God's Lovers

Mysticism, which seeks to establish an intimate relationship between God and man, is present in almost all religions. In Islam, it is called sufism, and its adherents, known as sufis or dervishes, are organized into tarikats and assemble in tekes for their ceremonies. Dervishes are the gentlest of all believers. They have a tradition of extreme tolerance, conscious of the fact that there are many paths leading to God, and theirs is only one of them. Sufism acts as a powerful although passive counterforce against violent Islamist tendencies. During a stay of more than two years in Skopje, Biegmann became close to the sheikh and dervishes of the last remaining teke and was allowed to take the fifty photographs that are in this book. The sheikh spoke to Biegmann about the ceremonies and their meaning. Gods Lovers presents a vivid picture of popular Islamic mysticism as practiced in Macedonia today, and gives a rare view of traditional Sufism in an establishd Islamic society in contemporary Europe.