Drevish mystic dance at the Sirkeci station, Istanbul, Turkey, Asia Minor, Eurasia

Dervish mystic dance at the Sirkeci station, Istanbul, Turkey, Asia Minor, Eurasia

Whirling dervishes, Istanbul, Marmara province, Turkey, Europe

Whirling dervish, Al-Shuri Mausoleum, Cairo, Egypt, North Africa, Africa

Whirling dervish, Al-Shuri Mausoleum, Cairo, Egypt, North Africa, Africa

Mevlevi Tekke, former dervish monastary, figures of dancing dervishes, whirling dervishes, museum, Lefkosia, Nicosia, Cyprus

Dervish dancing at the folklore evening in Yasar Baba restaurant, Goereme, Cappadocia, Turkey

Dancers during a wedding, Sufi shrine, Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India, Asia

Dancing dervishes of the Sufi order Mevlevi, Sema ceremony, historic train station Sirkeci, Istanbul, Turkey

Ceremony of the dancing dervishes of the Sufi order Mevlevi, Sema ceremony, historic train station Sirkeci, Istanbul, Turkey

Dancing dervishes of the Sufi order Mevlevi, Sema ceremony, historic train station Sirkeci, Istanbul, Turkey

Female dancing dervish from the Sufi order Mevlevi, Sema ceremony, historic train station Sirkeci, Istanbul, Turkey

Traditional ceremony of the dervishes, Galata Mevlevihanesi, Istanbul, Turkey, Asia

Whirling dervishes, Cappadocia, Turkey

Whirling dervishes, show, Cappadocia, Turkey, Asia

Whirling Dervishes of the Mevlevi Order, Sema ceremony, Saruhan Caravanserai, Sarihan, near Avanos, Cappadocia, Central Anatolia Region, Anatolia, Turkey, Asia

Every Friday dervishes gather an hour before sunset in front of Sheikh Hamed al-Nil tomb in Omdurman, Sudan to perform a ritual called Zikr (Dhikr). The ceremony starts chanting words of gratitude to the Prophet Mohammed. The audience interacts with the chanters, dancing to the rhythms of the percussion instruments. The dervishes start whirling around. The music, the fragrance of burning incense, the endless repetition of religious chants creates a state of ecstasy, a kind of trance in which human soul is believed to communicate directly with God.