Egypt: A 'Howling Dervish' from Maspero's 'History of Egypt', 1906

The Rifāʿīyah, a fraternity of Muslim mystics (Ṣūfīs), once known in the West as 'Howling Dervishes', were found primarily in Egypt and Syria and in Turkey until outlawed in 1925.

An offshoot of the Qādirīyah established in Basra, Iraq, by Aḥmad ar-Rifāʿī (d. 1187), the order preserved his stress on poverty, abstinence, and self-mortification. It also performed the ritual prayer (dhikr) essential to all Ṣūfī orders in a distinct manner: members link arms to form a circle and throw the upper parts of their bodies back and forth until ecstasy is achieved. Then the mystics fall on a dangerous object, such as sword or snake, though such extremes, as well as thaumaturgical (magical) practices, probably appeared under Mongol influence during their 13th-century occupation of Iraq and have always been rejected by orthodox Islām.

The Syrian branch of the order, the Saʿdīyah (or Jibāwīyah), was given its form by Saʿd ad-Dīn al-Jibāwī in Damascus sometime in the 14th century. Among the Saʿdīyah, ecstasy was induced by physical motion—whirling around on the right heel—and the sheikh, or head of the order, rode on horseback over the prone bodies of the members.

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