page_title: Dervish
section_title: Orders
hierarchical_section_title: Dervish / Orders
caption_attribution_description: Whirling Dervishes; Mevlâna mausoleum; Konya, Turkey
context_page_description: Dervish or Darvesh or Darwīsh in Islam can refer broadly to members of a Sufi fraternity, or more narrowly to a religious mendicant, who chose or accepted material poverty. The latter usage is found particularly in Persian and Turkish, corresponding to the Arabic term faqir. Their focus is on the universal values of love and service, deserting the illusions of ego to reach God. In most Sufi orders, a dervish is known to practice dhikr through physical exertions or religious practices to attain the ecstatic trance to reach God. Their most common practice is Sama, which is associated with the 13th-century mystic Rumi.
  In folklore, dervishes are often credited with the ability to perform miracles and described with supernatural powers.
context_section_description: There are various orders of dervishes, almost all of which trace their origins from various Muslim saints and teachers, especially Imam Ali. Various orders and suborders have appeared and disappeared over the centuries. Dervishes spread into North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Turkey, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Iran, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan.
  Other dervish groups include the Bektashis, who are connected to the janissaries, and the Senussi, who are rather orthodox in their beliefs. Other fraternities and subgroups chant verses of the Qur'an, play drums or whirl in groups, all according to their specific traditions. They practice 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 which may be rather severe. The form of Sufi dervishism practised during the 17th century was centered upon esotericism, patience and pacifism.
caption: Dervish mannequins (Mevlâna mausoleum, Konya, Turkey)
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