What are Dervishes?

Answer 1

In the realm of religious fanaticism a whirling Dervish was somebody who spun round and round until they got so dizzy they entered a prophetic state. It is interesting to note that many means of altered consciousness have been considered as valid means of communicating with the unseen: starvation, marijuana, peyote, oxygen deprivation, mushrooms, hyperventilation.
A Whirling Dervish is a Muslim who has taken a vow of poverty and austerity. These people were named Whirling Dervishes due to the howling dances and and whirling displayed according to the practice of their order.

Answer 2

Darvesh or Dervish ( Persian: درویش ), as it is known in European languages, refers to members of Sufi Muslim ascetic religious Tariqah, known for their extreme poverty and austerity, similar to mendicant friars, also called fakirs amongst Muslims. Dar in Persian means 'a door', so Darvesh literally means 'the one who goes from door to door. The term comes from the Persian word Darvīsh (درویش), which usually refers to a mendicant ascetic. This latter word is also used to refer to an unflappable or ascetic temperament (as in the Urdu phrase darwaishana thabiyath for an ascetic temperament); that is, for an attitude that is indifferent to material possessions and the like. As Sufi practitioners, dervishes were known as a source of wisdom, medicine, poetry, enlightenment, and witticisms. For example, Mollah Nasr-ad-Din (Mulla Nasrudin, Hoja Nasrudin) had become a legend in the Near East and the Indian subcontinent, not only among the Muslims.

Answer 3

A Dervish is someone treading a Sufi Muslim ascetic path. It is not an animal.

Answer 4

Dervish is a Sufi which meditates while spinning round and round (kind of a Turkish dance) the following picture shows that

Answer 5

Dervishes are a sect within the Islamic Sufi movement, a kind of mystic. They are often called "whirling Dervishes" because they use twirling dances to work themselves into a mystic trance.

Answer 6

Spinning dancing