87
The Mawlawi Order, or Whirling
Dervishes, dance as part of the Sufi
Sema ceremony. The dance represents
the spiritual journey of man from
ignorance to perfection through love.
See also: Siddhartha Gautama 30–33 ■ Avicenna 76–79 ■ Averroes 82–83 ■
Hajime Tanabe 244–45 ■ Arne Naess 282–83
THE MEDIEVAL WORLD
man. In contrast to general Islamic
practice, he placed much emphasis
on dhikr—ritual prayer or litany—
rather than rational analysis of the
Qur’an for divine guidance, and
became known for his ecstatic
revelations. He believed it was his
task to communicate the visions
he experienced, and so he wrote
them down in the form of poetry.
Central to his visionary philosophy
is the idea that the universe and
everything in it is an endless flow
of life, in which God is an eternal
presence. Man, as part of the
universe, is also a part of this
continuum, and Rumi seeks to
explain our place within it.
Man, he believes, is a link
between the past and future in a
continual process of life, death, and
rebirth—not as a cycle, but in a
progression from one form to another
stretching into eternity. Death and
decay are inevitable and part of
this endless flow of life, but as
something ceases to exist in one
form, it is reborn in another. Because
of this, we should have no fear of
death, and nor should we grieve a
loss. In order to ensure our growth
from one form to another, however,
we should strive for spiritual growth
and an understanding of the
divine–human relationship. Rumi
believes that this understanding
comes from emotion rather than
from reason—emotion enhanced
by music, song, and dance.Rumi’s legacy
The mystical elements of Rumi’s
ideas were inspirational within
Sufism, and influenced mainstream
Islam too. They were also pivotal
in converting much of Turkey from
Orthodox Christianity to Islam. But
this aspect of his thinking did not
hold much sway in Europe, where
rationalism was the order of the
day. In the 20th century, however,
his ideas became very popular
in the West, mainly because his
message of love chimed with the
New Age values of the 1960s.
Perhaps his greatest admirer in
the 20th century was the poet
and politician Muhammed Iqbal,
advisor to Muhammad Ali Jinnah,
who campaigned for an Islamic
state of Pakistan in the 1930s. ■I died as a mineral
and became a plant,
I died as a plant and
rose to animal, I died as
animal and I was Man.
Jalal ad-Din RumiJalal ad-Din
Muhammad RumiJalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi,
also known as Mawlana (Our
Guide) or simply Rumi, was
born in Balkh, in a province
of Persia. When the Mongol
invasions threatened the
region, his family settled in
Anatolia, Turkey, where Rumi
met the Persian poets Attar
and Shams al-Din Tabrizi.
He decided to devote himself
to Sufism, and went on to
write thousands of verses
of Persian and Arabic poetry.
In 1244 Rumi became
the shaykh (Master) of a Sufi
order, and taught his mystical-
emotional interpretation of the
Qur’an and the importance of
music and dance in religious
ceremony. After his death,
his followers founded the
Mawlawi Order of Sufism,
which is famous for its
Whirling Dervishes who
perform a distinctive dance
in the Sema ceremony—a form
of dhikr unique to the sect.Key worksEarly–mid-13th century
Rhyming Couplets of Profound
Spiritual Meaning
The Works of Shams of Tabriz
What is Within is Within
Seven Sessions