Fakir
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2008-07-13T18:59:37Z
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{{redirect|Faqir|the given name|Faqir (given name)}}
[[Image:RGS 13.jpg|thumb|[[Herbert Ponting]]'s 1907 photograph of "a fakir in Benares" ([[Varanasi]]), [[India]]]]
A '''fakir''' or '''faqir''' is a [[Sufi]], especially one who [[perform]]s feats of [[endurance]] or apparent [[Magic (paranormal)|magic]]. Derived from ''faqr'' (فقر [[Arabic language|Arabic]]), Lit: poverty.<ref>''God Speaks'', Meher Baba, Dodd Meade, 1955, 2nd Ed. p. 305</ref>
The word is usually used to refer to either the spiritual recluse or [[eremite]] or the common street [[beggar]] who chants [[holy]] names, [[scripture]]s or verses. Its current [[idiom]]atic usage developed primarily in [[Mughal]]-era [[India]], where the term was injected into local idiom through the [[Persian language|Persian]]-speaking courts of [[Islam|Muslim]] rulers. When used referring to somber spiritual miracle-makers, ''fakir'' is applied primarily to [[Sufi]], but also [[Hindu]] [[asceticism|ascetics]].
Many [[stereotype]]s of the great fakir exist, among the more extreme being the picture of a near-naked man effortlessly [[fire-walking|walking barefoot on burning coals]], [[sitting]] or [[sleeping]] on a [[bed of nails]], [[metaphysical levitation|levitating]] during bouts of [[meditation]], or "[[inedia|living on air]]" (refusing all food). It is also used, usually sarcastically, for a common street beggar who chants holy names, scriptures or verses without ostensibly having any spiritual advancement.
It has become a common [[Urdu language|Urdu]] and [[Hindi language|Hindi]] word for a beggar. When applied to Hindu mystics, the term is essentially a non-Indian word for [[Sadhu]]s, [[Guru]]s, [[Swami]]s, or [[Yogi]]s.
[[Winston Churchill|Sir. Winston Churchill]] once slandered [[Mahatma Gandhi]], accusing him of posing as a half naked fakir: "It is alarming and also nauseating to see Mr. Gandhi, a seditious middle-temple lawyer now posing as a fakir of a type well known in the East, striding half-naked up the steps of the viceregal palace, while he is still organizing and conducting a defiant campaign of civil disobedience, to parley on equal terms with the representatives of the king-emperor."
== Gurdjieff ==
In the [[Fourth Way]] teaching of [[G. I. Gurdjieff]] the word ''fakir'' is used to denote the specifically [[body|physical]] path of development, compared with the word ''[[yogi]]'' (which Gurdjieff used for a path of [[mind|mental]] development) and ''[[monk]]'' (which he used for the path of [[emotion]]al development).<ref>''The Fourth Way: Teachings of G.I. Gurdjieff,'' P.D. Ouspensky, Random House USA, 2000</ref>
==See also==
*[[Dervish]]
*[[Mirin Dajo]]
*[[Shramana]]
*[[Yogi]]
== References ==
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[[Category:Arabic words and phrases]]
[[Category:Asceticism]]
[[Category:Sufism stubs]]
[[Category:Sufi philosophy]]
[[ar:فقير]]
[[de:Fakir]]
[[el:Φακίρης]]
[[es:Fakir]]
[[eo:Fakiro]]
[[fr:Fakir]]
[[it:Fachiro]]
[[he:פקיר]]
[[lb:Fakir]]
[[ms:Fakir]]
[[nl:Fakir]]
[[no:Fakir]]
[[pl:Fakir]]
[[pt:Faquir]]
[[ru:Факир]]
[[fi:Fakiiri]]
[[sv:Fakir]]