Islam, just like every other major world religion, has its mystical aspects. The Sufis are a group of Muslim that have been active for centuries trying to access God’s mysteries through mystical expression. Many of them wrote beautiful love and dream poetry as I heard in two of the presentations at the symposium. One sect of Sufis that is still active in Istanbul is the Dervish. They are famous for using music and dance to enter into a trance in which they have fuller expression of God’s mysteries.
Several of the members of my group decided to visit the most authentic whirling Dervish monastery in Istanbul for a sacred ceremony. Instead I decided to go out on the town with Recep. On my last night, however, I went out to dinner with a group including Ron and his wife, two professors from Alberta, the German professor who helped explain mosaics in Hagia Sophia, and a young grad student from Germany who is also an expert in slavery and eunuchs.
We ate a glorious fish dinner. Afterwards we wandered into a more commercial, non-authentic Dervish ceremony at an outdoor market.
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