DERVISHES. - The word *dervish*, from the Persian *darvīsh*, is commonly explained as “mendicant” (from *dar* = “door”), but in reality its etymology is quite uncertain. In most of the Islamic world this word denotes a member of a religious brotherhood; in Persian and Turkish it is also used in the narrower sense of a mendicant monk.
Religious brotherhoods began to arise in Islam only in the 6th century of the Hegira, whereas before that time mystical life rested on an individualistic basis. The earliest of the still-existing brotherhoods with a well-defined historical origin appears to be the Qādirite order, founded by ‘Abd al-Qādir Gilānī (d. 561 A.H.). The origin of the formulae and rites peculiar to each brotherhood is usually traced, through a long chain (*silsilah*) of saints, back to the Prophet and to God Himself. Every dervish is bound to know this chain and is also bound to believe that the faith professed by his brotherhood is the inward essence of Islam. The aspiring dervish (*murīd*) is “initiated” by his spiritual father (*sheikh*, *pir*, *ustādh*) by means which sometimes include hypnotism, and is admitted into the brotherhood by means of a contract (*‘ahd*), involving a profession of religious faith and vows which vary according to the brotherhood. The theological systems of the various brotherhoods range from ascetic quietism to more or less complete pantheism. The same brotherhood may moreover assume different forms in different countries: in general, the Persian and Turkish brotherhoods are more remote from orthodox Islam than those of Syria, Arabia or Africa. The religious rites peculiar to each brotherhood are varied and often produce hypnotic phenomena and ecstatic crises. A rite common to all is the *dhikr*, whose purpose is to inspire the believer with the thought of the world of Islam and of his holy dependence upon II. The *dhikr* provokes a strong religious exaltation, which is further heightened by other means employed by certain orders of mystics (dancing and whirling in the case of the so-called “whirling dervishes,” whose order was founded by the celebrated Persian poet Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, shouting, etc.).
Some dervishes perform extraordinary acts such as swallowing live coals, snakes and scorpions, thrusting long needles into their bodies and nails into their heads, etc.
Besides the regular members of the orders, who are few and live in monasteries (*khānqah*, *ribāṭ*, *zāwiyah*, *tekke*) or travel as mendicant monks, there are adherents comparable to those of our “tertiary orders,” who are bound to recite certain daily prayers and to attend a *dhikr* in the monasteries from time to time.
Dervishes are generally recruited from the lower classes of the population, and in recent times governments have exercised and continue to exercise control over the brotherhoods. Women too can be dervishes, and in the Middle Ages they had special convents, whereas now they seem to belong only to the tertiary orders.
The number of Muslim religious brotherhoods is enormous. One of the best known in Italy is the Cyrenaican Senussi order.