WHIRLING DERVISHES of RUMI and SUFI MUSIC CONCERT - Live Performance

Dialogue Institute of the Southwest presents Whirling Dervishes of Rumi... There will be a Whirling Dervishes Performance and Sufi Music Concert in Little Rock as a part of a tour on January 31, 2015. Sufism (tasawwuf) is the path followed by Sufis (adherents of Islamic mysticism) to reach the Truth—God. While this term usually expresses the theoretical or philosophical aspect of this search, its practical aspect is usually referred to as "being a dervish." For more information please visit: http://www.thewhirlingdervishes.org/ Mawlana Jalaleddin Rumi was one of the great spiritual masters and poetic geniuses of mankind, and the Mevlevi Sufi order was founded to follow his teachings. He was born in 1207 in Balkh in present day Afghanistan to a family of learned theologians. Escaping the Mongol invasion, he and his family traveled extensively in Muslim lands, performed pilgrimage to Mecca and visited Medina; the journey brought the family to Erzincan and then Karaman, where Rumi studied for a short period in the Halaveye School. In 1228, at the invitation of the Sultan of the Seljuks, Alaeddin Keykubad, they settled in Konya, Anatolia, in present day Turkey, then part of the Seljuk Empire. Here Jalaleddin married and lived with his wife, Gevher Hatun, who bore him two children. He is called ‘Rumi,’ meaning ‘Anatolian’ because of his life in that place. He also gained the title Mevlana which means ‘Our Master’ through his life’s work there.