“The Rifai/Rifayyah Sufi order (also known as howling dervishes) stressed poverty, abstinence, and self-mortification. It also performed the ritual prayer essential to all Sufi orders in a distinct manner: members link arms to form a circle and throw the upper parts of their bodies back and forth until ecstasy is achieved. Then the mystics fall on a dangerous object, such as sword or snake, though such extremes, as well as thaumaturgical practices, probably appeared under Mongol influence during their 13th-century occupation of Iraq and have always been rejected by orthodox Islam.”
another source: “The Rifa’iyyah (or “Howling Dervishes”) do not have any distinctive doctrines. Their distinctive identity derives from the extreme methods they employ to attain a mystical awareness of God. Rifa’i ritual gatherings are accompanied by the beating of drums and dancing, and by the accomplishment of extraordinary feats of endurance while in a state of ecstasy. Examples of such feats are dancing in fires and eating the flames until they are extinguished, placing a heated iron in the mouth, and piercing the cheeks and other parts of the body without any apparent loss of blood or wounding. Such practices are viewed with great suspicion by mainstream Muslim scholars on the grounds that they are inconsistent with Islamic law and the example of the Prophet.”
