hats, their tombstones. The ceremony begins with a prayer for the Mevlana (Rumi) and a verse from the Koran. The boom of the large kettledrum and the soft sounds of the reed flute follow the prayer. The dervishes then circle into the hall following the sheikh, or master. By the third circuit around the hall, they drop their black cloaks, which is symbolic of their deliverance from the cares and attachments of the world. One by one with arms folded over their hearts, they approach the sheikh, and bow to him. Upon receiving blessings or instructions whispered in their ears, they spin out on to the floor. The whirling induces a trance-like state that allows them to forget about their earthly lives and join in mystical union with God.
Many are first introduced to Sufism through Rumi's poetry, which has touched people from all walks of life for centuries, making him one of the world's most beloved mystic poets of all time. It is the openness of Sufism and the sheer beauty of Rumi's poetry that attract people from all over the world to Sufism. Through beautiful imagery, Rumi's poetry challenges the reader to reach their own spiritual understanding. Unfortunately, as beautiful and meaningful as his poetry is to us, it has lost a great deal in the translation alone. Rumi wrote in Persian, which was the literary language of the time, and much of his mastery of musical rhythm and rhyme is lost in the translation. Most translations focus on trying to convey the wisdom available in his poems losing sight of the feeling and beauty conveyed in the flow of the poem. Although we can only get a glimpse of his mastery in the English translations, his poems are still enough to delight.
In Turkey, the Mevlevi dervishes survived the fall of the Seljuk empire and flourished throughout the Ottoman Empire, both in Konya and in other major cities around the country. In Istanbul, the Mevlevis used to meet in the Galata Mevlevihanesi, or the Whirling Dervish Hall. During Ottoman times, this hall was open to all who wished to witness the Dervish ceremony, or sema. For centuries Sufi mystics would join in this hall and whirl together in a ceremony of song and dance that not only connected them to each other but also to the divine spirit.
Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, was a firm believer of a separation of religion and state and saw the Sufi orders as a threat to the advancement of a great secular Turkey. He therefore banned dervish meetings and turned the Galata Mevlevihanesi into a museum. Sufi sects continued to meet secretly and today the dervishes are allowed once again to use the Whirling Dervish Hall for their semas-but there's a catch: the semas are supposed to be performances for the public to watch, NOT religious ceremonies. Nevertheless, when the music and dancing begin, from the entranced expressions on the faces of the dervishes, it seems their thoughts are lost in something higher.
The Mevlevi Dervishes meet once or twice a month in Istanbul -- at Galata Mevlevihanesi and at Sirkeci Station -- for a sema ceremony which is open to tourists. Or, you can witness a Mevlevi sema in Konya during the Mevlana festival in early to mid-December.
The practice of the whirling dervishes may have declined in Turkey since Ataturk's ban, but international attention and admiration of the Sufi tradition has increased significantly. Today dervish groups from Turkey travel all over the world in cultural exchanges, whirling and sharing their love of God and joy in life.
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