The Mevleviyya — known in the West as the “order of the whirling dervishes” — is one of the most famous Sufi brotherhoods in the world. Born around the person and the memory of Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, in Konya in Anatolia, it marked Ottoman culture for six centuries — and continues, today, to transmit the unique art of the whirling samāʿ.
The foundation after the death of the master
One thing it is important to understand well: Rūmī did not found an order. In his lifetime, he was surrounded by free disciples, in an atmosphere that resembled more a school than a structured brotherhood. It is his son, Sultan Walad · سُلْطَان وَلَد (1226-1312), who transformed this informal circle into an organised brotherhood — the Mawlawiyya in Arabic, Mevleviyya in Turkish.
Sultan Walad codified the practices — in particular the ritual dance that had been spontaneous in his father. He structured the spiritual hierarchy, fixed the rules of initiation, founded the first convents (tekke) outside Konya. At his death in 1312, the Mevleviyya had become an institution. During the following six centuries, it would develop principally in the Ottoman Empire — hence its historical link with Turkish culture, although its founders were Persians.
The tekke — Mevlevi institution
The basic unit of the Mevleviyya is the tekke · تَكِّيَّة — Sufi convent. In a given city, the tekke is directed by a shaykh (in Turkish: postnişin, “the one who sits on the skin” — of the sheepskin prayer-mat). Below him, several grades:
- The novice (nev-niyāz) — who wishes to enter the way. He performs an initiatic service of 1,001 days in the tekke — cooking, cleaning, the care of the more senior disciples.
- The dervish (dede) — who has completed the 1,001 days and has received the investiture. He can then participate fully in the samāʿ.
- The deputy shaykh (khalīfe) — an experienced disciple who can direct ceremonies in the master's absence.
- The shaykh (postnişin) — the sole master of the tekke, responsible for the complete spiritual transmission.
The samāʿ — the ceremony
The cardinal practice of the Mevleviyya is the samāʿ · سَمَاع, in Turkish sema. It is one of the most codified liturgies in the spiritual history of humanity. It follows a precise unfolding, fixed by Sultan Walad and preserved to our own day:
- Naʿt-i Sharif — the solemn praise of the Prophet Muḥammad, sung slowly by the lead singer.
- Taksim — the improvisation of the ney (reed flute) that recalls the lament of the separated reed.
- Devr-i Veledî — the slow procession of the dervishes around the hall, three times.
- First selam — the nascent consciousness of dependence upon God.
- Second selam — the joy of the unveiling of the Unity.
- Third selam — the ecstasy of love that dissolves the ego.
- Fourth selam — the return among human beings, as a servant.
- Final recitation of the Quran and silence.
During the rotation, the dervish turns upon himself around his axis — never moving across the floor in a wide displacement. The right hand rises, palm open toward the sky: it receives the grace. The left hand descends, palm toward the earth: it transmits this grace to the world. The head inclines slightly to the right, on the shoulder of the heart. Everything is codified — not one accidental gesture.
The costume and its symbolism
The whirling dervish wears a precise costume, heavy with meaning:
- The sikke — a tall hat of brown-beige felt, representing the tombstone of the dead ego.
- The tennure — a wide white robe, which flares into a corolla during the rotation: it is the shroud by which the dervish has died to the world.
- The hırka — a black cloak, covering the whole at the start of the ceremony: earthly existence. It is removed before the samāʿ — the symbolic death precedes the dance.
The whole ceremony is thus a rite of initiatic death. The dervish enters the hall clothed in black (the world), removes his cloak (dies to himself), turns in white (lives in the light of the Unity), and ends seated, at peace (the soul at peace).
The Ottoman golden age
Under the Ottoman Empire, the Mevleviyya held an exceptional place. It was the order of the lettered elites — princes, high officials, poets, musicians. The Ottoman sultan, on acceding to the throne, received the investiture of the Mevlevi shaykh of Konya — a strong symbolic gesture. The Mevlevi convents of Istanbul, in particular that of Galata (the Galata Mevlevihanesi), were radiant cultural centres.
The order produced poets (Şeyh Galip, d. 1799), composers (Itri, Dede Efendi), calligraphers of renown. All Turkish classical music owes an enormous amount to the Mevleviyya — the ceremony of the sema shaped the Ottoman sonorous aesthetic.
Atatürk's ban
In 1925, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, wishing to modernise the young Turkish Republic, banned all the Sufi brotherhoods — including the Mevleviyya. The tekkes were closed, the goods confiscated, the public practices prohibited. It was a terrible blow for an order that had been, for six centuries, one of the cultural pillars of the country.
But the Mevleviyya did not disappear. It survived clandestinely, in family and friendly circles. In the 1950s, a small tolerance set in: the ceremony of the sema could be presented as a cultural spectacle, not as a religious rite. This tolerance widened progressively.
The modern renaissance
Today, the Mevleviyya is undergoing a renaissance, on several levels:
- In Turkey — the ceremony of the sema is celebrated each 17 December in Konya (the anniversary of Rūmī's death), an event that attracts tens of thousands of visitors. UNESCO recognised the sema in 2008 as intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
- In the diaspora — Mevlevi centres exist in the United States (Mevlevi Order of America), in France, in Germany, in Great Britain. Many non-Muslims train there.
- In the world of music — leaders such as Kudsi Erguner, Mercan Dede, make Mevlevi music known to audiences across the world.
A way of intoxicated love
Spiritually, the Mevleviyya distinguishes itself by its insistence on love — ʿishq, the love-passion that consumes the ego — and on the samāʿ as a way of unveiling. It is a way of intoxication (in the spiritual sense), contrasting with the Naqshbandī or Shādhilī sobriety. The Mevlevis willingly cite Rūmī:
Seek a heart that burns —
seek a soul that consumes itself.
The world has need of tears,
not of dry faces. Rūmī
This emotional intensity, without falling into sentimentality, is the Mevlevi mark. It is taught there that love is not only a feeling but an ontological force — the very cause by which God created the world, and the way by which the soul returns to it.