Rumi and the Whirling Dervishes

Rumi and the Whirling Dervishes is an account of the Mevlevi Sufi order and its founder, the poet and mystic Mevlana JalaluÕddin Rumi. Rumi danced and sang his famous verses in memory of his friend and teacher Shams Tabriz, who opened to him the way to direct experience of the Divine Beloved. After RumiÕs death in 1273, the whirling dance was introduced as part of the Mevlevi ritual, a statement of a timeless and passionate yearning toward God.
Author Shems Friedlander has been doing documentary photography of the whirling dervishes since his first trip to Konya in 1973, and this book features haunting, evocative pictures of the orderÕs dancers, clad in their traditional white skirts and tall hats that represent their tombstones. Taken within the dervish lodges, known as tekkes, these photographs provide an insiderÕs view of ceremonies usually closed to the public. FriedlanderÕs images of the dervishes in mid-whirl evoke the exaltation of union with the divine source. In addition to RumiÕs life story and the accounts of dervishes past and present, the book features excerpts from RumiÕs poetry and the teachings of other Sufi masters, descriptions of the tekke and the symbolism of the dervish ceremony, an overview of the music that accompanies the MevlevisÕ turn, and a concluding section on the universality of RumiÕs message of love.
This classic account of the Whirling Dervishes is now presented in a new and revised edition containing additional text and photographs.