The City of Konya: Rumi and the Whirling Dervishes

Between all the touristic attractions, it's sometimes easy to forget what is at the heart of these celebrations: Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi and his exemplar relationship with God. Known in the West as Rumi (literally, “from Anatolia”) and in the East as Mevlana (literally “Our Master”), the famed poet lived most of his life in Konya, then the capital of the Seljuk Empire, where he was a renowned teacher of hundreds of students.