A Dervish is simply a person dedicated to following his heart and livinghis life for the Love of the Creator alone. Dervish means threshold, theone who helps people step over the threshold and enter through the doorsof Love. It also means being humble and helping others in the journey totheir destination. Dervish music reflects both the physical andspiritual journey of the mind and body. Mantric chanting is also acrucial part of Sufi meditation called zikir and literally meansrememberance, recollection and calling the name of God."God is MostGreat" (Allahu Akbar), is repeated over and over, oftenlinked withbodily movement or breathing. Repetition of rhythm and melody creates ameditational space that, when accompanied by chanting,becomes thecentral point of Sufi music. Sound is universal. Every person hears,sleeps and is born with the sound of the heartbeat. The sound of thebender (framed drum) is close to the sound of the heart,whose beatcontinuously measures life. human breathing becomes musical when it ismade conscious, invoking God's beautiful names. The music of the zikir(dervish ceremony of rememberence) is symbolic of the voice of creation,symbolized by chanting and whispering Allah repeatedly.

As describedin Holy Qur'an, at the beginning there was nothing, then God said "Be"and everything came into existence. Sufis believe that everything wascreated by sound. Sound is simply a vibration, as is Life itself. Whenour body and soul are harmonized with the vibration of the universe,then we are truly filled with the overwhelming,positive energy - Peace.The beat of the bender represents the importance of Life, while thedervish's voice brings the influence of the spiritual world into Life.The Sufi dervish focuses on the absolute nature of the world which iscontinually created and dies in every breath we take. Physical andspiritual bodies become one single source of self. Awareness of theAbsolute moves back and forth in a pattern similar to the rhythmic wavesof the breath in meditation. This leave sone in harmony with themovement from existence to non-existence with every breath he takes.

Sufimusicians sing beautiful gazels (vocal improvisations) about theirmaster's life and death as well as prayers for inner peace, happinessand love. In Sufi belief, death is regarded as waking from a dream. TheSufi master, Mevlana Jeladdini Rumi, considered the occasion of death tobe his marriage night with God/Allah - the night that lover and belovedbecame one.