The spinning movements of the whirling dervishes of the Sufi Muslim tradition is said to be a remembrance of God or zikr. Apparently, remembrance of God happens with repetitive, lyrical, and meditative physical movements that enable the dervish to lose oneself and ultimately connect with the divine. The Mevlevi Order of the Whirling Dervishes was founded by 13th century poet and Sufi mystic Mevlana Jalal Al-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207-1273). Lore has it that Rumi passed by a goldsmith’s shop and was overcome by the rhythm of the constantly pounding hammer. The rhythmic pounding somehow plunged Rumi into an ecstasy that he started spinning and even invited the goldsmith to spin along with him. This dance, or sema, was the inspiration of Rumi and has become an iconic practice of Tukish history and culture. The sema is meant to connect the person to the infinite. The resulting ecstasy is achieved when the semazen or dancer falls into a state of meditative consciousness because of the rhythmical movements that suspend thought and will.
The ritual of the whirling dervishes integrates poetry, music and dancing as these are believed to be tools in one’s spiritual goal to find union with God inasmuch as they provide an emotional link to the divine. Before the semazen or whirling dervish is fit to perform the ceremony he must have first undergone one thousand and one days of reclusive training, aptly termed 1001 days of penitence. The regimen for whirling mainly consists of two toes enclosing a nail between them and turning around this pivot.
Whirling as this religious practice is grounded on the scientific reality that everything in nature revolves- from the sub-atomic particles that compose matter up to the planets and heavenly bodies in the cosmos. The human person lives through and by these revolutions; be these revolutions of particles or revolutions in her life. The life of the human person is essentially cyclical in that she comes from the earth and will eventually return to it. “For you were made from dust and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). Whirling is a recognition and honoring of all these. Furthermore, it is a physical expression of the words from the Quran, “To God belong the East and the West, and wherever you turn is the face of God. He is the All-Embracing, the All-Knowing” (Surah Baqara 2:115). The semazen, thus, shares and participates in the revolutions of all reality. He tries to approximate the molecular and the cosmic in the hope that a larger transcendent reality will eventually be revealed.
Even if the turning is a dance of yielding to the divine, it is executed with a strong centered discipline borne of rigorous training and otherworldly sensitivity. When the semazen spins, his right arm is extended upwards with the palm facing the heavens while his left arm is downwards with the palm facing the earth. It is believed that the dervish receives blessings from heaven through his upturned hand and sends these to earth with the other downward facing hand. This dance is a prayer that serves as a link between the transcendent and the earthly. Rumi expresses, “There are many roads which lead to God. I have chosen the one of dance and music.”
Dance, when you’re broken open.
Dance, if you’ve torn the bandage off.
Dance in the middle of the fighting.
Dance in your blood.
Dance, when you’re perfectly free.-Rumi
