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 PERFECT RELIGION 59

THE DERVISH ORDERS

There has grown up alongside ritualistic worship in Islam a belief in a more direct and mystic approach to God. The belief is that God can best be known through the experience of religious ecstasy and emotion. Those who become most practised and experienced in this sort of knowledge of God are known as pirs, or guides, and it is their business to guide their disciples into similar emotional experiences of God. These pirs and their disciples are organized into dervish orders or brotherhoods throughout the Moslem world. They .are very similar to the religious orders or brotherhoods in the Roman Catholic church, such as the Dominicans and Franciscans. The word dervish literally means one who goes from door to door. It signifies also that the member of the order is one who is poor in this world's goods.

Occasionally the pir makes a tour to visit his disciples and to make new ones. When he comes to a city he is literally besieged by his followers, who garland him with flowers, vie with each other for an opportunity to kiss his hand, and seek his blessing. During the course of such a visit the pir will conduct a zikr, or special prayer meeting, for those who have been initiated into the order. The pir will sit on the floor in the middle of a circle of his disciples, and lead them in swaying movements of the body as they recite in unison: "La ilaha illa-llah" "There is no god but Allah." As they proceed in the meeting, which may last for hours, they are supposed to enter into a wonderful