THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
novitiate. Most of the orders have what corresponds to a lay membership. Certain of the orders are in favor with certain professions or trades. Thus the fishermen of Egypt are nearly all members of the Kadariyah, and join in the religious processions, carrying colored fish-nets as banners. With some of the most prominent of the orders it is common for influential classes to become associated, doubtless that they may share in the prestige of those orders. Theoretically there is no distinction of rank within the orders except that of sheikh and members and novitiates. Practically individuals are differentiated; those supposed to be miraculously endowed are called walls: the begging friars go by the name of fakirs. The office of sheikh is in some orders hereditary; thus the rule of the ;\Iawlawiyah has remained for nearly eight centuries in the family of the founder.
The number of orders is usually given as thirtysix, but this number is rather ideal than founded upon actual count. Some of the orders are divided into sects, and these are confounded with the orders. Each sect has its distinguishing insignia of cap or turban, girdle, cloak, rosary, and banner, its own color and method of wearing it. Some- 3. Number times the orders are distinguished and Insig- simply by the number of gores in the nia of the cap. Theoretically the orders trace Orders, their origin to Ali, except three which claim to go back to Abu Bekr, and thence to Mohammed. The time of actual formation is unknown, but there is great probability that the first monastery was founded at Damascus about 772. The bloom of Mohammedan monasticism is to be placed in the twelfth to the fourteenth century, when most of the orders now in existence were founded. But the formation of orders has gone on continuously, one of the most influential being that of the Sanussites founded by Mohammed ibn Ali al-Sanussi in 1837, which has spread throughout the Mohammedan world, with headquarters in the desert between Egypt and Tripoli.
A number of these orders are noted both inside and outside the circle of Mohammedanism. The Mawlawiyah (founded by Jalal al-Din al-Rumi c. 1290) are known to travelers as the whirling or dancing dervishes from that part of their exercises which consists of the " mystic dance," a spinning movement continued often till unconsciousness or ecstasy supervenes. It is the order most popular among the Turks, many of the upper classes of whom are affiliated with it, and is the best endowed of all the orders. The Rufaiyah 4. Names (founded by Ahmad al-Rufa'a c. 1190) and Exer- are the howling dervishes," especises of the cially popular in Egypt, a part of Orders, whose exercise consists of a chant or shout which generally consists of the Mohammedan formula " There is no God but Allah," sung while a swinging motion of the body is maintained. This exercise is also often continued till exhaustion and catalepsy result. The Kalandariyah (the " Calendars " of the Arabian Nights, founded c. 1350) are the wandering dervishes, really bound by a vow of poverty. The Nakshbendiyah (founded c. 1360) are influential, and
their exercise is mainly that of contemplative devotion upon the names of Allah and the precepts of the order. The Baktashiyah (founded c. 1380) are celebrated because of the connection with them of the Janizaries. It is a military order, corresponding somewhat with the crusading Knights of the Temple or of St. John. The Kadiriyah (founded c. 1160), the Badawiyah (c. 1280), and the Ahmadiyah are most numerous in Egypt.
The exercises, varying with each order, are intended to be devotional. Some of them are repulsive in their effects and methods, and include selfmutilation with broken glass or sharp instruments, handling and even eating of serpents and scorpions. That they often produce a cataleptic condition makes them the more highly esteemed, since that condition is regarded as one of communion with higher powers, from which enlarged capacities and increased sanctity are supposed to result.
Geo. W Gilmore.
Bibliography: J. P. Brown, The Dervishes, Philadelphia, 1868 (contains much material, but undigested); D. Ohsson, Tableau general de I'empire Ottoman, vol. ii., Paris, 1790 (gives a list of thirty-two orders, with the dates of their founding, but is unreliable); J. Malcolm, Hist, of Persia, London, 1829; E. W. Lane, Modern Egyptians, 2 vols., ib. 1871; T. P. Hughes, Dictionary of Islam, articles Faqir, Zikr, ib. 1885; M. Ansiaux, Les Confreries musulmanes, Paris, 1891; O. Deport and X. Coppolaui, Les Confreries religieuses musulmanes, ib. 1897; Pfere Petit, Confreries musulmanes, ib. 1899; S. M. Zwemer, Arabia, the Cradle of Islam, New York, 1900.
DESCARTES, de"cart', RENE.
As Student and Soldier (§ 1).
Seclusion in Holland (§ 2).
Publications. Controversies (§ 3).
Death in Stockholm. Works Proscribed (§ 4).
His Skepticism. The Self and God (§ 5).
His Dualism. Ethics (§ 6).
Estimate of His Work (§ 7).
Ren6 Descartes (Renatus Cartesius), French philosopher and mathematician, was born at La Haye (105 m. s.w. of Orleans) Mar. 31, 1596; d. at Stockholm, Sweden, Feb. 11, 1650. From 1604 to 1612 he attended the College of Jesuits at La
1. As Stu- Fleche, which had just been estabdent and lished (1604) by Henry IV., and in
Soldier. 1610 he was one of the twenty-four gentilshommes sent forth from that institution to receive the heart of the murdered king. From 1613 to 1617 he resided in Paris, devoting himself chiefly to the study of mathematics. The next four years he spent as a vohmteer, serving successively under Prince Maurice of Nassau, Maximilian of Bavaria, and Count Boucquoi. After a further period of travel and study he settled in Paris in 1625. He was now recognized as one of the leading mathematicians of the day.
Late in 1628, after having taken part in the siege of La Rochelle, he left Paris and settled in Amsterdam the following spring. For the
2. Seclusion next twenty years he lived almost ex-
in clusively in Holland, developing and Holland, defending his philosophical theories, carrying on scientific investigations, and writing the works that have made him famous. His interests were varied, and in his correspondence not even phonetic spelling escapes his attention. During this period his place of