Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi

Who is Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi?

Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi, known in Turkey as Mevlana, was a 13th-century Persian-language poet, Islamic scholar and Sufi mystic who spent most of his life in Konya, in Anatolia within present-day Turkey. Born in Balkh or nearby (in the Khorasan region), his family migrated westward, eventually settling in the Seljuk-ruled city of Konya. His encounter with the wandering dervish Shams of Tabriz transformed him into an ecstatic poet of divine love. His major works include the vast Masnavi, a spiritual epic often called the Persian Quran, and the Divan-i Kebir. After his death, his followers organized the Mevlevi order, famous for the whirling dervish sema ceremony. Rumi's poetry, centered on love, longing and union with the divine, remains among the most widely read in the world, and his shrine in Konya is a major pilgrimage and cultural site.

Sources: Franklin D. Lewis, Rumi: Past and Present, East and West (2000) · Annemarie Schimmel, The Triumphal Sun: A Study of the Works of Jalaloddin Rumi (1978)