Konya and the Dancing Dervishes (32/39)

Konya and the Dancing Dervishes (32/39)

"Whatever you are looking for, do not search on the outside, find it in yourself." This statement of a Sufi master characterises precisely the ideas of Sufism, a mystical branch of Islam. The Sufis' most important concern is the search for the deep, passionate love of God. Many rules associated particularly with the fundamentalist interpretation of Islam do not apply to them. Their "heart" is said to be the Turkish city of Konya, the home of the dancing dervishes and of the most famous representative of this religion, Mevlana Celaleddin i Rumi, who is said to have inspired the dance of the whirling dervishes.

"Wonach auch immer Du suchst, suche es nicht im Aussen, finde es in Dir selbst". Diese Aussage eines Sufi-Meisters charakterisiert treffend die Vorstellungen des Sufismus, einer mystischen Richtung des Islam. Das wichtigste Anliegen der Sufis ist die Suche nach der tiefen leidenschaftlichen Liebe zu Gott. Viele Regeln, die man vor allem mit dem fundamentalistisch ausgelegten Islam verbindet, gelten für sie nicht. Als ihr "Herz" gilt die türkische Stadt Konya, die Heimat der tanzenden Derwische und die Heimat des berühmtesten Vertreters dieser Glaubensrichtung, Mevlana Celaleddin i Rumi, der auch den Tanz der kreiselnden Derwische inspiriert haben soll.

This series portrays landscapes, metropoles, sacred sites and monuments, all of which have made a unique contribution to the cultural heritage of mankind. Each episode breathes life into civilizations which thrived in the past ten thousand years, some of them then vanishing without a trace into the shadows of history. The films describe epochs whose legacy lingers in the perceptions and ideas of our own age, and cult sites which have managed to preserve their religious and cultural power up to the present day.