Located on the semi-arid Anatolian plateau in modern-day Türkiye, Konya was known as Iconium in the Greek and Byzantine periods. It became the capital of the Rum Seljuks in the early twelfth century and was transformed with palaces, caravanserais, and religious structures such as the Karatay Madrasa founded in 1251. When the poet Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207–1273) and his father fled the Mongol armies of Genghis Khan in the early 1220s, they settled in this vibrant city, which has maintained its regional economic importance to this day. 

Konya’s fame rests on its association with Rumi, known as such globally but as Mawlana historically. His shrine, with its iconic green dome, was originally located on the outskirts of the city. Following Rumi’s death, his eldest son Sultan Valad (d. 1312) commissioned a Persian architect to design a structure over the grave, which was funded by a Seljuk noble. Renovated and expanded over the following centuries, the complex became the headquarters of the Mevlevi tariqa, which grew within the Ottoman Empire and beyond. With the creation of the Republic of Türkiye in 1923, the shrine officially became a museum, but it continues to attract pilgrims and tourists from around the world.

In 1244, Rumi had a life-changing encounter with an itinerant scholar and mystic named Shams al-Din Tabrizi, who became Rumi’s spiritual inspiration. He stopped teaching and began writing poetry, which was collected into the “Great Divan” or the “Divan of Shams Tabrizi.” For Rumi, poetry was another way to preach and pray. He continued to write after Shams left Konya for Syria. Sultan Valad, Rumi’s son, brought him back from Aleppo, but Shams disappeared again, never to return. Some claim that Rumi’s devotees assassinated him because of their jealousy of Shams’s close relationship with their master.

Rumi’s most famous work is the Masnavi-yi ma‘navi (Spiritual Couplets). This monumental mystical poem in rhyming verses takes the form of stories and anecdotes. Composed in Persian, the Masnavi achieved a quasi-scriptural status through ceremonial recitations and is still widely recited from the Balkans to Central Asia and Bengal.

The tariqa took the name Mevlevi from mevlana, a Turkish word for the Arabic mawlana, or “our master,” the title by which Rumi is known in the Islamic world. A defining characteristic of the Mevleviyya is the accoutrement of its members: the buff colored, tall cap made of solid tanned carpet; the brownish sleeved coat made of thick fabric; and the long, white collarless dress.

The descendants of Rumi have maintained their association with the Mevlevis to the present. Known by the title çelebi (literally, “gentleman,” in Ottoman Turkish), male descendants of Sultan Valad have uninterruptedly been the formal stewards of the order. The head shaykh at Konya is known as the Grand Çelebi and currently is Faruk Hemden Çelebi. Female devotees are also included in the Mevleviyya, and women play a leading role in the order. Esin Çelebi Bayru, Faruk Hemden Çelebi’s sister and the twenty-second-generation granddaughter of Rumi, is the Vice President of the International Mevlana Foundation, which is located in the vicinity of Rumi’s shrine in Konya.

Particular to the Mevlevis is the sema‘, a distinct dhikr ceremony during which participants spin while wearing robes and tall felt hats—hence, the Western term “whirling dervishes.” Rumi became enamored with sema‘, and its practice transformed him into a shaykh in the eyes of his followers. This is encapsulated in the following quatrain from the Masnavi:

Only initiates are permitted to participate in the ceremony. They are accompanied by a musical ensemble, which usually includes a singer or reciter and a variety of instruments, such as drums and a reed flute. While the Mevlevi sema‘ is quite distinct, it has become the symbol of all Sufi music traditions worldwide.

For their sema‘, Mevlevis developed a particular liturgical dance called the ayn-i sherif, which was accompanied by a series of songs with instruments. Along with percussion (tambourine and kettledrum) used by other orders, the Mevlevis consider the reed flute (ney) as a sacred instrument and give it special importance. Rumi used it as a metaphor for the soul’s yearning of unity with the divine. In fact, the ney opens the Masnavi with the following verse:

Rumi’s tomb is marked on the exterior by a green-domed, ribbed tower, which is visible from a distance. Other members of his family, including his father Baha al-Din, his son Sultan Valad, his second wife Kerra Khatun, and his daughter Maleke Khatun, are buried nearby. 

The interior of the light-filled tomb chamber is lavishly decorated with wall paintings. Dating to the reign of Bayezid II, they depict stylized landscapes, some with elegant pavilions, that have been interpreted as images of paradise. They may also depict an imaginary map of the Mevlevi network with its different complexes throughout Anatolia.

With the growing interaction between the Ottoman Empire and the West by the seventeenth century, Europeans began to describe and depict Sufis and their rituals, especially members of the Mevlevi order. The best-known European painting of the Mevlevi sema‘ is of the Galata mevlevihane. It is painted by French artist Jean-Baptiste Vanmour, who spent much of his life in Istanbul and died there in 1699.

European interest in the Mevlevi continued as the order and its practices were carefully documented. In provincial centers, local communities were often photographed, as seen here in Urfa in southeastern Türkiye.

Today, the shrine is a popular destination for Turkish pilgrims as well as others from across the Islamic world and international tourists. Rumi has become a saint to many, whose baraka is worth seeking. He has also been embraced by popular culture, with his face on greeting cards, magnets, coffee cups, as well as on a Turkish bank note from 1985. A monumental statue of Rumi whirling has also been erected on the outskirts of the coastal city of Izmir.

In the 1990s, Rumi became the best-selling poet in the United States through a series of translations and reinterpretations of his Masnavi. Stripped of its association with Islam, Rumi’s poetry was transformed into a generic expression of Eastern spirituality, rather than a specific tradition, while the whirling dervishes have become globally emblematic of all Sufi traditions. They spin every Thursday evenings on the square in front the shrine to the delight of visitors, tourists, pilgrims, and Mevlevi followers alike.

The annual commemoration of Rumi’s death, observed on December 17, also became an international phenomenon. The ceremonies, centered in Konya, attract large crowds of pilgrims and involve the performance of a sema‘ retransmitted on television, alongside recitations of Rumi’s poetry and concerts of Mevlevi music. Called Sheb-i Arus, which translates to “wedding night,” it celebrates a joyous event rather than a somber occasion as it signifies Rumi’s spiritual union with God, or his “Beloved.”