Dervish
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2008-07-10T18:23:54Z
208.26.53.17
Corrected spelling of whirling (had been whriling)
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[[Image:Preziosi - Derviş cerşetor.jpg|thumb|250px|A Turkish dervish, in the 1860s.]]
[[Image:Darvish bazaar.jpg|frame|A Persian dervish, [[Qajar]] era, seen here from an 1873 depiction of [[Tehran's Grand Bazaar]].]]
'''Darvesh''' <ref name=islam>[http://www.answering-islam.org/Books/Hughes/d.htm Darvesh - Dictionary of Islam]</ref> or '''Dervish''' ( [[Arabic]] and [[Persian language|Persian]]: ''' درویش '''), as it is known in [[European language]]s, refers to members of [[Sufi]] [[Muslim]] [[ascetic]] religious [[Tarika]], known for their extreme poverty and austerity, similar to [[mendicant order|mendicant]] [[friar]]s, also called [[fakir]]s amongst Muslims <ref name=islam/>.
''Dar'' in [[Persian language|Persian]] means 'a door', so Darvesh literally means 'the one who goes from door to door' <ref name=islam/>. The term comes from the [[Persian language|Persian]] word ''Darvīsh'' [http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/Dervish] (درویش), which usually refers to a [[mendicant]] [[ascetic]]. This latter word is also used to refer to an unflappable or ascetic temperament (as in the [[Urdu]] phrase ''darwaishana thabiyath'' for an ascetic temperament); that is, for an attitude that is indifferent to material possessions and the like.
As [[Sufi]] practitioners, dervishes were known as a source of wisdom, medicine, poetry, enlightenment, and witticisms. For example, [[Nasrudin|Mollah Nasr-ad-Din]] (Mulla Nasrudin, Hoja Nasrudin) had become a legend in the [[Near East]] and the [[Indian subcontinent]], not only among the Muslims.
==Religious practice==
<!-- We have three levels, and Darvish is the one who has reached the first level. The second is Qalifeh, and the third is Moulavi or sheikh. In fact all these names are titles (anon comment, see talk) -->
Many dervishes are mendicant [[ascetic]]s who have taken the vow of poverty, unlike [[mullah]]s. The main reason why they beg is to learn humility, but dervishes are prohibited to beg 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]] – for example, are fishermen. Rifa'iyyah dervishes travelled and spread into North Africa, [[Turkey]], The [[Balkans]], [[Iran]], [[India]], [[Afghanistan]] and [[Tajikistan]]
There are also various dervish groups ([[Tarika|Sufi orders]]), almost all of which trace their origins from various Muslim saints and teachers, especially [[Ali ibn Abi Talib|Ali]] and [[Abu Bakr]]. Various orders and suborders have appeared and disappeared over the centuries.
[[Image:Turkey.Konya050.jpg|thumb|left|250px|<center> Dervishes <br /> <small> Mevlâna mausoleum, [[Konya]], Turkey </small> </center>]]
The whirling dance that is proverbially associated with dervishes, is the practice of the ''[[Mevlevi]]'' Order in Turkey, and is just one of the physical methods used to try to reach religious ecstasy (''majdhb'', ''fana''). The name ''"Mevlevi"'' comes from the Persian poet, [[Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi|Rumi]], whose shrine is in Turkey and who was a Dervish himself. [[Image:Whriling dervishes, Rumi Fest 2007.jpg|thumb|Whirling dervishes, Rumi Fest 2007]]This practice, though not intended as entertainment, has become a tourist attraction in Turkey.
Other groups include the [[Bektashi]]s, connected to the [[janissary|janissaries]], and [[Senussi]], who are rather orthodox in their beliefs. Other fraternities and subgroups chant verses of the [[Qur'an]], play drums or dance vigorously in groups, all according to their specific traditions. Some practice quiet 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 fraternity uses its own garb and methods of acceptance and initiation, some of them which may be rather severe.
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==Historical and political use==
[[Image:Dervish, 1913.jpg|thumb|174px|A Dervish in 1913]]
Various western historical writers have sometimes used the term ''dervish'' rather loosely, linking it to, among other things, the [[Muhammad Ahmad|Mahdist uprising]] in [[Sudan]], [[Mohammed Abdullah Hassan]]'s (Mad Mullah) rebellion in [[Somalia]] and other rebellions against [[colonialism|colonial]] powers.
==Begging==
While commonly the term dervish is used to describe beggars, Dr. Youness Afroukhteh makes a differentiation between dervishes and common beggars:
<blockquote>While they walk around praising the Lord, anyone according to his own desire may voluntarily drop some coins in it (a ''kashkul'')... a real dervish who wears the proper robe and carries the ''kashkul'' does not beg, nor does he make any demands.<ref>*{{cite book
|last = Afroukhteh
|first = Dr. Youness
|origyear = 1952
|year = 2003
|title = Memories of Nine Years in 'Akká
|publisher = George Ronald
|location = Oxford, UK
|id = ISBN 0853984778
}}</ref> </blockquote>
==References==
<references/>
==External links==
*[http://www.whirlingdervishes.org/multimedia.htm Videos of dervish music and dances] The Whirling Dervishes of Rumi
{{commonscat|dervishes}}
{{Sufism}}
[[Category:Asceticism]]
[[Category:Sufism]]
[[Category:Islamic honorifics]]
[[Category:Pakistani names]]
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