Largely neglected by the media and ignored by outsiders, Sufism, the mystic trend in Islam, is a massive phenomenon. The Egyptian Sufi orders claim a membership of six million.
Their rituals, performed to rhythmic and often passionate music, differ profoundly from those adhered to by «orthodox» Muslims.
Niek (Dr N.H.) Biegman studied Arabic in Leiden, and spent more than seven years in Egypt. He became aware of popular mysticism at the moulid of Al-Husayn in 1965, and is still fascinated by it. Having published in 1990 Egypt- Moulids, Saints, Sufis, which appeared in Arabic in 2009, he made two photo books about Sufi ritual: God's Lovers, which documents a Rifa'i group in Skopje, Macedonia, and Living Sufism, co-published in 2009 by AUC Press, on dervishes in Egypt, Bosnia, Kosovo, Macedonia and Syria.
