Mowlana Jalaluddin Rumi

Mowlana Jalaluddin Rumi, best known to English-speaking audiences as Rumi, is considered to be one of the greatest of Sufi poets. Born in 1207 in Balkh (now Afghanistan), Rumi was a teacher, theologian, and philosopher, as well as a mystic poet, whose influence spread throughout Afghanistan and central Asia,Turkey, and India. His most significant work is the Mathnawi, a multivolume work of stories and lyric poetry on teaching and Sufi lore. He also brought us the Mawlawiya (Mevlevi), a Sufi order that engages dance in its spiritual practices and that is better known in the West as the Whirling Dervishes.