Rumi (Mevlana Jalal al-Din)

Jalal al-Din was born in Balkh. Fleeing the Mongol threat, his family moved to Anatolia and settled in Konya at the invitation of the Seljuk sultan. After his father Baha al-Din Walad he became a renowned scholar and preacher in Konya.

His meeting in 1244 with the dervish Shams of Tabriz transformed him from a scholar into a poet of love and ecstasy. He wrote mainly in Persian: the Masnavi of some 25,000 couplets, the Divan-e Kabir and Fihi Ma Fihi.

Rumi died on 17 December 1273, a night remembered as Şeb-i Arus, the "wedding night". The Mevlevi order that follows his path is known for the sema ceremony. UNESCO declared 2007, the 800th anniversary of his birth, the Year of Rumi.