Суфи айналысы: Медитация және рухани ізденіс

Sufi meditation, practiced by Dervish orders, involving spinning in circles to music

Sufi whirling (or Sufi turning) (Semazen borrowed from Persian Sama zan, Sama, meaning listening, from Arabic, and zan, meaning doer, from Persian) is a form of physically active meditation which originated among certain Sufi groups, and which is still practiced by the Sufi Dervishes of the Mevlevi order and other orders such as the Rifa'i Marufi. It is a customary meditation practice performed within the sema, or worship ceremony, through which dervishes (from the persian Darvish Persian درویش also called semazens, from Persian سماعزن) aim to reach greater connection with Allah. This is sought through abandoning one's nafs, ego or personal desires, by listening to the music, focusing on God, and spinning one's body in repetitive circles, which has been seen as a symbolic imitation of planets in the Solar System orbiting the Sun. The Mevlevi practice gave rise to an Egyptian form, tanoura, distinguished by the use of a multicolored skirt. This has also developed into a performance dance by non Sufis, including dancers outside the Islamic world.

Dervish communities, in the Middle Ages, served a central role in social, religious and political life throughout "central Islamic lands." While only men have historically been permitted to take part in the ceremony, some communities now allow women to participate.

In Egypt, the practice of whirling has been adapted as tanoura (التنورة el tanoura). The word tanoura or tannoura refers to the colorful skirt worn by the whirler, with a color representing each Sufi order. The word may also refer to the dancer, traditionally a Sufi man. the practice of Sufi whirling is called Dhamaal and is performed to honor Sufi saints, or qalandars. Unlike the Turkish practice, Dhamaal may be practiced by any devotee – priests as well as pilgrims. Dhamaal is usually preceded by the beating of a drum (naghara) and ringing of bells, as pilgrims raise their hands, start to skip steps standing at one place and gradually work into a trance as the beats get faster. As the beats get faster, rhythms change and the drum beats are accompanies by the playing of shehnai. Practitioners associate the dance with Lal Shahbaz Qalandar and with protests following the Battle of Karbala. They regard the rhythm of the drum to evoke the rhythm of the creation of the universe, as illustrated in the concept of Kun Fyakun.

The tanoura tradition has attracted some interest from Westerners in the belly dancing community. These performers include both men and women, solo and in groups. Such performances may be augmented with pyrotechnics or props, such as veils, wings and ribbons. The techniques used in Egyptian Tanoura can also be adopted by belly dancers to help with their balance and control dizziness. Sufi whirling has also been promoted by actor and memoirist Annabelle Gurwitch as a form of stress relief.

A defining feature of whirling is continuous rotation (clockwise or counterclockwise) around a central radical axis while avoiding vertigo. In untrained dancers, this sustained rotation causes dizziness or motion induced vertigo. Training for whirling targets the inner ear, which is responsible for balance functions in humans. To counteract this effect, whirling dance performers practice various balancing and psychological techniques.

Guinness World Records for "most Sufi whirls in one hour" were awarded in London in 2012, to Shafik Ibrahim Abd El Hamed in the male category with 2,905 rotations, and Tara Lee Oakley in the female category with 2,191. These records were surpassed in Zurich in 2015 by Nicole McLaren, with 3,552 rotations. The longest continuous whirling performance has been recorded at more than four hours. The most people simultaneously whirling is 755, set in Taiwan in 2011.