Well before spin doctors, and before spinning classes, the Order of the Whirling Dervishes was praising Allah through a ceremonial dance called Sema.

The order, also known as the Mawlawi Sufi, was founded in the 13th century by Jalai ed Din Rumi, a Persian poet and Sufi mystic who was born in 1207 in what is present-day Afghanistan.

Participants dance themselves into a trance, turning in circles that symbolize the teachings of Sufi, a moderate and mystical branch of Islam that focuses on love, tolerance, worship of God and self-discipline.

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Sufism