Sufism
by Neta Dekel
Sufism is a mystic conception in Islam that believes that the prophet Muhamad continue guiding the believer through holy messengers. The basic belief is that God loves us, and we should love God back. Since God is everywhere, we should love everyone and everything and should be understanding and containing all humans and creatures. Another important belief is the materialism is not important and thus they should be as humble as possible.
The name Sufism came from the word Purity or from the white woollen clothes they were used to wear.
There are a lot of Sufism orders that follow different holy leaders. The Sufis has different religious ceremonies that their goal is to bring the Sufis to a mental state called “Pitra”. The “Pitra” is a mental state in which the soul is open to see anything in the world as part of a whole, which is God (Allah)
The main ceremony is called “Dikr” and the believers should practice a lot the ability to reach the openness required for the “Dikr”
The practice can be by learning the 99 names of Allah, or by singing, dancing, music or any other thing that the leader decides.
The Turkish order believes in music and dancing. The dancing is based on continuous rotations to the left, since the heart is on the left side, and also, the earth rotates to the left.
I was lucky to visit a practice of the Turkish order in Jaffa. I have taken photos of the preparations and the actual dancing with the white dresses. Since it was only a practice and not the real “Dikr”, some of the dresses were coloured. I have chosen to present the series in black and white since the colours are not important in this case and black and white is focusing on the essence of the situation.
