Recreational places and historical and unique places in any city or country are among the tourist attractions of that city or country. Sometimes holding special and unique ceremonies by a group of people also attracts many tourists to cities or countries. In Turkey, especially in Istanbul, there are whirling dervishes that attract many tourists to Turkey every year by performing Sama dance.
whirling dervishes got their name from Rumi. Maulana Jalaluddin Balkhi was a mysterious poet and a great Sufi who lived in 1207-1273. Sufis have a very close relationship with God and have a famous dance called Sama. Tourists and natives of Istanbul can participate in the Sama dance ceremony.
whirling dervish
This dance may look like a show at first glance, but it is a completely religious ceremony. If you are planning to travel to Istanbul and want to participate in the Sama dance ceremony, you should note that during this ceremony, avoid talking, leaving the place and taking pictures with flash cameras.
In this article, we will talk about the whirling dervishes of Istanbul. If you travel to the city of Istanbul, you will have the chance to see whirling dervishes that are constantly spinning around. If you are curious to know who Darvish Charghan is? And what is the philosophy of spinning dervish? Follow the article to the end
Sama dance of whirling dervishes
Sama dance is a mystical and sacred dance. Dervishes believe that when they turn around by remembering God’s name, they fill their body and soul with God and unite their soul with God. When spinning dervishes, one of their hands is towards the sky and their other hand is towards the earth. This work is a sign of the connection between the earth and the sky and the union of their souls with God.
Sufism is an Islamic mystical belief in which individuals seek the truth of God’s love and knowledge through direct personal experience. Sufis are usually known as Faqra in Arabic and Darvish in Persian. Darvish is also called faker in English.
In which part of Turkey are the whirling dervishes?
The Galata Molvi Museum is the most famous place where you can see the whirling dervishes. This museum is located near Galipdede area. On Sundays at 7:00 p.m., the Sama dance ceremony starts at this place. If you want to participate in this event, you must buy the event ticket one day in advance. The capacity of the Sama dance hall is only 150 people and the ticket price is 40 liras.
If you can’t attend the ceremony on Sunday, you can go to Tekke in Fatih district on Saturday evening on the 5th. It is also possible to participate in whirling dervish workshops in this place. Participating in this workshop might cost you a little bit, but they will explain everything about this dance to you. The whirling dervish ceremony is very serious and real, and there is no room for laughter or jokes in this ceremony.
Whirling Dervish
Traditionally only men are allowed to dance as whirling dervishes, but this thinking is changing, so that in Istanbul men and women participate in this dance simultaneously.
Prohibition of Whirling Dervishes
In the 1920s, their dancing was banned due to fears that the dervishes’ religious origins would cause them to rebel against the new secular government. 30 years ago Turkish government officials allowed them to perform again because they saw the uniqueness of the whirling dervishes as a great tourist attraction.
Whirling Dervishes raise their arms, hold their right palm towards the sky and their left palm towards the ground, and gradually start spinning in a counter-clockwise direction. The whirling dervish dance makes his mind participate in the revolution of all other beings. These dervishes are currently only seen in Turkey from December 1 to 17.
Is Sufism a part of Islam?
Sufism is a mystical form of Islam. In fact, it is a practical school that emphasizes on seeking God from within and is far from materialism. This school has produced some of the most popular and attractive literature in the world, such as the love poems of the great Persian poet and mystic Molavi in the 13th century and the beautiful poems of Hafez Shirazi.
Sufi Muslims are famous in the world for their spiritualism and spin. A whirling dervish is a follower of an Islamic school that requires its followers to spin when they reach a kind of religious trance. The whirling dervish Sufism movement is a part of the Molavi sect that emerged in the 13th century. These dervishes have great respect for Jalaluddin Rumi, a famous Iranian mystic and poet. Rumi had a great influence on Muslim literature and culture.
Darvish is a common term for the initiate of Sufi order. Spinning is an important part of the official sama ceremony and the participants are known as samazan. Sufism, which is the mystical part of Islam, is associated with the dance of whirling dervishes. To perform their traditional form of Sufi worship, these people dance in a continuous gyration with one hand up.
How does the whirling dervish prevent dizziness?
The brain of these people adapts to suppress dizziness through years of training. Therefore, the signals that are responsible for the perception of vertigo in the cerebral cortex are reduced, making these people resistant to the feeling of vertigo. Feeling dizzy is completely normal and necessary to learn Sufi dance. This is because the whirling dervish, feeling dizzy, prepares his body for a state of ecstasy known as mystical intoxication. The feeling of mystical intoxication varies from person to person.
The benefits of turning in Sama dance
Rotation is very useful and effective for balancing the nervous system. If you are under a lot of stress, spinning will help calm your nerves and lighten your spirits. If you feel tired and do not have the necessary vitality and happiness, this meditation can revive your nervous system. Dervish spinning is done by giving up sensual and personal desires, listening to music, focusing on God and spinning the body. This is a symbol of the planets of the solar system orbiting the sun.
The most important belief in Sufism
Whirling dervishes believe that in order to know God, you must go inside yourself and avoid materialism. The definition given in the encyclopedia of world religions for Sufis is as follows:
Sufis believe: “The human soul, which originates directly from the divine command, originates from God himself, and they see their highest goal only in erasing the illusory identity and absorbing it inside.”
