The mullah speaks directly to the assembled worshippers referencing Abdul Qadir Gaylani, the founder of the Qadiri Order, which the Talabani Tekiye follows.
Men and boys of all ages throw themselves into the worship. Though children are cherished in this tekiye, they are explicitly encouraged not to come to the worship too young. The path of a Sufi must be consciously chosen, not indoctrination. Sheikh Yusuf, the spiritual leader has said, “When we find children here, we say, ‘Go home! Read a book!’ But they sneak in…”
Sheikha Sunbul gives a smile as she leads the woman to sit and transition between types of worship. Two women help another who has become wrapped up in her worship to find her place sitting. The throes of ecstasy remain with her even as she sits. The murmured prayers all in Arabic, the casual chatting is in Kurdish.
The prayer for individual sheikhs continues. The female mullah is seen here in tight focus, moving her hands through the prayer. Several women, including the Sheikha, seem to be whispering or mouthing the words along with the mullah as well as giving the traditional response to the call.
The air conditioning ruffles the edges of her scarf as Sheikha Sunbul Umjunayd leads and participates in the prayer. This viewpoint is from inside the circle of worshipping women who spin around the Sheikha and other worshippers who are in an ecstatic mode. The prayer acknowledges the call from Baghdad, where Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gaylani founded the Qadiri Order, and where the mosque he founded remains in operation today. As well, as the women reach a subconscious or transcendent state, they often forsake the common prayer for exclamations, often, “Allah! Allah!”
The Sheikha is a Turcoman, fluent in Turcoman, Arabic, Kurdish, and English. Her husband, Sheikh Yusuf Talabani, married her though she did not come from a Sheikh family. Given social and religious pressures, this indicates a personal understanding and choice of the Sheikha’s gifts, which are many. During this particular visit to the tekiye, the Sheikh was away, receiving treatment in Germany for a grave illness. The Sheikha stayed to support their community, to carry on the work of worship, but her concern for her husband made speech, at one point, difficult.
While jumping is more rare in this tekiye than swaying, bowing, head-banging or whirling, it occurs. Mostly as the worship reaches its spiritual peaks, men begin to throw themselves into the motions, letting their heads loll side-to-side, letting their bodies leave the ground.
The hemlines of the women in this video indicate two things: (1) the women of this tekiye span generations (2) this tekiye accepts and welcomes dress that is not always traditional. The jeans we see a young woman wearing here are not usually seen in places of religious devotion.
The woman draped in green has stood, we see her back as we watch the other women begin to dissolve the circular motion they have made together. The pace begins to wind down, the motion begins to soften. The chant continues, “There is no god but God.”
A woman, seen over her shoulder, keeps the pace intensifying with the daff. Traditionally, the daff is made with a wooden frame and animal skin stretched across it. This daff has a plastic “skin” that has become translucent in places over the years it has served worshippers, both men and women.
The prayer for individual sheikhs continues, naming Sheikh Abdulrahman, an important leader in the history of the Talabani Tekiye and the Qadiri Order. A young woman learns how to move through the prayers, her mother beside her, demonstrating.
One daff, with transparent plastic where traditionally a stretched animal skin would be, allows the viewer to see the singers and other prayer-leaders through the instrument itself. Below the daff is the prayer notebook, open.
