Freaky Dhikr Dancing

Badass religious dancing Chechnya style.

These mesmerising hypnotic images of men dancing and swaying are part of a religious practice known as a zikr or dhikr. It is a muslim Sufi ritual that is at the heart of Chechen Islam.

The practice is meant as a form of worship. It brigs its whirling participants into a trance like state that brings them closer to Allah.

For years the practice was suppressed as Chechnya fought a brutal war with Russia but now it is rising in popularity.