The Whirling Sufis of Cairo and Khartoum

Revised: September 20, 2009

Word count: about 700

Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam, has produced some of the more lasting poetry and

dance traditions in the Muslim world. The word Sufi, is often said to be derivative of the word

‫صوف‬, suf, meaning ‘wool’ in Arabic, as a reference to the simple wool clothing that Sufis and

early Muslim ascetics wore.

The Afghan-born poet Rumi still resonates today, even in the West, and never seems to

have waned in popularity since he wrote in the Thirteenth Century. When reading Rumi, it is not

clear whether he is addressing God, a lover, or another aspect of himself—it is generally thought

best to consider Rumi talking to all three entities at once:

Since we’ve seen each other, a game goes on

Secretly I move, and you respond
You’re laughing, you think it’s funny

But look up from the board now, look how

I’ve brought in furniture to this invisible place
So we can live here

(1245)

The Sufi dance tradition can be equally moving. Ecstatic religiosity frequently inspires

intense art, literature and music. These whirling Sufis, also called dervishes, can spin for hours

with one hand turned down toward the ground, the other up toward heaven. The whirling is

intended to induce, enhance or arise from religious intoxication and spiritual exaltation. The

dance is also a means of devotion to, and contact with, God. The Sufi tradition extends across the
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Maghreb, the Levant, up into Turkey and down across Asia. There are also Sufi orders in sub-

Saharan Black Africa.

I was able to see whirling Sufis in Cairo and Khartoum.

Though Cairo has Sufi mosques with devoted followers, I never saw those religious men

dance. The whirling Sufis popular in Cairo exist as performers, professional dancers, who put on

one of the most entertaining Orientalist events in the city at the bustling and labyrinthine Khan

al-Khalili bazaar. This choreographed Sufi dance performance is accented with a tasteful light

show, sensible sound system, raised stage, and live band. The dancers, exclusively men, spin and

whirl with their brightly-coloured robes lifting into the air in ethereal celebration, while

musicians pound drums and play the lively Arabian music.

Sometimes the dancers whirl across the stage, all the while spinning around each other, to

the clanging sound of finger cymbals. Further into the dance, a solitary performer takes the stage

and never stops spinning until the end, while he removes and tosses what appears to be an

endless layer of hand-stitched quilted robes, one-by-one, into the air. These performances occur a

few days throughout the week at eight pm, ‘Egyptian time’, meaning the time varies.

The whirling Sufis of the Sudan are different, in that they dance and whirl out of religious

devotion, following Friday prayers. Sudani Sufis whirl near the capital of Khartoum, in the city

of Omdurman, at the tomb of Hamid al-Nil. Following their devotional prayers, the Sufis make

their way out of the mosque while chanting—often the ninety-nine names of Allah—into a dry

dusty courtyard in the middle of a cemetery. These dervishes spin, whirl, bang drums and dance

as the spirit moves them. Their robes are usually solid colours: green or white, while some of the

dervishes wear elaborate and ornate quilted gowns.

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Rhythmic chanting and frankincense smoke fill the air, in this austere part of the Sahara

where scorching temperatures frequently reach forty-five degrees Celsius. Aid workers,

petroleum workers and visiting diplomats attend this ceremonial dance, with local men, women

and children sitting on the small stone buildings, and camped-out on carpets among the tombs.

Sufism exists outside of the Sunni-Shiite split in the Muslim world, and some believe

Sufism arose out of pre-Islamic peoples adapting to the new religion of Islam. Sufism and its

traditions of dance, chanting, music, poetry, art and asceticism have attracted controversy at

various points in this mystical sect’s historical development, with some groups facing

persecution to the point of execution. But today Sufism is an accepted sect of Islam among

scholars.

 Pete Willows is a Canadian freelance writer who has lived and worked in Egypt, the
United States, New Zealand, the Sudan and Canada. He attended the American
University in Cairo, and is a contributing writer to The Egyptian Gazette and its weekly
magazine The Egyptian Mail.