KONYA, Turkey (RNS) — “Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving. It doesn’t matter. Ours is not a caravan of despair.”
These words, belonging to the 12th-century poet and Sufi Muslim mystic Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhi Rūmī, resonated with the pilgrims gathered at his final resting place in Turkey to celebrate the Şeb-i-Arus — Rumi’s union with the divine — on the 751st anniversary of his death.
The 10 days of events that ended Tuesday (Dec. 17) drew hundreds from around the world to this provincial capital in central Anatolia, which in Rumi’s day served as the capital of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, a precursor to the Ottoman Empire.
Konya is also known as the home of the Mevlevi order, the Sufi sect that follows the teachings of Rumi, often called whirling dervishes, due to their distinctive spinning prayer known as Sema.
Ismail Fenter. (Photo courtesy Ismail Fenter)
Once a more intimate affair confined to members of the Mevlevi order, Şeb-i-Arus has become something of a festival, with 10 days of events, concerts and lectures around Rumi’s tomb, with twice-daily Sema ceremonies.
“People come here from other countries wanting to be near Rumi, to get that thing everybody feels, and everybody feels it,” said Ismail Fenter, an American-born Mevlevi who settled in Konya a few years ago.
Today Rumi’s primary work, the Masnavi, is read in Islamic communities worldwide, but Muslims are hardly the only pilgrims to Konya for Şeb-i-Arus. “People from everywhere get together here, from all parts of life, and they have one thing in common, and that one thing is (Rumi) and his lessons,” Soheila Adelipour, who lives in Los Angeles, told Religion News Service. “They say that (Rumi) requests you, invites you, demands you. If you don’t have that request you aren’t going to end up here.”
Adelipour, an Iranian-born Jew and self-help author, said Rumi’s wisdom had helped her at difficult points in her life, adding that she was hopeful that in Konya she would find inspiration to finish her next book.
Three-quarters of a millenium after his death, Rumi consistently ranks among the bestselling poets in the United States, boosting interest in the anniversary celebrations in Konya.
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