Dialogue International

Whirling Dervhishes of Rumi from Turkey at Wisconsin Union Theatre.

BISMILLAH

It’s a habit of yours to walk slowly.
You hold a grudge for years.
With such heaviness, how can you be modest?
With such attachments, do you expect to arrive anywhere?

Be wide as the air to learn a secret.
Right now you’re equal portions clay
and water, thick mud.

Abraham learned how the sun and moon and the stars all set.
He said, No longer will I try to assign partners for God.

You are so weak. Give up to grace.
The ocean takes care of each wave
till it gets to shore.
You need more help than you know.
You’re trying to live your life in open scaffolding.
Say Bismillah, In the name of God,
As the priest does with a knife when he offers an animal.

Bismillah your old self
to find your real name.

RUMI

Source: Translated by Coleman Barks The Essential Rumi (New Jersey: Castle Books: 1997).

Come, come, whoever you are.
Wanderer, idolator, worshipper of fire,
come even if you have
broken your vows a thousand times,
Come, and come yet again.
Ours is not a caravan of despair.
RUMI

SEMA RITUAL
Sema ritual consists of several parts with different meanings:
Naat-i Sherif is a eulogy to the Prophet, who represents love. To praise him is to raise God Who created him and to praise all of the prophets who preceded him. This eulogy is followed by a drumbeat (on the kudum) symbolizing the Divine command: BE”The Naat is followed by a Taksim, an improvisation on the reed flute (the ney). This expresses the Divine breath, which gives life to everything.

The Sultan Veled Walk, accompanied by the peshrev music, is the circular procession three times around the turning space. The greetings of the semazens during he procession represent the salutation of soul to soul concealed by shapes and bodies.

During the Sema itself there are four selams, or musical movements, each with a distinct rhythm. At the beginning and close of each selam, the semazen testifies to God’s unity.

The First Selam represents the human being’s birth to truth through feeling and mind. It represents his complete acceptance of his condition as a creature created by God.
The Second Selam expresses the rapture of the human being witnessing the splendor of creation in front of God’s greatness and omnipotence.

The Third Selam is the rapture of dissolving into love and the sacrifice of the mind to love. It is complete submission, unity, the annihilation of self in the Beloved. This is the state that is known as nirvana in Buddhism and fana fillah in Islam. The next stage in Islamic belief is the state of servanthood represented by the Prophet, who is called God’s servant, foremost, and subsequently, His “messenger.” The aim of Sema is not unbroken ecstasy and loss of
consciousness, but the realization of submission to God.
In the Fourth Selam, just as the Prophet ascends to the spiritual “Throne” and then returns to his task on earth, the whirling dervish, after the ascent of his spiritual journey, returns to his task, to his servanthood. He is a servant of God, of His Books, of His Prophets of His whole creation.

In the Qur’an this is expressed in Surah Baqara 2:285. At the end of this salute, he demonstrates this again by his appearance, arms consciously and humbly crossed, representing the unity of God. Afterwards follows a recitation from the Qur’an, especially the verse:

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 ceremony ends with a prayer for the peace of the souls of all prophets and believers.

After the completion of the Sema, all the dervishes return silently to their rooms for meditation (tefekkur).

PS: Sema ritual is a spiritual worship so, please DO NOT applaud during or after the ritual.