dervish
Sufi in motion
A dervish is a member of a Muslim religious order known for poverty and austerity.
Some orders practice ecstatic rituals involving spinning or whirling—hence whirling dervish, which has become the familiar phrase, used figuratively for anyone in constant frenzied motion: The toddler spun through the room like a whirling dervish.
Sufi spiritual brotherhood
- whirlingRotating swiftly in place
- fakirReligious ascetic mendicant
- faqirIslamic religious ascetic
- shaykhArab elder title
Rumi · silsila · fana · baqa · mendicant · wanderer · poverty · devotee
Revolving around an axis
- rotationTurning on an axis
- twirlingRapid circular motion
- gyrationCircular or spiral movement
- circumambulationRitually encircling sacred object
ceremony · ritual dance · trance · meditation · sacred dance · skirt · robe · turban
Overwhelming intense delight
- tranceSemiconscious, unresponsive condition
- annihilationUtter, complete destruction
- unionJoining into one
- divine loveDeity's unconditional affection
gnosis · illumination · rapture · transcendence · altered state · visionary · ineffable · theophany
Formal surrender of claim
- povertySevere lack of resources
- mendicantOne who begs
- wanderingTraveling with no fixed course
- simplicityLack of complexity
detachment · fasting · self-denial · austerity · celibacy · solitude · retreat · begging bowl
tariqa
Sufi spiritual brotherhood
shaykh · Rumi · silsila · fana · baqa · mendicant · wanderer · poverty · devotee
spinning
Revolving around an axis
circumambulation · ceremony · ritual dance · trance · meditation · sacred dance · skirt · robe · turban · outstretched arms
ecstasy
Overwhelming intense delight
- tranceSemiconscious, unresponsive condition
- annihilationUtter, complete destruction
- unionJoining into one
divine love · gnosis · illumination · rapture · transcendence · altered state · visionary · ineffable · theophany · unveiling
renunciation
Formal surrender of claim
simplicity · detachment · fasting · self-denial · austerity · celibacy · solitude · retreat · begging bowl · homelessness
frenzy
Violent mental agitation
- whirlwindViolently rotating air column
- wildNot domesticated or controlled
- franticWildly anxious or desperate
spinning · possessed · manic · energetic · tireless · uncontrollable · chaos · fury · madness · intense
- Middle Easternbazaar, bazaars, souks, minarets, domes
- believersbeliever, believers, adherent, devotee, theist
- spinningspin, rotate, revolve, whirl, twirl
- spinnersspinning top, tops, top, gyroscopes, fidget spinner
- turkeyIstanbul, Ankara, turkey breast, turkey leg, Anatolia
- Islamic heritageIslam, Mecca, Quran recitation, Kaaba, Ramadan
dervishstatue
Three-dimensional sculpted likeness
couch potato · slug · sloth · sluggard · stick-in-the-mud
- Whirling DervishSpinning Sufi practitioner
- Whirling DervishesSufi practitioners who spin