A dervish, darvesh, or darwīsh (from )[ Their focus is on the universal values of love and service, deserting the illusions of ego ( nafs) 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.][Frederick William Hasluck Christianity and Islam Under the Sultans, Band 1 Clarendon Press 1929 p. 281] Historically, the term Dervish has also been used more loosely, as the designation of various Islamic political movements or military entities.
Etymology
The Persian language word darvīsh (درویش) is of ancient origin and descends from a Proto-Iranian word that appears in Avestan as , "needy, mendicant", via Middle Persian driyosh.[ It has the same meaning as the Arabic word Fakir,][ meaning people whose contingency and utter dependence upon God is manifest in everything they do and every breath they take.]
Religious practice
Dervishes try to approach God by virtues and individual experience, rather than by religious scholarship.[Jens Peter Laut Vielfalt türkischer Religionen 1996 p. 29 (German)]
Many dervishes are mendicant ascetics who have taken a vow of poverty, unlike . The main reason 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 – are fishermen, for example.
Some classical writers indicate that the poverty of the dervish is not merely economic. Saadi, for instance, who himself travelled widely as a dervish, and wrote extensively about them, says in his Gulistan:
Rumi writes in Book 1 of his Masnavi:[ The Masnavi: Book One, translated by Jawid Mojaddedi, Oxford World's Classics Series, Oxford University Press, 2004. , p. 63.]
Whirling dervishes
The whirling dance or Sufi whirling that is proverbially associated with dervishes is best known in the West by the practices (performances) of the Mevlevi order in Turkey, and is part of a formal ceremony known as the Sama. It is, however, also practiced by other orders. The Sama is only one of the many Sufi ceremonies performed to try to reach religious ecstasy ( majdhb, fana). The name Mevlevi comes from the Persian language poet Rumi, who was a dervish himself. This practice, though not intended as entertainment, has become a tourist attraction in Turkey.[B. Ghafurov, "Todjikon", 2 vols., Dushanbe 1983-5]
Orders
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, Anatolia, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Central Asia, Iran, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan.
Other dervish groups include the , who are connected to the Janissary, and the Senussi, who are rather orthodox in their beliefs. Other fraternities and subgroups chant verses of the Qur'an, play drums or Sema 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.[Erdoan, Nezih. "Star director as symptom: reflections on the reception of Fatih Akn in the Turkish media." New Cinemas: Journal of Contemporary Film 7.1 (2009): 27–38.]
Other historical uses
Mahdists
Various western historical writers have sometimes used the term dervish rather loosely, linking it to, among other things, the Mahdist War in Sudan and other conflicts by Islamic military leaders. In such cases, the term "dervishes" may have been used as a generic (and often pejorative) term for the opposing Islamic entity and all members of its military, political and religious institutions, including persons who would not be considered "dervishes" in the strict sense.
During the Mahdist War, Muhammad Ahmad decreed that all those who came to join him should be called anṣār, after the Prophet's earliest followers. He forbade the use of the term 'dervish' to describe his followers. Despite this, British soldiers and colonial officials continued to use the term in relation to the anṣār. While some Britons used the term to denigrate the followers of the Mahdī, it was also used with a sense of admiration in accounts by British soldiers which describe the fearlessness and bravery of the lightly armed 'dervishes'.[Nusairi, Osman and Nicoll, Fergus A note on the term ansar. Making African Connections. Retrieved December 19, 2020.] Thus, the word has become closely associated with the anṣār and is often used inaccurately in relation to the Mahdi's followers, even today.
For example, a contemporary British drawing of the fighting in Sudan was entitled "The defeat of the dervishes at Toski" (see History of Sudan (1884–1898)#British response).
In literature
Various books discussing the lives of Dervishes can be found in Turkish literature. Death and the Dervish by Meša Selimović and The Dervish by Frances Kazan extensively discussed the life of a Dervish.
Views on Dervishes
Dervishes and their Sufis practices are accepted by traditional Sunni Muslims but different groups such as Deobandi and Salafi movement regard various practices of Dervishes as un-Islamic.[Syed, Jawad; Pio, Edwina; Kamran, Tahir; Zaidi, Abbas (2016-11-09). Faith-Based Violence and Deobandi Militancy in Pakistan. Springer. .
]
"They also criticises various practices including sama, qawwali, whirling etc. Whereas Sufis/ Barelvi consider their beliefs and practices as mystical practices."
==Gallery==
, State Museum of Azerbaijan Carpet and Applied Art]]
-era Persian dervish, seen here from an 1873 depiction of Tehran's Grand Bazaar]]
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of the Rifa'i Sufi Order]]
See also
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Derviş, a variant of the spelling
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Dervish movement (Somali) of 1889-1920
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Fakir, Sufi Muslim ascetic
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Qalandariyya Sufi order
Books
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The Tale of the Four Dervishes, 13th-century Persian story collection
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The Mongol Invasion, historical trilogy (1939-1955) by Soviet writer Vasily Yan; the connecting element is a dervish and chronicler
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Death and the Dervish, 1966 novel by Yugoslav writer Meša Selimović
Relevant literature
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Xavier, Merin Shobhana. The Dervishes of the North: Rumi, Whirling, and the Making of Sufism in Canada. University of Toronto Press. 2023.
