Orientalist painting of a Rifa'i dergah in Istanbul

I love this painting-- I think it's my one of my two favorites in the world. (the other is the Lyn Ott painting in the Meeting Place at the Meher Spiritual Center in Myrtle Beach). This is a 19th Century Orientalist painting of a Rifa'i tekke in Istanbul. In the picture, one sees a visiting Mevlevi turning sema. I think it's also interesting that there are Africans, likely slaves brought through Egypt. As a person who's professional interests are in American slavery, this is a useful reminder that the African slave trade was not solely a transatlantic phenomenon-- some left Africa to the North and East, rather than to the Americas. Aziz Nessin describes in his autobiographical work Istanbul Boy about how many people of African descent used to be present in Turkey in the earlier part of the 20th Century. Today, they have become thoroughly mixed with the rest of the population but their descendants are still around. Though they do not really form a distinct community, there are certainly still Turks of partially African descend who retain both oral histories and physical features. Someone really should work on this topic.

Alevi semah and Rifa'i recitations, plus some beautiful selpe baglama songs

Semah from an Alevi Cem












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note that in this one, the dede is wearing the takke like Rifa'i Marufis wear, wrapped in a black turban as Sherif Baba does. It's a little hard to see, but he's in the middle at the beginning of the video.

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lovely selpe playing

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more nice selpe-style playing-- this time with a twist!

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this one cracked me up-- but so good! Yes, he is playing the tune from a Nokia ringtone...


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More Bosnian Rifa'i dhikr:

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Bosnian Rifa'i recitations

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A video from a Qadiri-Rifa'i musican from somewhere in Eastern Europe. You can certainly see very clearly a very intense Ehli-Beyt focus, much stronger than in most tariqas. This particular branch is also apparently very involved in the practices with fire, swords, etc. which can be seen in the related videos from the same source.

Medet ya Ali

One of my favorite Alevi songs... Medet ya Ali



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This one is kind of interesting-- this is Yildiz Tilbe, who is mostly a pop singer, but she is Alevi. This is her singing a song from that repertoire, and mashallah... she is so good on it, I think.


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This is interesting-- another Alevi song with some intriguing imagery. Note the juxtaposition of Catholic imagery with the Ehli Beyt images. I think that may have resulted from a search for Fatima that landed on pictures related to Our Lady of Fatima! I love the one with Hazreti Ali merged with the image from the Catholic icon of the Divine Mercy, with the red and blue beams of light coming from his heart. It's a really weird world we live in.


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Beautiful Kurdish Alevi singing-- as a tribute to one of the Alevi martyrs of Sivas.


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this one is great-- Rifa'is in former Yugoslavia explaining about different parts of the dhikr. They're Gypsies as well. Notice that the shaykh also uses the 3 part Alevi/Shi'a shahada (with "Ali'un veli Allah"), or as I like to call it, "putting the Shah in SHAHada" ;)



more from the same folks-- I'd hate to be defined as an "insolent dervish" in this dergah! ;)


More from this... and anyone who knows me well knows that I have a total fascination with Gypsy culture and music-- so how much does finding a film about Rifa'i Gypsies make my day?



There is also another film by the same Youtube user of these folks doing the piercings, etc. Not for the squeamish, but interesting.

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Rifa'i Marufi/Mevlevi video-- Aziz

This is Aziz-- a student of Sherif Baba (Rifa'i Marufi) and Jalaluddin Loras (Mevlevi) in the interview. The dhikr and sema footage if from the Rumi Festival that used to happen every year in Chapel Hill, NC. This was hosted annually by the Rifa'i Marufi Order, but visiting Mevlevis would come and turn also. In the video, the loud rambunctious stuff is from the Rif'ai dhikr, the slow and graceful one is more of the Mevlevi style (though people from both participated in each). Aziz also sometime turns with lit torches-- which perfectly expresses his dual connections with the Mevlevis and the Rifa'is-- Fire being the ultimate symbol of the Rifa'i tariqa (hence the name of this blog) and the Mevlevis being known for whirling.

a Qadiri-Rifa'i film

Bosnian Rifa'i footage-- illahis and dhikr.