The tomb of Sheikkh Hamad El Nil
At the outskirts of Omdurman, after riding through flocks of goats, out to the middle of a dusty and not very well kept graveyard, we found a large crowd chanting and dancing in front of Sheikh Hamad El Nil's tomb. He was, according to a man I met inside the tomb, the great-(...)-great-grandson of Mohammad as well as a muslim propagator and founder of the Quadiri Sufi order in Sudan. In the tomb, his body is presumably lying in a large box, which definitively is covered with green cloth and surrounded by steel bars. The construction covers most of the floor space of the otherwise naked tomb. Around the steel bars devotees are praying while followers of the local Quadiri order celebrate the friday outside and in the neighboring building. The main attraction seem to be outside, were hundreds of devotees have gathered. In the middle of the large crowd there is a large, more or less open circle where the initiated men are moving in the same direction as the muslims do around the Kaaba in Mecca.The women were keeping themselves outside of the circle. Music was intensely being broadcast on the PA with drums and melodic recitals. In the circle there is more chanting. Some are spinning around or jumping, others are waving incense burners while most seems to be wandering around in a daze. The Zikr (recital) we are witnessing looks very different to the ordered dancing of the more well known swirling dervishes of the Merlevi order in Turkey. The Quadiris of Omdurman are often wearing dresses made of a patchwork and letting their hair grow into dreadlocks to show that they do not care about their outer appearance. The sermon looks very disorganized, but apparently they all have different roles to perform to achieve the groups ecstatic closeness to god. The music and chanting is more rhythm based than the melodic Merlevi's music, and the chanting consisted of rhythmically repeating some of the names of Allah until the sun set. We were blessed with incense and taken by the energy, but unfortunately they did not butcher any camels to feed the poor this friday. Around the circle of worship there was a small market where one could buy religious literature, pictures of holy men and relevant trinkets while the ad-hoc cafe's probably mainly served the curious crowd that gathered for the spectacle or practice their english with the tourists.
Sufism or Tasawwuf is the esoteric path of Islam, where closeness to Allah is achieved through daily ascetisism as well as repetitive dance and/or chanting of for example, the 99 names of God. To become a Sufi one starts with the Islamic law, which adheres to exoteric practices as Mohammed practiced them, and initiation into the more esoteric tariqa (way or path) of one's Sufi order.
The Quadiri Sufi order got its name from its founding father, Syed Abdul Quader gilani Al Amoli. He came from Mazandaran in Iran, where he was the leader of a madrasa. The order spread widely in the muslim world, and he has followers in Sudan as well. The different manifestations of the order seems to be quite diverging due to the fact that they do not have a centralized leadership, and the local leaders may adhere to local customs or other aspects of Islam that they find important.
At the outskirts of Omdurman, after riding through flocks of goats, out to the middle of a dusty and not very well kept graveyard, we found a large crowd chanting and dancing in front of Sheikh Hamad El Nil's tomb. He was, according to a man I met inside the tomb, the great-(...)-great-grandson of Mohammad as well as a muslim propagator and founder of the Quadiri Sufi order in Sudan. In the tomb, his body is presumably lying in a large box, which definitively is covered with green cloth and surrounded by steel bars. The construction covers most of the floor space of the otherwise naked tomb. Around the steel bars devotees are praying while followers of the local Quadiri order celebrate the friday outside and in the neighboring building. The main attraction seem to be outside, were hundreds of devotees have gathered. In the middle of the large crowd there is a large, more or less open circle where the initiated men are moving in the same direction as the muslims do around the Kaaba in Mecca.The women were keeping themselves outside of the circle. Music was intensely being broadcast on the PA with drums and melodic recitals. In the circle there is more chanting. Some are spinning around or jumping, others are waving incense burners while most seems to be wandering around in a daze. The Zikr (recital) we are witnessing looks very different to the ordered dancing of the more well known swirling dervishes of the Merlevi order in Turkey. The Quadiris of Omdurman are often wearing dresses made of a patchwork and letting their hair grow into dreadlocks to show that they do not care about their outer appearance. The sermon looks very disorganized, but apparently they all have different roles to perform to achieve the groups ecstatic closeness to god. The music and chanting is more rhythm based than the melodic Merlevi's music, and the chanting consisted of rhythmically repeating some of the names of Allah until the sun set. We were blessed with incense and taken by the energy, but unfortunately they did not butcher any camels to feed the poor this friday. Around the circle of worship there was a small market where one could buy religious literature, pictures of holy men and relevant trinkets while the ad-hoc cafe's probably mainly served the curious crowd that gathered for the spectacle or practice their english with the tourists.
Sufism or Tasawwuf is the esoteric path of Islam, where closeness to Allah is achieved through daily ascetisism as well as repetitive dance and/or chanting of for example, the 99 names of God. To become a Sufi one starts with the Islamic law, which adheres to exoteric practices as Mohammed practiced them, and initiation into the more esoteric tariqa (way or path) of one's Sufi order.
The Quadiri Sufi order got its name from its founding father, Syed Abdul Quader gilani Al Amoli. He came from Mazandaran in Iran, where he was the leader of a madrasa. The order spread widely in the muslim world, and he has followers in Sudan as well. The different manifestations of the order seems to be quite diverging due to the fact that they do not have a centralized leadership, and the local leaders may adhere to local customs or other aspects of Islam that they find important.
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