At the Jerrahi Sufi lodge in Istanbul (Photo: Emily O'Dell)
Entering the Jerrahi Sufi lodge (Photo: Emily O'Dell)
The sheikhs are the pourers of the wine and the dervish is the glass. Love is the wine.
By the hand of the wine pourer, the glass — the dervish — is filled.
This is the short way.
Love could be offered to one by other hands.
This is the short way.
— Shaykh Muzaffer Ozak el-Jerrahi
Every time that I go to Turkey–which is usually about twice a year–I always set aside time to visit the revered living and dead Sufi masters scattered throughout Istanbul. The one shrine I never skip is found at the tekke of the Halveti-Jerrahi Sufi Order–pictured left and above.
An oasis of peace in a bustling city, the tekke is the perfect place to relax and meditate far away from the noise and demands of daily life. At this Sufi lodge, dervishes study Sufism, novices learn how to whirl, and all of the Sufis participate in a spirited dhikr/zikr ceremony attended by hundreds of people each week.
Behind the windows pictured above is buried the 17th-century founder of the order, Pir Nureddin Al-Jerrahi. An adjacent room serves as the final resting place of Shaykh Muzaffer Ozak el-Jerrahi–who transmitted this order to the “west”–at the end of the 20th century.
Lovers of the Truth do not notice people’s faults, for their own failings blind them of those of others. They do not curse, nor do they wish harm to anyone at all.
— Shaykh Muzaffar Ozak el Jerrahi
Below is a section of the Halveti Jerrahi Zikr performed by Sheykh Tosun Bayrak Al Jerrahi and his dervishes in New York in 2002…
