Sema
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about Sema. For other uses, see Sema Group.
Sema or sama (Arabic: سماع ) is a term that means hearing in Arabic and Persian. It is used to refer to some of the ceremonies used by various sufi orders and often involves prayer, song, dance, and other ritualistic activities.
Sema dancing is known to Europeans as the dance of the Whirling Dervishes, see "Sufi whirling", although many forms of sema do not include whirling.
In the Mevlevi sufi tradition, sema represents a mystical journey of spiritual ascent through mind and love to "Perfect." In this journey the seeker symbolically turns towards the truth, grows through love, abandons the ego, finds the truth, and arrives at the "Perfect"; then returns from this spiritual journey with greater maturity, so as to love and to be of service to the whole of creation without discrimination against beliefs, races, classes and nations.
[edit] Related articles
- Qawwali - A form of Sema in South Asia
[edit] External link
| Sufi philosophy : | Ihsan • Lataif • Cosmology • Tajalli • Noor • Maqaam • Haal • Manzil • Yaqeen • Fanaa • Baqaa • Index of Sufi Concepts |
| Practices: | Dhikr • Muraqaba • Sama • Qawwali • Sufi whirling • Hadhra |
| Sufi orders : | Chishti • Jerrahi • Mevlevi • Naqshbandi • Oveyssi-Shahmaghsoudi • Qadri • Rifa'i • Suhrawardiyya • Shadhili • Index of Sufi Orders |
| Famous medieval Sufis : | Oveys Gharani • Hassan Basri • Rabia • Bayazid • Junayd • Ghazali • Jilani • Ibn Arabi • Rumi • Saadi • Attar • Sohrevardi • Data Gunj • Gharib Nawaz • Khusro • Baba Farid • Kabir • Alf Sani • Shah Waliullah • Bhittai |
| Famous modern Sufis : | Salaheddin Ali Nader Shah Angha • Shah Maghsoud Sadegh Angha • Idries Shah • Omar Ali Shah • Muhammad al-Maliki • Hisham Kabbani • Kabir Helminski • Inayat Khan • Shamsuddin Azeemi • Keller • Martin Lings |
| Miscellaneous: | Sufi texts • History • Sufi poetry • Sufi art • Sufi Music • Sufi Fiction • Sufi studies • Sufi academics • Shrines |
