The origins of the name Dervish

[Saalax]

This will shed some light to the people who are ill-informed of the origins of the name Dervish. It's origins are from Persia,Turkey and Sudan it means a Sufi. When some Somalis say they are Dervish without knowing the

actual history behind the name, they are implying they are Sufis.

 

 

;796375 wrote:

 

The whirling Dervish.

 

A Dervish or Darvesh[1] (from Persian درویش, Darvīsh via Turkish, ‎) is someone treading a Sufi Muslim ascetic path or "Tariqah", known for their extreme poverty and austerity, similar to mendicant friars in Christianity or Hindu/Buddhist/Jain sadhus.

 

The Persian word darvīsh (درویش) is of ancient origin and descends from a Proto-Iranian word that appears in Avestan as drigu-, "needy, mendicant".The Iranian word is probably further cognate with the Vedic Sanskrit word adhrigu-, an epithet of uncertain meaning applied to several deities. The Vedic word is probably to be analysed as a-dhrigu-, that is "not dhrigu-," perhaps "not poor", i.e. "rich." The existence of this Vedic cognate suggests that the institution of the holy mendicant was as prominent among the ancient Indo-Iranian people as it has been historically in later Iran in the form of dervish brotherhoods and also in India in the form of the various schools of sannyasis. However, because the etymology of the word is not apparent from the point of view of the modern Persian language, there have been attempts to make the parts of the word interpretable in terms of contemporary words and with reference to Sufic mystical concepts. Dar in Persian means "a door", so Dervish is said to literally mean "one who opens the doors". The Persian word also gives terms for "ascetic" in some languages, as in the Urdu phrase darveshaneh tabi'at, "an unflappable or ascetic temperament".

The Mawlaw'īyya / Mevlevi Order, or the Mevlevilik / Mevleviye (Persian: مولويه‎ - Molavīyeh) is a Sufi order founded in Konya (in present-day Turkey) by the followers of Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Balkhi-Rumi, a 13th century Persian poet, Islamic jurist, and theologian. They are also known as the Whirling Dervishes due to their famous practice of whirling as a form of dhikr (remembrance of God). Dervish is a common term for an initiate of the Sufi path; the whirling is part of the formal Sama ceremony and the participants are properly known as semazen-s.

]

 

 

Muhammad Ahmad (August 12, 1844 – June 22, 1885) was a religious leader of the Samaniyya order in Sudan who, on June 29, 1881, proclaimed himself as the Mahdi.

 

In order to frame the Mahdiyya as a return to the early days of Islam, when the Muslim community, or Ummah, was unified under the guidance of the Prophet Muhammad and his immediate successors, Muhammad Ahmad drew many parallels between his manifestation as the Mahdi and the career of the Prophet. For example, he referred to himself as the Successor of the Messenger of God (Arabic: Khalifat Rasul Allah, خليفة رسول الله), and named his four closest deputies after the four successors to the Prophet Muhammad. Later, in order to distinguish his followers from adherents of other Sufi sects, he forbid the use of the word darwish (commonly known as "dervish" in English) to describe his followers, replacing it with the title Ansar, the term the Prophet Muhammad used for the people of Medina who welcomed him and his followers after their flight from Mecca.

[Mario B]

This is just elementary, we know who used it in Somalia, we were not asking the "etymology" of the word. You even used the history of the "Mad Mullah" to make your case in London for your little "Republic".

[Saalax]

A Qajar-era Persian dervish, seen here from an 1873 depiction of Tehran's Grand Bazaar.

 

An Ottoman Dervish in Istanbul, 1878.

[Che -Guevara]

Saalax....You might be the only one that didn't know that.

[The Hermet]

wa iska islam qaldan saxib...what sort of a muslim believes that they can reach God by spinning around in circles...magacana kama xishodan...way ku fanan...acudubillah..:cool:

[Saalax]

Che -Guevara;796411 wrote:

Saalax....You might be the only one that didn't know that.

What? i knew it long ago. It was a response to this topic. Somalis saying to other Somalis the name Dervish belongs

to us when Dervish is not even a Somali word but a Persian origin...

 

 

http://www.somaliaonline.com/community/showthread.php/62691-Puntland-(SSDF)-Using-quot-Darwiish-quot-Name

[FreshPrince]

Mario B;796409 wrote:

This is just elementary, we know who used it in Somalia, we were not asking the "etymology" of the word. You even used the history of the "Mad Mullah" to make your case in London for your little "Republic".

:D

[Mario B]

Che -Guevara;796411 wrote:

Saalax....You might be the only one that didn't know that.

:cool:

[Dabrow]

I thought the word originated from the language of the "Etnic somalilanders".

[Saalax]

The Hermet;796412 wrote:

wa iska islam qaldan saxib...what sort of a muslim believes that they can reach God by spinning around in circles...magacana kama xishodan...way ku fanan...acudubillah..:cool:

 

 

;796410 wrote:

The whirling dance or Sufi whirling that is proverbially associated with Dervishes is best known in the West by the practices (performances) of the Mevlevi order in Turkey, and is part of a formal ceremony known as the Sama. It is, however, also practiced by other orders. The Sama is only one of the many Sufi ceremonies performed to try to reach religious ecstasy (majdhb, fana). The name Mevlevi comes from the Persian poet, Rumi who was a Dervish himself. This practice, though not intended as entertainment, has become a tourist attraction in Turkey.

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Qof baa maanta basic history soo bartay. Shax, shax, shax, baraawo, baraawo.

 

Ereyga Daraawiish yaanan ogeyn meesha uu kasoo jeeday. Weren't Sayidka's fighters followers of Saalixiya Suufi dariiqo? Now, soo baar ereyga Saalixiya iyo meesha uu kasoo jeedo.

[Mario B]

Dabrow;796424 wrote:

I thought the word originated from the language of the "Etnic somalilanders".

Which "Ethnic Somalilanders" British or Italian Somalilanders?

[Xaaji Xunjuf]

The Senousi Mahdist followers arrived in berbera they were Sultaan nuurs guests in the late 19 century

 

(“Ten days elapsed, but no reply to my letter came from Sultan Nur. I heard, however, that two Senousi Akwan were guests in his kraal ; and this was a very significant fact, since it showed that these guests, members of a very influential community, were hatching a scheme to retaliate

on and injure the Administration.â€)

 

The Senousi sent emissaries to Berbera, and we afterwards ascertained from documentary evidence found on the body of a dead Mugrubi (a Western Arab) that a number of these rascals had been specially sent to create riots and disorder at Berbera. Their object was to promulgate hatred against all Christians, to preach the doctrine of “Africa for the Africans” and the total exclusion of the white man.

 

Now the Somali is at heart a trader ; yet many of them, in order to show sympathy with the Mahdi and his cause, agreed not to supply camels or sheep, or to allow the recruitment of drivers and coolies for the British Army, then fighting Osman Digna and the Dervishes at Suakin, however, owing to their deep-rooted commercial instincts, they were unable to bring themselves in practice to cut off trade relations with us, or to exclude the British from Somaliland.

 

These views and actions brought about many serious fights in Berbera and inland between the Senousi and the Mahdists, at which I greatly rejoiced, since these differences of opinion and policy rendered my position very much easier. (Page 212 Under The Flag Somali coastal Stories 1887.)

[Saalax]

Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar;796429 wrote:

 

Ereyga Daraawiish yaanan ogeyn meesha uu kasoo jeeday. Weren't Sayidka's fighters followers of

Saalixiya

Suufi dariiqo? Now, soo baar ereyga Saalixiya iyo meesha uu kasoo jeedo.

 

Are you saying all of the soldiers of Mad Mullah were suufis? obvisiouly some weren't suufis. Even to this day some of the ill-informed SSC folks call themselfs Dervish without knowing the actual meaning of it (Suufi).

[Saalax]

;796451 wrote:

While commonly the term dervish is used to describe beggars, a differentiation between mendicant Dervishes and common beggars can be made:

"While they walk around praising the Lord, anyone according to his own desire may voluntarily drop some coins in it (a kashkul)... a real dervish who wears the proper robe and carries the kashkul does not beg, nor does he make any demands."

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