wa ‘alaikum as-salaam wa rahmatullah. Welcome Nur Jemal and Aaminah its good to have you here, thank you for commenting.

-Saifuddin

I’ve got nothing intelligent to add to the general discussion, but feel compelled to tell Nur Jemal that is the sweetest story, mashaAllah! May Allah keep your little Sema on His Path, ameen.

It’s great that you are blogging about the Sema. My daughter’s name is Sema and she whirls innately. We have never coached her on this or taught it to her.

She didn’t jump in her baby “Johnnie Jump -Up”, she whirled. She started whirling on her own 2 feet as soon as she could walk. Now she whirls whenever we dance, alhumdulillah.

We are part of the Mevlevi tariqqa, with our immediate Sheikh being Sidi abdul-Kabir Helminski, alhumdulillah.

http://www.sufism.org

May Allah accept our prayers.

Eyvallah, Huuuuuuuuuu.

-Nur Jemal

I’m glad you found it of some benefit, I think the main thing to understand is the first point, rather than the ‘proofs’ or references. The sufi ‘community’ understands Sama as being Sunnat.

Since you were astonished so I thought it would be best to provide just a few insights into understanding Mevlevi Sama. So my comment in summary is discussing three points:

One: whirling being an inherent and intimate part of the nature of creation

Two: whirling of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (R),and

Three: the nature of knowledge transmitted from heart to heart to the Shaykhs of Sufi Tariqats.

The final, of course, precludes the necessity of textual references and rather relies on Sunnat (in its literal translation of ‘tradition’).

-Yursil

MayAllah reward you for your kind response which is very clear.

I’m not at all learned in sufism so my concern in asking this question was not for the purpose of argument or debate. since our brother Saifuddin made a small introduction to sema’ and reference to whirling I was interested to know how this practice is understood in the sufi community. By asking this question I’m not at all advocating or denouncing any practice in favor of a narrow Islam.

and Allah Knows best.

So thank you I will look into the references you have given.

That is a pretty deep question, and secondly I am not a whirler myself.

The answer to this question depends on your criterion for proof. I’m not one to dwell on such matters, and nowadays I find such conversations a bit dangerous and dreary.. yet… it helps some people.

The sunnah of the stars of the skies, the galaxies and the earth itself is to whirl. As the Quran al Karim states, everything is going in its own orbit.

BismillahirRahmanirRahim
“It is He who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon, all (the celestial bodies) swim along, each in its orbit.” (21:33)

Besides that reality of the universe, our Grandshaykh is teaching that the first whirler was Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (R), and this coincides with centuries old knowledge about Abu Bakr as-Siddiq(R)… even prior to Mevlana Rumi’s (R) opening of this type of Sama to the world with the Mevlevi Tarikat. The lengthy narration concludes with:

Allah Most High was sending blessings and salutation to Abu Bakr. Gabriel said, “Tell him his Lord is pleased with Him if he is pleased with his Lord.”

When Abu Bakr came into the presence of our Master and heard the good news from the lips of beloved Prophet, he got up, thanked Allah, said, “Indeed I am pleased with my Lord!” and in his joy whirled around three times.

- quoted from Ibn al-Husayn al-Sulami’s Kitab al-Futuwwah Ibn al-Husayan is a highly respected sufi saint and scholar of the 10th century and the book is founded on very strong isnad (chain of authorities).

It was Abu Bakr as-Siddiq (R) whose heart contained the largest amount of knowledge poured from the Prophet (S) directly, yet who is one who narrated very few hadith of his own…

This is also a document with plenty of proofs of various other forms of physical movement in front of the Prophet (S):
http://www.marifah.net/articles/hadra-ibnajibah.pdf

The centuries old flourishing of the orthodox Sufi orders who very clearly trace their specific teachings and teachers back to the Holy Prophet (S) is a final (and sufficient) witness for us to see and think about.

Islam is broad, but it is also specialized and appropriate for the individual spirit.

What may suit you or me may not suit others, what closeness they achieve may be higher in whirling than what we can hope to achieve in sitting. We may never know, but it is far better in manners to think this way.

I didn’t miss Yursil’s point- It was in astonishment really that I had to ask the question in a more clear way.

So the prophet witnessed it with approval? Is there any evidence to support this claim?

wa ‘alaikum as-salaam Haamidah. You wrote,

“Please excuse me if I have missed the point in your previous answer.”

No I think you grasped my point just fine. However, it appears you may have missed Yursil Effendi’s comments answering the very important question,

“I’d be interested to know how one may reconcile the sunnah of the prophet (SAW) in dhikr and the whirling in dhikr as practiced by sufis.”

He replied in comment #3 saying,

“Sama in the forms practiced by authentic tariqats is a sunnah practiced in the presence of the Prophet (S) and by the Sahabi (R).”

Yursil’s point actually addresses your question. Whereas I was explaining more or less how this occurred, that is to say, that there are those of the elite among the Sahabi that received the inner teachings through direct association with the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s) and these inner teachings are practiced by authentic tariqats today.

-Saifuddin

May Allah reward you for your kind response.

I share your view of ihsan and the states/hal that one can experience and sema’ in general which relates to this but my issue is really with the whirling.

Is it (whirling) a form of worship that originates from the practice of the prophet, or has it ever been practiced in his presence with approval?
Doesn’t it need to meet those conditions to be considered valid?

Also personally I find that worship brings stillness which I don’t see in whirling. Then again sight (physical, insight, inner vision etc) is a limited faculty I believe.

Allah knows best.

Please excuse me if I have missed the point in your previous answer.

as-salaamu ‘alaikum. Nice Yursil, simple, short and sweet.

-Saifuddin

Sama in the forms practiced by authentic tariqats is a sunnah practiced in the presence of the Prophet (S) and by the Sahabi (R).

-Yursil