A Dervish, in Mohammedan countries, is a class of people resembling in many respects the monks of Christendom. The dervishes are divided into many different brotherhoods and orders. They live mostly in well endowed convents, called Tekkije or Changah, and are under a chief with the title of a Sheik. Some of the monks are married, and allowed to live out of the monastery, but must sleep there some nights weekly. Their devotional exercises consist in meetings for worship, prayers, religious dances, and mortifications. As the convent does not provide them with clothing, they are obliged to work more or less.
It is difficult to say when these religious orders took their rise. From the earliest times, pious persons in the East have held it to be meritorious to renounce earthly joys, to free themselves from the trammels of domestic andsocial life, and to devote their thoughts in poverty and retirement to the contemplation of God. In this sense, poverty is recommended by Mohammed in the Koran. Tradition refers to the origin of these orders to the earliest times of Islam, making the califs Abubekr and Ali found such brotherhoods; but it is more probable that they arose later.
Many Mohammedan princes and Turkish sultans have held dervishes in high respect, and bestowed rich endowments on their establishments; and they are still in high veneration with the people. The Kadris are commonly known in the West as “the howling dervishes,” from the excited chant of their religious services; the “dancing dervishes” are the Mevelevis.