Stain Your Prayer Rug with Wine 217come to resemble the Arabic word hu! or “He,” meaning God. By
repeatedly invoking God through this physical act of remembrance,
the disciple gradually strips himself of his ego so that he may be
clothed instead in the attributes of God. In this way, the Qadiri claim,
“the rememberer becomes the remembered.”
Alongside the “vocal dhikr” of the Qadiri is the so-called “si-
lent dhikr” popularized by the Order of the Naqshbandi. Considered
the most traditional of the Sufi Orders, the Naqshbandi primarily
comprised politically active pietists who traced their lineage back to
Abu Bakr and who maintained strict adherence to the Shariah. The
Naqshbandi’s traditionalist brand of Sufism led them to reject music
and dance in favor of more sober ritual activities like the silent dhikr,
in which the names of God are repeated inwardly in an act of medita-
tion, rather than aloud in an act of communion.
The silent dhikr does not exactly correspond to the meditation
rituals found in, for example, Theravada Buddhism. However, the
Naqshbandi, as well as a few other contemplative Sufi Orders, do
practice something called fikr, which Ian Richard Netton correctly
translates as “contemplation resulting in certitude of the divine.” In
any case, like the Qadiri, the Naqshbandi have only one goal in pursu-
ing either dhikr or fikr: union with God.
Not all dhikrs involve recitation, either vocal or silent. In fact, the
most widely recognized form of dhikr is the spiritual dance of
Turkey’s Mevlevi Order, founded by Rumi, and popularly known as
the Whirling Darvishes. Some Sufis use calligraphy as a form of dhikr,
while in the Caucasus, where Sufism inherited many of the shamanis-
tic practices of the ancient Indo-Europeans, dhikr tends to focus not
so much on recitation or meditation, but rather on physical pain as a
means to shock the disciple into a state of ecstasy. The Rifa’i Order in
Macedonia, for example, is famous for its public acts of self-mutilation,
in which disciples pierce themselves with spikes while in a trancelike
state. In certain parts of Morocco, there are Sufis who practice dhikr
through great feats of strength and stamina meant to separate them
from the false reality of the material world.
There is another popular form of dhikr, primarily employed by
the Chisti Order, who dominate the Indian subcontinent. The Chistis
specialize in the use of music in their spiritual exercises. Their