The Whirling Derviches of Konya (Turkey)

MUSIC AND VERSE OF THE MEVLEVI SUFI BROTHERHOOD

Derviches de Konya

Since the dawn of Islam in the history of the Muslim world, religious orders have played a very important role. Communities of the faithful have existed, firmly embedded in the social fabric and taking their authority and radiance from a spiritual master. (Sheikh).

These communities belong to several lineages, grouped around the legacy of their respective founding masters: Tariqa Qadirya, Shadiliya, Naqshabandiya, Chishtiya in the Indian subcontinent or Boutchishiya in Morocco.

Each of these brotherhoods, under the guidance and spiritual authority of their founder and his disciples, follow a strict respect for general orthodoxy of Islam and a certain number of rites unique to their brotherhood. These rites can be catagorised in general common forms: Dhikr (litanies/invocations), Sama' (spiritual song), Moussem (popular and public commemorations linked to the anniversaries of the births or deaths of the founder.)

Amongst these numerous brotherhoods, that of the Whirling Dervishes, who are members of the Mevlevi brotherhood, is one of the most well known. The founder of the order, Djalaleddinn Rumi, was born in 1207 in Balkh, a town now located in Afghanistan. Mystic, poet, thinker, Rumi, author of the Mathnawi, an enormous collection of thousands of verses, famous in all the Arab-Muslim world, is known by the name of Mevlana (the Master) from which derived, by assonance, the name of the brotherhood.

Re died in 1273 in Konya, in Turkey the ancient Iconium of the Romans. The mystical fervour that animated him was such that it is said that one day, while walking in the bazaar of Konya, passing through the jewellery souk, he heard the crystalline sonority of the hammer of the goldsmith chiselling gold. At these celestial sounds, his soul took flight and he began to turn circles in an ecstatic dance, in the midst of an aghast crowd.

It is said that the famous dance of the Whirling Dervishes was born through this event.

Codified by the son of the master, Sultan Vald, this Dervish dance (from the Persian Darwish - the poor in God) corresponds to a sort of ecstasy during which the disciple identifies himself with the rounds of the planets turning around the sun, a symbol of the divine radiance.

Accompanied by codified musical instruments including the Ney (a reed flute) and the Daf (a framed drum) the sessions of Mevlevi Sama' (mystical listening and ritual dance) are directed by a master who conducts the entire the ceremony.

After a prayer for the Prophet Mohammed, the Nat, the dervishes greet the Sheikh and then greet each other. After these greetings, the ritual dance begins and concludes by greetings to the Sheikh, prayers and invocations, then readings from certain verses in the Koran.

Strongly imbued by the presence of the great spiritual figure of Djallaledin Rumi, the town of Konya houses his mausoleum. An annual festival is organised there by the Turkish Ministry of Culture to commemorate the memory of the master. The festival is traditionally concluded with a representation of Sama' given by all the Dervishes of Konya. This troupe, which represents one of the most enticing of the mystical culture of Turkey and of Islam, performs all over the world.

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