McElroy, Paul Simpson

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A MYSTERIOUS CULTBY PAUL SIMPSON McELROYIHAD long heard about the extraordinary observances of therehgious orders of Mohammedans, known as the dervishes, buttheir practices seemed so impossible that I doubted their genuine-ness. It was not until I had spent three years in Egypt that I wasprivileged to see one of their incredible performances.Through the courtesy of a Moslem friend, the stafif of the Ameri-can University at Cairo was invited to attend one of the regularmeetings of the Rifa'iya order of dervishes ; it was during Ramadan—the Mohammedan Lent—near the night known as Al-Kadr whenthe angels are believed to descend to fix the fates for the comingyear that we went to visit this oriental prayer meeting.We met in the home of a venerable sheikh (not the movie type)who lived in a crowded native quarter of Old Cairo. There we wereushered into a large, high-ceilinged room, noticeably void of decora-tions. When seated the guests were served with delicious cinnamontea with floating nuts or with that universal beverage of the NearEast—Turkish cofi^ee. The room was, indeed, a scene of contrasts:oriental and occidental, old and young, uneducated and highly cul-tured, stiff-bosomed gentlemen and flowing robed pashas, and brownand white skinned—all were mingled ; the harsh, nasal, chatteringEnglish phrases were in striking dissonance to the smooth, deep,guttural Arabic.Ere long we heard voices approaching, chanting to the beat oftom-toms and cymbals ; presently, a leery-eyed, emaciated groupof twenty-one fellahin filed into the room. Without awaiting for-malities they advanced to the center of the large reception roomand stood in a large circle around their leader ; shoes were removedfor the ground on which they stood was holy ground.Instead of wearing the customary black turbans and the greenand black mantles which characterize this fraternity of dervishes,they came in ordinary working clothes. Apparently, membership inthe order does not necessarily depend uj-jon the leading of an as-cetic life, for the men were of the laboring rather than the leisureclass. Most of them looked undernourished and dissipated, but in-s]Mte of their unhealthy appearance, their dreamy eyes were aglowwith a mystic radiance and once their turbans were removed andA MVSTJ-RKJUS CULT 229their l(Jn<,^ strai;,ql}' hair allnwcd t<> fall down mi their shoulders,they presented a most saintly appearance.Accom])anie(l hy an imj^roviscd orchestra of a shrill reed Hute.a thumping tom-tom, tinkling tambourines, and metallic cymbals,the dervishes began their cikr or religious exercises. First, they re-cited in unison the ninety-nine names of God, then followed variouscant'cles in ])raise of Allah—the Compassionate, the Merciful, the.All rowerful. .\t a certain signal, the tune was suddenly changedand the chorus, led by the sheikh, began reciting the tariq, whichis the succession of sheikhs from Ahmed el Rifai, the founder in11S2 A.I), until the present day.After this was over the group squatted on the floor as only ori-entals can squat, arranging themselves in an oval formation accord-ing to seniority : the oldest sitting next to the sheikh or leader.With arms reverently folded the slow, rhythmic chants beganagain. First the heads began to nod slowly from left to right witheach beat, then as the tempo was increased the bodies gradually be-gan to sway faster from side to side until they were bobbing backand forth in dizzy cadence, .\bruptly the music and swaying stopped.Although the group had apjjarently worked themselves into a frenzythey were sufificiently composed to be reverent while the incanta-tions and several more prayers were recited.As soon as the cacophony subsided, the dazed group rose to theirfeet and mingled freely with one another. A lamp chimney was pro-duced and broken in the hollow of one of the brass cymbals. Allof the dervishes scrambled to get a piece of the shattered glass andbegan eating it eagerly. That this was no illusion was proved by thefact that these mesmerized dervishes sat on the floor in front of usvisitors, let us examine the glass and even put the broken bits intotheir mouths. They would sit in front of us, crunch the glass be-tween their teeth until it was powdered : then swallow the pulver-ized glass and show us the open mouth emptied afterward. Theglass had not even cut their mouths.I thought that perhaps the chimney had been made of some es-pecially prepared glass, but on a later occasion a chimney was usedwhich was brought by an American staff member expressly for thispurpose..\s soon as all glass had been consumed, the group reassembledin their oval formation, offered a few more incantations and sat intheir places while one of the men began the famous fire-eating stunt.230 THE OPEN COURTHe first dipped each of his four torches into benzine, then lightedthem all and flourished them about with the grace of a fancy dancer.Leaning backward he put one of the lighted torches in his mouthand quenched the flame by closing his mouth. This he repeatedwith three of the torches ; with the fourth he kept his mouth openso that the flames ignited the benzine that was lining his mouth andthroat. Removing the fourth torch still lighted, he proceeded toblow fire from his mouth ; so deep did this go that it seemed asthough his very vitals were aflame.One spectacular stmt, now common among fakirs and magiciansin this country, was to pierce the body with needles. The dervishesdoubtless originated this sensational practice. It is an anguishingsight to see a man with needles and skewers stuck through his arms,his cheeks, his eyelids, his shoulders, and even through his tongue.We were allowed to jab these needles through their bodies andstrangely enough when they were withdrawn only a hole was leftwhich rapidly closed up.For those who could not participate in this, candy that had beensprinkled with benzine was lighted and eaten.What seemed to me the most fascinating and amazing feat wasthe one which followed. The leader took a pair of heavy saberswhich had been heated to a dull red glow on a charcoal brazier andbegan passing them across his tongue. A sizzling, sputtering soundwas made at each contact until the irons had become too cool to doit. Yet after all this mutilation, the man's tongue was not evenblistered.Even this was not the end of their repertoire. Unless one hastasted the green, a succulent desert cactus, he can not appreciate itsgall-like bitterness. I barely touched my tongue to a piece of thecactus and its acrid taste stayed with me for several hours. Tryas I might, I could not get rid of it, yet the dervishes chewed itwith apparent delight and relish.The climax of the evening came when the leader whose facewas alight with ecstacy called for three swords. Stripped to thewaist to show that he wore no protecting armor, he placed the scimi-tars on top of each other with the middle blade pointing outward.Grabbing them by the ends he hoisted them above his head and whilethus suspended, prayed fervently ; he then flung them against hisabdomen with a terrific thrust. The flesh was so curled around theIA MYSTERIOUS CULT 231blades that the swords could be extricated only by i)ulliiij^ them offlengthwise.The blow alone was strtjng enough to have "knocked a man out,"and yet these sharp swords had not even cut the flesh. Only aflushed streak across his waist line indicated where the swords hadstruck.Before I had witnessed a ]:)crformance I had viewed these stuntsas jvst bits of marvellous oriental magic, but now I am convincedthat they are genuine feats and not faked.Were it a mere trick they would doubtless try and capitalize onit by going on the stage. But this they refuse to do because the actsto them are part of their religious ceremony and to commercializethem would be a sacrilege. Ever since the days of Sheikh Ahmed-el-Rifai, dervishes throughout the entire Near East have been seek-ing a mystic union with the divinity in this way. These are holyand long-established exercises that have been recognized for cen-turies.They serve no political or social purpose whatever, but arestrictly disciplinary and devotional. The mysteries are revealed toothers only through oral instruction and solely by the leader. Onlyafter the power has been granted by the leader in this way can onedo these exotic and mystifying accomplishments.Just what spiritual values or how these spiritual values are ob-tained in these mystic orders is puzzling. According to some, therepetition of names somehow incites the Presence of the Deity, andHis Presence in turn prodrces ecstacy and through that ecstacycomes the coveted illumination and union. The sign of ecstacyamong the Rifaiya order is manifested in the ability to eat fire andglass and afilict the body without barm or injury. We from theWest have much to learn from these oriental customs which we,through ignorance, have so long ridiculed ; we are indebted to thesemodest leaders of occult science.The dervishes dispersed as informally as they had entered sing-ing in receding mournful rhythmic monotone that oft-quoted pas-sage from the Koran:La IllaJia ill Allah ...."There is but one God, and Mohammed is the prophet of God."

A Mysterious Cult.

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A Mysterious Cult.

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