DARWĪSH. The Persian word darwīsh, from the Pahlavi driyosh, is most likely derived from the term darvīza, meaning "poverty," "neediness," "begging," and so forth. The word darwīsh has entered the other Islamic languages, such as Turkish and Urdu, and is even found in classical Arabic sources. It has become an English word in the form of dervish. In all these cases, including the original Persian, it is related primarily to spiritual poverty, equivalent to the possession of "Muhammadan poverty" (al-faqr al-muḥammadi). Hence the term darwīsh referring to a person who possesses this "poverty" is the same as the Arabic term faqīr used in Sufism in many Islamic languages besides Arabic (including Persian itself) for Muhammadan poverty. Within Ṣūfī circles, these words are used interchangeably, along with mutaṣawwif, "practitioner" of Sufism.

The term darwīsh...