A Dictionary of Islam / Being a cyclopedia of the doctrines, rites, ceremonies, and customs, together with the technical and theological terms, of the Muhammadan religion.

by Thomas Patrick Hughes

“After a new pause commences the fourth scene. Now all the Dervishes take off their turbans, form a circle, bear their arms and shoulders against each other, and thus make the circuit of the hall at a measured pace, striking their feet at intervals against the floor, and all springing up at once. This dance continues during the Ilâhees, chanted alternately by the two elders to the left of the sheikh. In the midst of this chant the cries of ‘Yâ Allah!’ are increased doubly, as also those of ‘Ya Hoo!’ with frightful howlings, shrieked by the Dervishes together in the dance. At the moment that they would seem to stop from sheer exhaustion, the sheikh makes a point of exerting them to new efforts by walking through their midst, making also himself most violent movements. He is next replaced by the two elders, who double the quickness of the step and the agitation of the body; they even straighten themselves up from time to time, and excite the envy or emulation of the others in their astonishing efforts to continue the dance, until their strength is entirely exhausted.

“The fourth scene leads to the last, which is the most frightful of all, the wholly prostrated condition of the actors becoming converted into a species of ecstasy which they call Halet (Ḥālah). It is in the midst of this abandonment of self, or rather of religious delirium, that they make use of red hot irons. Several cutlasses and other instruments of sharp-pointed iron are suspended in the niches of the hall, and upon a part of the wall to the right of the sheikh. Near the close of the fourth scene, two Dervishes take down eight or nine of these instruments, heat them red-hot, and present them to the sheikh. He, after reciting some prayers over them, and invoking the founder of the Order, Ahmed er Rufâʾee, breathes over them, and raising them slightly to the mouth, gives them to the Dervishes, who ask for them with the greatest eagerness. Then it is that these fanatics, transported by frenzy, seize upon these irons, gloat upon them tenderly, lick them, bite them, hold them between their teeth, and end by cooling them in their mouths! Those who are unable to procure any, seize upon the cutlasses hanging on the wall with fury, and stick them into their sides, arms, and legs.

“Thanks to the fury of their frenzy, and to the amazing boldness which they deem a merit in the eyes of the Divinity, all stoically bear up against the pain which they experience with apparent gaiety. If, however, some of them fall under their sufferings, they throw themselves into the arms of their confrères, but without a complaint or the least sign of pain. Some minutes after this the sheikh walks round the hall, visits each one of the performers in turn, breathes upon their wounds, rubs them with saliva, recites prayers over them, and promises them speedy cures. It is said that twenty-four hours afterwards nothing is to be seen of their wounds.

“It is the common opinion among the Rufâʾees that the origin of these bloody practices can be traced back to the founder of the Order. They pretend that one day, during the transport of his frenzy, Ahmed Rufâʾee put his legs in a burning basin of coals, and was immediately cured by the breath and saliva and the prayers of ʾAbdul Kâdir Ghilânee; they believe that their founder received this same prerogative from heaven, and that at his death he transmitted it to all the sheikhs his successors. It is for this reason that they give to these sharp instruments, and to these red-hot irons, and other objects employed by them in their mysterious frenzy, the name of Gul, which signifies ‘rose,’ wishing to indicate thereby that the use made of them is as agreeable to the soul of the elect Dervishes as the odour of this flower may be to the voluptuary.

“These extraordinary exercises seem to have something prodigious in them, which imposes on common people, but they have not the same effect on the minds of men of good sense and reason. The latter believe less in the sanctity of these pretended thaumaturges than in the virtue of certain secrets which they adroitly use to keep up the illusion and the credulity of the spectators, even among the Dervishes themselves. It is thus, perhaps, that some assemblies of these fanatics have given, in this age of light, and in the heart of the most enlightened nation, the ridiculous spectacle of those pious and barbarous buffooneries known by the name of convulsions. At all times, and amongst every people of the earth, weakness and credulity, enthusiasm and charlatanry, have but too frequently profaned the most holy faith, and objects the most worthy of our veneration.

“After the Rufâʾees, the Sâʾdees have also the reputation of performing miracles, pretty much of the same sort as the preceding. One reads in the institutes of this Order, that Sâʾd ed Deen Jebâwee, its founder, when cutting wood in the vicinity of Damascus, found three snakes of an enormous length, and that, after having recited some prayers and blown upon them, he caught them alive, and used them as a rope with which to bind his fagot. To this occurrence they ascribe the pretended virtue of the sheikhs and the Dervishes of this society, to find out snakes, to handle them, to bite them, and even to eat them, without any harm to themselves. Their exercises consist, like those of the Rufâʾees and other Orders, at first in seating themselves, and afterwards in rising upright; but in often changing the attitude, and in redoubling their agitation even until they become overcome with fatigue, when they fall upon the floor motionless and without knowledge. Then the sheikh, aided by his vicars, employs no other means to draw them out of this state of unconsciousness than to rub their arms and legs, and to breathe into their ears the words ‘Lâ ilâha illʾ Allah.’

“The Mevlevees are distinguished by the singularity of their dance, which has nothing in common with that of the other societies. They call it Semʾa (Samāʿ) in place of Devr (Daur), and the halls consecrated to it are called Semʾa khânehs. Their construction is also different. The apartment represents a kind of pavilion, sufficiently light, and sustained by eight columns of wood. These Dervishes have also prayers and practices peculiar to themselves. Among them the public exercises are not ordinarily made by more than nine, eleven, or thirteen individuals. They commence by forming a circle, seated on sheep-skin spread upon the floor at equal distances from each other; they remain nearly a half-hour in this position, the arms folded, the eyes closed, the head inclined, and absorbed in profound meditation.

“The sheikh, placed on the edge of his seat on a small carpet, breaks silence by a hymn in honour of the Divinity; afterwards he invites the assembly to chant with him the first chapter of the Koran. ‘Let us chant the Fâtiha,’ he says, in ‘glorifying the holy name of God, in honour of the blessed religion of the prophets, but above all, of Mohammed Mustapha, the greatest, the most august, the most magnificent of all the celestial envoys, and in memory of the first four Caliphs, of the sainted Fâtimah, of the chaste Khadeeja, of the Imâms Hasan and Husain, of all the martyrs of the memorable day, of the ten evangelical disciples, the virtuous sponsors of our sainted Prophet, of all his zealous and faithful disciples, of all the Imâms, Mujtahids (sacred interpreters), of all the doctors, of all the holy men and women of Mussulmanism. Let us chant also in honour of Hazreti Mevlânâ, the founder of our Order, of Hazreti Sultan ul ʾUlema (his father), of Sayid Burhân ed Deen (his teacher), of Sheikh Shems ed Din (his consecrator), of Vâlideh Sultan (his mother), of Mohammed ʾAllay ed Deen Efendi (his son and vicar), of all the Chelebees (his successors), of all the sheikhs, of all the Dervishes, and all the protectors of our Order, to whom the Supreme Being deigns to give peace and mercy. Let us pray for the constant prosperity of our holy society, for the preservation of the very learned and venerable Chelebee Efendi (the General of the Order), our master and lord, for the preservation of the reigning Sultan, the very majestic and clement Emperor of the Mussulman faith, for the prosperity of the Grand Vizier, and of the Sheikh ul Islâm, and that of all the Mohammedan militia, of all the pilgrims of the holy city of Mekkeh. Let us pray for the repose of the souls of all the institutors, of all the sheikhs, and of all the Dervishes of all other Orders; for all good people, for all those who have been distinguished by their good works, their foundations, and their acts of beneficence. Let us pray also for all the Mussulmans of one and the other sex of the east and the west, for the maintenance of all prosperity, for preventing all adversity, for the accomplishment of all salutary vows, and for the success of all praiseworthy enterprises; finally, let us ask God to deign to preserve in us the gift of His grace, and the fire of holy love.’

“After the Fâtiha, which the assembly chant in a body, the Sheikh recites the Fâtiha and the Salawât, to which the dance of the Dervishes succeeds. Leaving their places all at once, they stand in a file to the left of the superior, and, approaching near him with slow steps, the arms folded, and the head bent to the floor, the first of the Dervishes, arrived nearly opposite the Sheikh, salutes, with a profound inclination, the tablet which is on his seat, on which is the name of Hazreti Mevlânâ, the founder of the Order. Advancing next by two springs forward, to the right side of the superior, he turns toward him, salutes him with reverence, and commences the dance, which consists in turning on the left heel, in advancing slowly, and almost insensibly making the turn of the hall, the eyes closed, and the arms open. He is followed by the second Dervish, he by the third, and so on with all the others, who end by filling up the whole of the hall, each repeating the same exercises separately, and all at a certain distance from each other.

“This dance lasts sometimes for a couple of hours; it is only interrupted by two short pauses, during which the Sheikh recites different prayers. Towards the close of the exercises, he takes a part in them himself, by placing himself in the midst of the Dervishes; then returning to his seat, he recites some Persian verses expressive of good wishes for the prosperity of the religion, and the State. The General of the Order is again named, also the reigning Sultan, in the following terms: ‘The Emperor of the Mussalmans, and the most august of monarchs of the house of ʾOthman, Sultan, son of a sultan, grandson of a sultan, Sultan ——, son of Sultan ——, Khan,’ &c.