Blog post brought to you by Laila Katie Helms
Every evening at the gathering this year, Mahdi al-Jamal will be holding the hadra (another name for our dhikr circles). Mahdi sent along a message for us about this, and we wanted to share it with you directly:
If you’ve never done a hadra before, the word alone might raise a question or two. What is it, exactly? What happens? Do you need to know anything beforehand? Here’s a starting answer, ahead of the evenings we’ll spend together this October Insha’Allah.
What a Hadra Actually Is
Hadra means “presence.” At its simplest, it’s dhikr, the remembrance of Allah. It’s done together, out loud, in a circle, often with movement and rhythm. Where dhikr can be quiet and solitary, a whispered practice done alone, hadra is communal and embodied. Voices join together in calling Allah’s names. Bodies often sway, step, or turn together. A drum frequently carries the rhythm, giving the circle something to move with rather than just around.
It’s less a performance to watch and more a current to step into. Nobody in the circle is more “correct” than anyone else — everyone present is doing the same thing, together, at the same time regardless of what it looks like on the outside
What It's For
Mahdi put it simply in his recent message to the community: it is only by calling Allah’s name that our hearts find peace, in sakina. That’s really the heart of it. Hadra isn’t primarily about learning steps or getting the rhythm right, it’s a container for the whole group to arrive at that inner stillness together, the same way our teacher, Sidi Sheikh Muhammad Sa’id al-Jamal ar-Rifa’i ash-Shadhdhuli, held these circles throughout his life.
There’s also something in it about unity itself, the sense of gathering “as brothers and sisters,” as Mahdi’s message reminds us, echoing words the Prophet ﷺ spoke on his arrival to Medina. A hadra is, among other things, a room full of people choosing to be present to God and to each other at the same time.
What It's Like to Do One
You don’t need to know anything walking in. The circle teaches you as it moves, you’ll pick up the words, the rhythm, the movement by simply being in it, the way you’d learn a folk dance by joining rather than studying beforehand.
It’s normal to feel a little unsure the first time. Some people find themselves moved to tears; others feel a quiet settling; some mostly notice their own self-consciousness before it eventually falls away and they’re in the flow with everyone. All of that is a normal part of a first hadra. There’s no wrong way to experience it, and nobody is tracking whether you’re doing it “right.” It is not a competition or performance; it is presence in joyful community.
If you’d rather ease in slowly, that’s fine too; you can stand at the edge of the circle and simply listen and watch before joining in. Nobody will pull you in before you’re ready.
What the Hadra Can Offer Beginners, Specifically
For people newer to this path, hadra is often one of the more direct entry points into Sufi practice, perhaps because it is more embodied than intellectual, more felt than explained. You don’t need to understand the theology first. The practice itself is the teaching, in a way that words on a page can’t quite capture. Many people find that hadra gives them their clearest sense yet of what this community, and this path, is actually about.
A Practical Note
If you have a drum, bring it along; the circle welcomes your rhythm. And if this is your first time, simply come. That’s genuinely the only preparation needed.
Come, let’s take a drink of the deep love while we call Allah’s names together.
2026 Gathering Information Page