Muhammed Celâleddîn-i Rumi shortly referred to as MEVLANA was an Anatolian Muslim mystic and one of the greatest poets ever who lived in Anatolia, the Asian part of modern Turkey, in the 13th century. He is was the father of the Mevlevi order and was called Mevlana to mean “master” while the title “Rumi” corresponds to “land of Rum” or Anatolia where he lived most of his life. Mevlana spent his life in Konya and created his magnificent work in this city where he died and was buried, in 1273 AD. Mevlana created “Masnavi poetry” one the greatest work of Sufi Islam with more than 50,000 verses, which has been translated into 25 languages.
Mevlana’s followers established the Mevlevi Order within Islam, after his death which is worldwide known and has always drawn worldwide attention.
The expression “Şebi-I Arus” which means “the wedding night” was used by Mevlana for the night he would pass away, showing how strongly he longed for that specific moment as the time of union with his beloved one, i.e. Allah.
The local administration of Konya holds an international commemoration ceremony marking the anniversary of the union of Mevlana with Allah between 7th and 17th December every year, as a courtesy to the Muslim Scholar.
Based on official data provided by authorities an approximate number of 50,000 people visited the Konya during the year 2017 to watch the "Sama" ceremonies performed by whirling dervishes.
Sama is known to be a spiritual prayer form or a method of connecting with the divine and was introduced by Mevlana Jalalad-Din Rumi, well known in the Western world as “Rumi”.
Turkey is proud to have hosted such an extraordinary Islam philosopher and poet on this soil, who has been enlightening the world for hundreds of years via “Sama” ceremonies, in Konya. It is good to know those interested in the Masnavi courses (on the spiritual works of Rumi) held in Turkish and English before Saturday ceremonies every week are welcome.
