Twice a week in Fallujah, a Sufi lodge fills for dhikr

ANBAR — On Monday and Thursday evenings, followers of the Qadiri order gather at a takya, or Sufi lodge, in Fallujah’s Mukhtar neighborhood for dhikr — collective remembrance of God, sung with Qur’anic recitation and devotional poetry to the beat of the daf.

“Dhikr is one of the principal pillars of the order,” said Abdul Karim Qasim, the lodge’s khalifa, or spiritual guide. “It includes declarations of God’s oneness, repeated invocations and the prescribed litanies of the Qadiri path.” The gathering begins after evening prayer with collective invocations, praise of the Prophet and religious instruction, he said. The lodge also holds the five daily prayers, daily litanies and celebrations of religious occasions, particularly the Prophet’s birthday.

Among the recitations is al-Burda, the poem by Imam al-Busiri recited across the Muslim world for centuries in praise of the Prophet Muhammad. “Those attending respond through collective chanting accompanied by the daf and drum as part of the traditions followed by the Qadiri Kasnazani order,” said Mahmoud Amer, who leads the devotional chants.

Mahmoud Abbas, a regular participant, described the order as a spiritual school. “The Qadiri order calls for love, peace and building bridges between different parts of society,” he said. “It also engages in social and humanitarian work and supports people in need.”

The Qadiriyya is among the oldest and most widespread Sufi orders in Iraq, tracing to the 12th-century scholar Abdul Qadir al-Jilani, whose shrine in Baghdad remains a center of learning and pilgrimage.