The Dervish is the story of Ahmed Nurudin, sheikh of the teleija of the Mevlevs’ order in a provincial town in Bosnia at the time of Turkish domination. The first-person narration, with the leading character telling the story, begins shortly after a turning event in Ahmed Nurudin’s life that will lead him to ruin.
Ahmed Nurudin lives in his world of absolute certainties and eternal truths, as codified and sanctioned by the Koran, detached from the world of ordinary men and women, over whom he claims leadership. His attitude is that of the spectator, or witness – never that of participant. But at a decisive moment for him, life forces him to do what he is escaping from: to act and take sides.
His younger brother is arrested without reason and killed in a totally arbitrary act. Ahmed is helpless despite his position, his prestige in the community, his clumsy attempts to sway those holding power, which he believed he had connections with, in defence of law and order. The foundations, which for him had been so sound, begin to crumble.
This is a conversion with a difference, a headlong leap and an obsessive thirst for revenge. Nurudin discovers the powers that drive a man to action, turning popular feeling against his enemies, inducing an uprising and causing the death of his offenders. What is more, he in turn gains power, replacing the killed Cadì. But power then overwhelms him, and he in turn is forced into an arbitrary act, as disastrous as that which caused his brother’s death: he orders the arrest of the noble Hasan, his only support and friend. The subsequent chain of events will lead him to an ignominious end.The Dervish is the story of the life of Ahmed Nurudin, sheikh of the teleija of the order of the Mevlevs in a provincial town in Bosnia at the time of Turkish domination. The first-person narration, with the leading character telling the story, begins shortly after a turning event in Ahmed Nurudin’s life that will lead him to ruin.
Ahmed Nurudin lives in his world of absolute certainties and eternal truths, as codified and sanctioned by the Koran, detached from the world of ordinary men and women, over whom he claims leadership. His attitude is that of the spectator, or witness – never that of participant. But at a decisive moment for him, life forces him to do what he is escaping from: to act and take sides.
His younger brother is arrested without reason and killed in a totally arbitrary act. Ahmed is helpless despite his position, his prestige in the community, his clumsy attempts to sway those holding power, which he believed he had connections with, in defence of law and order. The foundations, which for him had been so sound, begin to crumble.
This is a conversion with a difference, a headlong leap and an obsessive thirst for revenge. Nurudin discovers the powers that drive a man to action, turning popular feeling against his enemies, inducing an uprising and causing the death of his offenders. What is more, he in turn gains power, replacing the killed Cadì. But power then overwhelms him, and he in turn is forced into an arbitrary act, as disastrous as that which caused his brother’s death: he orders the arrest of the noble Hasan, his only support and friend. The subsequent chain of events will lead him to an ignominious end.
From the novel by Mesa Selimovic.