What's the difference between abdal and dervish?

Abdal


Definition:

  • (n.) A religious devotee or dervish in Persia.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Typical is a report on Saleh Abdall al-Oshan, a Saudi who was among the first to arrive at Guantánamo, on 21 January 2002.
  • (2) Ugur Bilgin, culture secretary of the Alevi Pir Sultan Abdal cultural association, pointed to a persecution of the Alevi religious minority by the ruling Justice and Development party (AKP).

Dervish


Definition:

  • (n.) Alt. of Dervis

Example Sentences:

  • (1) It had taken me a week to track down the underground dervish scene in Istanbul - the only dervish contact I had in the city was a carpet-seller called Abdullah deep in the bazaar.
  • (2) Photographs can't prepare you for the disorienting feeling that the dervishes are defying gravity.
  • (3) The dervishes are all Sufis, seekers on the mystical path to God, and are members of different Brotherhoods, chief among them Mevlevis, the school founded by the mystic poet Rumi 700 years ago.
  • (4) Although no one could compare to Nusrat, the group remain formidable, and can be seen next month as part of the Barbican Centre's Ramadan Nights, which also features Sufi street singer Sain Zahoor, a more classical Arabic Sufi group, the al-Kindi Ensemble with Sheikh Habboush, and whirling dervishes from Syria.
  • (5) To keep cinemagoers happy, Abrams must deliver a dose of cosmic joy so pure and unfettered that it sets the midi-chlorians whirling like star-swept dervishes caught in the half-light of a departing X-Wing.
  • (6) The dervishes are meditation in movement, prayer as dance.
  • (7) 1979: Them Heavy People (the radio cut from the On Stage EP), which namedropped the Russian mystic Gurdjieff and Sufi whirling dervishes, a celebration of being intellectually-emotionally expanded: "it's nearly killing me … what a lovely feeling".
  • (8) Like much of Sufism, the performance of the whirling dervishes works on many levels and is charged with symbolism.
  • (9) Walking in the night air along the Bosphorus where the city light scintillated on the water, I envied the dervishes their passion, their longing and their faith.
  • (10) At the same time, at the instigation of the Chancellor, it is rushing about like a dervish in an attempt to head off every Labour stunt that comes along.
  • (11) Every comment on the Games repeats this line, as if Olympic spirit was a subset of whirling-dervish fundamentalism.
  • (12) In casting this off the dervishes discard all worldly ties.
  • (13) Finally I found myself at a zikr (a remembrance) among 80 or so dervishes in a hidden tekke (religious house), and they began to chant, rhythmically, the name of Allah.
  • (14) The abuse hits other religious minorities, too – the Yarsan Kurds; Gonabadi Dervishes, who are Shia Muslims; and Christians.
  • (15) Many European writers have been fascinated by Sufism - Richard Burton, the translator of the Kama Sutra, was initiated as a dervish, and Doris Lessing and Ted Hughes shared his interest ('the Sufis are the most sensible collection of people on the planet', Hughes once said).
  • (16) Still, there's no getting around it: Pakistan is beset with problems that no amount of jolly beer stories or whirling dervishes can remedy.
  • (17) However much time Oliver has spent in "poor communities", he is but a tourist there, looking at fire walkers and whirling dervishes and wondering "why on earth would they choose to do that?
  • (18) There was none of the passion I'd seen among the Istanbul dervishes.
  • (19) In any case, it is not surprising that Sufis and dervishes have had a tough time in many Islamic countries.
  • (20) When the tension was close to unbearable, 12 dervishes filed into the adjoining room and, in unison, took off their black cloaks - as if it were a holy fashion show - revealing white robes.

Words possibly related to "abdal"

Words possibly related to "dervish"