Photo: Emily O'Dell
In the Balkans, Islam and Christianity often coexist within a very small area and this has been an obstacle in relations between the two communities over the centuries. But people in south-east Europe tend to know very little about the life of communities other than their own.
I have always been fascinated by the mystery and secrecy of the Dervish orders so I was keen to learn more about them and reveal their world of ritual and beliefs in this story…
The order was founded almost 800 years ago by the Islamic mystic Hajji Bektash Wali and has remained autonomous within Islam as one of the largest and oldest of the Dervish orders.
— Nemanja Pancic
To read about Sufism in Macedonia with an accompanying slide show, please click here…
