Haḍra


Haḍra is a collective supererogatory ritual performed by Sufi orders. It is often held on Thursday evenings after the night prayer, on Fridays after jumu'ah prayer or on Sunday evenings, and can also be celebrated on special Islamic festivals and at rites of passage. It may be held at home, in a mosque. The term in Arabic literally means "presence".
The hadra features various forms of dhikr, including sermons, collective study, recitation of Qur'an and other texts, religious poetic chanting, centering on praise and supplication to God, religious exhortations, praise of the Prophet and requests for intercession and rhythmic invocations of God using one or more divine names, especially Allah, Hayy, Qayyum or simply Hu, as well as the testimony of faith and tawhid, la ilaha illa Allah.
Rhythmic recitation of names and chanting of religious poetry are frequently performed together. In conservative Sufi orders no instruments are used, or the daf only; other orders employ a range of instrumentation. The collective Sufi ritual is practiced under this name primarily in the Arab world but also in some non-Arab Muslim countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia. In Turkish Sufism the Hadra is often referred to as the Devran and is a feature of the Khalwati, Shadhili, Qadiri and Rifa'i orders throughout Turkey and the Balkans.