Ritual, Music, Sociability and Censure: Making a Film on Sufi \u27dhikr\u27 in Egypt

The author describes her experiences attending and filming the Sufi ritual of communal dhikr in order to create an educational videotape approximately a half-hour in length that would include commentary and translation of some of the lyrics and could convey Sufi dhikr as ritual, art (in the form of music and poetry), and social event. Dhikr is the remembrance of God through concentrated repetition of some of his Beautiful Names, accompanied by stylized movements of the body such as bowing or swinging from side to side, often employing methods of breath control and done in some countries (Egypt included) to musical accompaniment