Why dervishes turn, and how they stay steady

Why they turn

The Sema is a prayer. Sufis call it dhikr, remembrance: keeping God in mind, usually by repeating His name. The Mevlevi, the order founded after the poet Rumi, remember with the whole body. Each turn is made around the heart, and on each turn the dervish silently says Allah, the first syllable as his right foot lifts, the second as it lands.

Mevlevi teaching places the dervish inside a turning universe: electrons around a nucleus, planets around the sun, blood through the body, pilgrims around the Kaaba. To turn is to join everything else in creation. The arms open as he turns, the right palm up to receive from God, the left palm down to pass it to the world, so that he becomes a channel and keeps nothing for himself. The aim is not trance but presence. Look at the faces during a ceremony: they are calm.

How they turn

The dervish turns to the left, counter-clockwise. The left foot stays on the floor and acts as the axis; the right foot steps over and around it, driving the turn. Each dervish turns on his own axis while the whole group moves slowly around the hall, as planets turn while circling the sun. The head is tipped slightly to the right, the eyes are half closed or softly unfocused, and the tall hat stays level.

Why they don't get dizzy

Practice. Traditionally a novice learned to turn on a wooden board with a nail set between the big toe and the second toe of the left foot, so the pivot could not drift. Teachers today train the same things: the left foot never leaves the floor, the turn is even and unhurried, the gaze does not try to fix on anything. With enough repetition the balance system learns to quieten its response, the same adaptation that lets ballet dancers and figure skaters spin without falling.

How long they turn

The turning is divided into four selams, or salutations. Between them the dervishes stop, cross their arms over their chests and bow. The length of each depends on the music being played, and it varies from lodge to lodge. What visitors notice is that the turning does not start at once. A full ceremony opens with a hymn, a solo on the reed flute and a slow walk around the hall, and only then do the salutations begin. The hour, in order.

Who turns

The dervishes who turn are called semazen. They are led on the floor by the semazenbaşı, who walks among them and keeps the spacing, and the ceremony is presided over by the sheikh, who leads the rite from the red post rather than turning with the dervishes. Kasımpaşa's 19th-century semazenbaşı, Mehmed Fahri Dede, was famous for turning even on the railing of the musicians' gallery.

Questions people ask

Why do whirling dervishes spin?

To pray. The Sema is a form of dhikr, the remembrance of God. By Mevlevi teaching, the dervish turns as everything in creation turns, and in turning empties himself so that he can receive from God with the raised right hand and pass it on with the lowered left.

How long do whirling dervishes spin for?

The turning comes in four salutations separated by pauses. How long each lasts depends on the music and the lodge; lodges publish only the length of the whole ceremony, which at Kasımpaşa is about an hour including the introduction.

Do whirling dervishes get dizzy?

Trained semazens generally do not. They learn to turn with the left foot never leaving the floor, the head tilted and the eyes unfocused, and long practice quietens the body's sense of spinning, as it does for dancers and skaters.

Which way do whirling dervishes turn?

Counter-clockwise, to the left, around the heart, pivoting on the left foot and driving the turn with the right.

What do whirling dervishes say while spinning?

Nothing aloud. They repeat the name of God, 'Allah', silently: the first syllable as the right foot lifts and the second as it lands, according to the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi.

Sources

• TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, “Semâzen” (H. Küçük, 2009)
• TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, “Mevleviyye”
• UNESCO, Mevlevi Sema Ceremony