Khartoum: I've seen the Whirling Dervishes

I'd heard the term 'whirling dervishes' and never paid much attention. Some spaced out, whirling jokers or something, I guess. I wasn't even sure if they weren't some hippy thing, like a hurdy gurdy man or something.

Oh how I have learnt.






















Before full proceeding got underway, there was a procession of drum beating, cymbols bashing and flag waving.

















Forming a big circle, adherents of the tariqa, an order of the Sufi sect of Islam, chant and clap and whip up a frenzy. They chant 'La illaha illaha', loud, fast and repetitively: 'There is no god but Allah.'





















Most Sudanese wear restrained white robes, jallabiyas. But the jokers who dance and prance in the middle wear an array of green and red, often patched; multi-coloured harlequin like outfits; leopard skin, chunky beads and dreadlocks appeared popular.





















Then after a while they start breaking off into one-legged spinning. Spurred on by the circle of clapping and chanting adherents. They go into a dizzy frenzy. Some collapse. But a 'good dancer' is one who can reach dizzy state, recover, and restart.

Central to Sufi belief is reaching a state of ecstasy by the constant repetition of God's name. Then, the believers heart can communicate directly with God. It is as important to the chanting circle to help dervishes reach this state.

Not surprisingly, at the beginning of proceedings I struck up a conversation with one Shazali Hamed AL-Amin Elesid (lucky he gave me a business card), M.A. in Geography, with heavily accented but wonderful English. His thesis was 'The effects of the Sufi culture on the communities of The Sudanese northern Nile'. So, he knew his Sufi stuff. He stuck with me most of the ceremony (some women had collared Deb),for one and a half hours giving me all the low down I've described. He introduced me to stacks of people. It was easy to tell he was well respected. All the people I met, went out of their way to tell that not all Islamic people are violent - terrorists, one said. At this ceremony that was obvious.














The ceromony ends with burning incense (I think) being taken around the crowd, for a quick inhale. That's my mate Shazali standing immediately behind the joker in the patchwork outfit.

A real treat to the senses.

So now I know. Not much, but at least something about the whirling dervishes.


Max
aka Mad