Dervish Diary :
New,
'Two Weeks in a Sufi Monastery, Istanbul 1925,'
*[A5+] Paperback - 207 pages,
by Carl Vett,
by Bridges Publishing.
Description :
Dervish Diary : Two Weeks in a Sufi Monastery in Istanbul 1925 - The rediscovery of this almost forgotten book in which the author, the Danish publicist and anthropologist Carl Vett, is telling of a forgotten time is a lucky coincidence.
Extract from the Authors Foreword :
"In 1925 I was in Constantinople, and was, so it was generally said, the first non-Mohammedan to be allowed to live for a time as a dervish in a Sufi monastery. Many years of study had made me familiar with the phenomena of psychic research, and I wanted to observe at first hand the ecstatic states attained by the dervishes in their way of initiation - for the dervish orders of Islam are schools of initiation.
Before and during my stay with the dervishes I kept a diary. It was not intended for special publication, but in view of the execution of twenty-nine men, most of whom were sheikhs or members of the Naqshbandi order - it has seemed that these experiences might be of more general interest; and so I have decided to offer them to the public."
Even now, more than 70 years after its initial publication, this book is a valuable read for anybody interested in the Islamic aspect of the mystical heritage of mankind.
Table of Contents :
---Translator's Foreword,
---Preface.
---[1]. A Valuable Turkish Acquaintance,
---[2]. Dark byways of Mohammedan Occultism,
---[3]. Visit to a Tekke of the Mevlevi or 'Whirling Dervishes,'
---[4]. Visit to a Tekke of the Rifa'i or 'Howling Dervishes,'
---[5]. Eastern and Western Mysticism,
---[6]. Preliminary Meditations,
---[7]. Testing,
---[8]. We call on Shaykh Essad Efendi,
---[9]. The Diary;
----First Day in the Tekke,
-------Impressions and Examinations,
----Second Day;
-------Introduction to Monastic Life,
-------My Companions,
----Third Day;
-------Visiting Khalifs,
----Fourth Day;
-------First Experience of Zikr,
----Fifth Day;
-------More Zikr,
-------Visitors,
----Sixth Day;
-------The Interpreter,
-------My First Guide in Stamboul,
----Seventh Day;
-------Night Life,
-------Birth and Death in Islam,
----Eighth Day;
-------Esotericism,
----Ninth Day;
-------Jinns,
-------Dreams,
-------Relations with the Dead,
----Tenth Day'
-------East and West,
-------Books,
-------Letter of Introduction,
----Eleventh Day;
-------Friday Service,
-------Visit of Three Professors,
-------Occult Evolution,
----Twelfth Day;
--------Hizir,
--------Qur'an Singing,
--------Reincarnation,
--------Initiation,
--------Prophets,
----Thirteenth Day;
--------Ecstasy,
--------Islamic Orders,
--------Phenomena,
--------I Join in Prayers,
----Fourteenth Day;
--------Questions,
--------Goodbyes,
--------The Sheikhs Letter,
---[10]. A Visit to Ali's Tekke in Uskudar,
---[11]. Garden Party with the Sheikhs who were later condemned to death,
---[12]. The Egyptian Pasha and his Clairvoyant wife,
---[13]. Post Festum 1953.
---About the Author,
---List of Photographs.
Also see
Naqshbandiyya books.
*Dimensions : 23.5 x 15.9cm.
