left|thumb|Rumi's tomb in [[Konya, Turkey]]

During Ottoman times, the Mevlevi produced a number of notable poets and musicians, including Sheikh Ghalib, Ismail Rusuhi Dede of Ankara, Esrar Dede, Halet Efendi, and Gavsi Dede, who are all buried at the Galata Mewlewī Khāna (Turkish: Mevlevi-Hane) in Istanbul. Music, especially that of the ney, plays an important part in the Mevlevi.

With the foundation of the modern, secular Republic of Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk removed religion from the sphere of public policy and restricted it exclusively to that of personal morals, behaviour and faith. On 13 December 1925, a law was passed closing all the tekkes (dervish lodges) and zāwiyas (chief dervish lodges), and the centres of veneration to which visits (ziyārat) were made. Istanbul alone had more than 250 tekkes as well as small centres for gatherings of various fraternities; this law dissolved the Sufi Orders, prohibited the use of mystical names, titles and costumes pertaining to their titles, impounded the Orders' assets, and banned their ceremonies and meetings. The law also provided penalties for those who tried to re-establish the Orders. Two years later, in 1927, the Mausoleum of Mevlâna in Konya was allowed to reopen as a Museum.

In the 1950s, the Turkish government began allowing the Whirling Dervishes to perform once a year in Konya. The Mewlānā festival is held over two weeks in December; its culmination is on 17 December, the Urs of Mewlānā (anniversary of Rumi's death), called Šab-e Arūs () (Persian meaning "nuptial night"), the night of Rumi's union with God. In 1974, the Whirling Dervishes were permitted to travel to the West for the first time. In 2005, UNESCO proclaimed "The Mevlevi Sama Ceremony" of Turkey as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.

thumb|Rumi and his mausoleum on the reverse of the 5000 Turkish lira banknotes of 1981–1994

Rumi and his mausoleum were depicted on the reverse of the 5000 Turkish lira banknotes of 1981–1994.

Religious denomination

As Edward G. Browne noted, the three most prominent mystical Persian poets, Rumi, Sanai and Attar, were all Sunni Muslims and their poetry abounds with praise for the first two caliphs, Abu Bakr and Umar ibn al-Khattāb. According to Annemarie Schimmel, the tendency among Shia authors to anachronistically include leading mystical poets such as Rumi and Attar among their own ranks, became stronger after the introduction of Twelver Shia as the state religion in the Safavid Empire in 1501.

Eight-hundredth anniversary celebrations

thumb|Rumi on a 1968 Afghan stamp

In Afghanistan, Rumi is known as Mawlānā, in Turkey as Mevlâna, and in Iran as Molavī.

At the proposal of the Permanent Delegations of Afghanistan, Iran, and Turkey, and as approved by its executive board and General Conference in conformity with its mission of "constructing in the minds of men the defences of peace", UNESCO was associated with the celebration, in 2007, of the eight hundredth anniversary of Rumi's birth. The commemoration at UNESCO itself took place on 6 September 2007; UNESCO issued a medal in Rumi's name in the hope that it would prove an encouragement to those who are engaged in research on and dissemination of Rumi's ideas and ideals, which would, in turn, enhance the diffusion of the ideals of UNESCO.

On 30 September 2007, Iranian school bells were rung throughout the country in honour of Mewlana. Also in that year, Iran held a Rumi Week from 26 October to 2 November. An international ceremony and conference were held in Tehran; the event was opened by the Iranian president and the chairman of the Iranian parliament. Scholars from twenty-nine countries attended the events, and 450 articles were presented at the conference. Iranian musician Shahram Nazeri was awarded the Légion d'honneur and Iran's House of Music Award in 2007 for his renowned works on Rumi masterpieces. 2007 was declared as the "International Rumi Year" by UNESCO.

Also on 30 September 2007, Turkey celebrated Rumi's eight-hundredth birthday with a giant Whirling Dervish ritual performance of the samāʿ, which was televised using forty-eight cameras and broadcast live in eight countries. Ertugrul Gunay, of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, stated, "Three hundred dervishes are scheduled to take part in this ritual, making it the largest performance of sema in history."

Mawlana Rumi Review

The Mawlana Rumi Review is an academic journal devoted to the poetry, life, thought, and legacy of Rumi published annually since 2010 by The Centre for Persian and Iranian Studies at the University of Exeter in collaboration with The Rumi Institute in Nicosia, Cyprus, and Archetype Books in Cambridge.

  • Shahram Shiva

Notes

References

Further reading

English translations

  • Alt URL

Life and work

  • RUMI, JALĀL-AL-DIN. Encyclopædia Iranica, online edition, 2014.
  • Dr Khalifa Abdul Hakim, "The metaphysics of Rumi: A critical and historical sketch", Lahore: The Institute of Islamic Culture, 1959. .
  • Afzal Iqbal, The Life and thought of Mohammad Jalal-ud-Din Rumi, Lahore: Bazm-i-Iqbal, 1959 (latest edition, The life and work of Jalal-ud-Din Rumi, Kuala Lumpur: The Other Press, 2014). Endorsed by the famous Rumi scholar A. J. Arberry, who penned the foreword.
  • Abdol Reza Arasteh, Rumi the Persian: Rebirth in Creativity and Love, Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashraf, 1963 (latest edition, Rumi the Persian, the Sufi, New York: Routledge, 2013). The author was a US-trained Iranian psychiatrist influenced by Erich Fromm and C.G. Jung.
  • Annemarie Schimmel, The Triumphal Sun: A Study of the Works of Jalaloddin Rumi, Albany: SUNY Press, 1993.
  • Fatemeh Keshavarz, Reading Mystical Lyric: The Case of Jalal al-Din Rumi, University of South Carolina Press, 1998. .
  • Mawlana Rumi Review mawlanarumireview.com. An annual review devoted to Rumi. Archetype, 2010. .
  • Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Islamic Art and Spirituality, Albany: SUNY Press, 1987, chapters 7 and 8.
  • Majid M. Naini, The Mysteries of the Universe and Rumi's Discoveries on the Majestic Path of Love, Universal Vision & Research, 2002,
  • Franklin Lewis, Rumi: Past and Present, East and West, Oneworld Publications, 2000.
  • Leslie Wines, Rumi: A Spiritual Biography, New York: Crossroads, 2001 .
  • Rumi's Thoughts, edited by Seyed G. Safavi, London: London Academy of Iranian Studies, 2003.
  • William Chittick, The Sufi Doctrine of Rumi: Illustrated Edition, Bloomington: World Wisdom, 2005.
  • Şefik Can, Fundamentals of Rumi's Thought: A Mevlevi Sufi Perspective, Sommerset (NJ): The Light Inc., 2004, .
  • "Rumi's Tasawwuf and Vedanta" by R. M. Chopra in Indo Iranica, Vol. 60
  • Athanasios Sideris, "Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi", an entry on Rumi's connections to the Greek element in Asia Minor, in the Encyclopedia of the Hellenic World – Asia Minor, 2003.
  • Waley, Muhammad Isa (2017). The Stanzaic Poems (Tarjī'āt) of Rumi. Critical Edition, Translation, and Commentary, with Additional Chapters on Aspects of His Divan (School of Oriental and African Studies, London).

Persian literature

  • E. G. Browne, History of Persia, four volumes, first published 1902–1924.
  • Jan Rypka, History of Iranian Literature, Reidel Publishing Company; 1968 .
  • "RUMI: His Teachings and Philosophy" by R. M. Chopra, Iran Society, Kolkata (2007).
  • Dar al Masnavi, several English versions of selections by different translators.
  • Poems by Rumi in English at the Academy of American Poets
  • Masnavi-e Ma'navi, recited in Persian by Mohammad Ghanbar