dervish

In Iran and Turkey, a religious mendicant; throughout the rest of Islam a member of an Islamic religious brotherhood, not necessarily mendicant in character. The Arabic equivalent is fakir. There are various orders of dervishes, each with its rule and special ritual. The ‘whirling dervishes’ claim close communion with the deity through ecstatic dancing, reaching spiritual awareness with a trancelike state created by continual whirling. The spinning symbolizes the Earth's orbit of the Sun. ‘Howling dervishes’ gash themselves with knives to demonstrate the miraculous feats possible to those who trust in Allah.