TY - JOUR T1 - Processual Form in Sufi Dhikr Ritual AU - Güner, Burçin Bahadır PY - 2022 DA - December DO - 10.33906/musicologist.1014113 JF - Musicologist JO - Musicologist PB - Trabzon University WT - DergiPark SN - 2618-5652 SP - 110 EP - 123 VL - 6 IS - 2 LA - en AB - For four hundred years, the zikir ritual has been performed weekly in Kadirîhâne in Istanbul. Sufi rituals are believed to have been compiled by the founder (pîr) of the order. The ritual conductor (şeyh, postnişin) symbolizes the founder. The ritual form consists of chanting (dhikr) several divine names (esmâ). While participants perform the divine names with drone-like melodic repetitions or guttural rhythmic ostinatos, musicians perform songs, recitations, and improvisations. Through rhythmic enunciation, body sway, and breath control, these chants are embodied as ostinatos while music varies the mood. The ostinato polyphony between the derviş and zakir, as well as the succession of the divine names symbolizes unity (tevhid) in different ways. The manners and the formality of the ritual (ethics) and their musical expressions (aesthetics) implies harmony that leads to communal and/or individual unity. This article examines the form and content of the ritual, and shows their relation to Sufi concepts. KW - Sufism KW - Qadiriyya KW - Ritual KW - Ayin KW - Dhikr KW - Chant KW - Ostinato CR - Bell, Catherine. (2009). Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice. New York: Oxford University Press. CR - Öngören, Reşat. (2013). Zikir (Dhikr). TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. Retrieved from https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/zikir (20.06.2022) CR - Özervarlı, M. Sait. (2001). Kadir Gecesi (Qadr Night). TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. Retrieved from https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/kadir-gecesi (20.06.2022) CR - Özkan, İsmail Hakkı. (2001). Kaside (Qasida). TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. Retrieved from https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/kaside (20.06.2022) CR - Uzun, Mustafa İsmet. (2000). İlahi (Hymn). TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. Retrieved from https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/ilahi (20.06.2022) CR - Rappaport, Roy. A. (1974). “Obvious Aspects of Ritual” Cambridge Anthropology, 2(1): 3–69. CR - Rappaport, Roy. A. 1979). Ecology, Meaning and Religion. Richmond, Calif.: North Atlantic Books. CR - Rappaport, Roy. A. (1999). Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. UR - https://doi.org/10.33906/musicologist.1014113 L1 - https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/2043922 ER -