Dervish Rituals

October 2001

0’3”

A barren landscape… seven hours by car from Tehran

0’8”

The people who live here (have to) work hard to get anything from the land.

0’16”

The farmers and farmhands in this area come from the Kurdish minority of Iranians. Poverty has always been rife here, but under Shah Reza Pahlevi people had even less. Since the Mullahs came to power, however, Kurds are economically better off. The regime in Tehran has invested in infrastructure and continues financial support – keen not to stir up the dissatisfaction of separatists. Kurds in neighbouring Iraq live in an autonomous zone, and Tehran knows that it would be easy to ignite republican passions.

0’51”

Kurdish women have always enjoyed more freedom and independence than their Muslim counterparts, because their nomadic husbands have had no houses for their husbands to lock them up in.

1’07”

However, Iranian Kurds have no political freedom, they are not recognised as an official minority, as in Iraq and Turkey. The Shahs controlled them through the brutal secret service, out of fear of a war of independence. And the new regime isn’t going to loosen the reins. Informants are everywhere.

1’31”

The centre of Muslim Kurdistan is Sanandaj. The hills around this Kurdish capital are watched constantly by the military. These mountains lie directly on the drug route from Afghanistan to Turkey.

1’46”

The presidential elections in Tehran and the struggle between the liberal Mullahs and the more right wing opponents don’t really interest the people here. They’ve learned just to align themselves with whoever has power. Religion, not politics, governs life here. The Kurds are Su’uni Muslims, not, like the majority of Iranians, Shi’ite. And they have their own special Holy Men – Dervishes.

2’15”

After the women have left the village to the Dervishes, the men start a centuries old dance ritual.

The men dance themselves into a trance tot try and get closer to God. ‘The earth is my floor, the heavens my ceiling’ – the motto of holy men across the Muslim world.

A Dervish is an Islamic mystic, seeking enlightenment

2’47”

Sheikh Ali Qhadem, leader of the Ghademi Talibani – Dervish

‘Fire burns, a knife cuts. Similarly the body will wither – only the spirit lasts for ever. The body is nothing. God has said Islam is the ultimate faith. Through our faith we can train our spirit so as to control our body, so we have no fear of knives or fire’

3’17

The men dance for three hours. The room is hot. The whole ritual cleanses the spirit, and leads closer to God.

Insert

I3’40

Ever more dancers fall into a trance. They’ve entered into another world – the world of their religion – where pain doesn’t exist. Such supernatural abilities make for a fantastic spectacle for the outsider, but for the Dervish it is the proof that the spirit can overcome the body.

4’12”

The Dervishes, who once used to denounce all world goods, have now adapted to modern life. This man, for example, runs a fitness centre with his wife. Because the women aren’t allowed to attend the rituals, they can only watch their husbands on video.

He has trained for 22 years, but it wasn’t until he was 38 that he could stick metal pins through his skin.

4’45”

Djalal Khavarian

Dervish

I had a dream that I could put pins through my skin. After this dream I was ready to sacrifice my life.

When I’m in this state I can see everything, I can hear everything, but my spirit is somewhere else altogether – with my master. He helps me, and nothing happens to me.

5’03”

Rojin Khavarian

Wife

For me it is an honour to be married to a Dervish… that he has such powers shows me… that his body and soul are clean.

5’21”

The Kurdish community is still centred around a balance between their religion and their tribal rites. They don’t get much from the State, the rulers of Iran are only too aware that a small, but potentially dangerous minority have still not given up their dream of a national homeland. The Kurds draw great strength from their traditions. This, if anything, is the lesson the Kurds take from the Dervish.

END