Rumi and the Whirling Dervishes

Book excerpt: This brings together, in English, for the first time a number of articles in one volume that have been published in various books and journals and are reprinted with permission. Through this work, Rumi and his poetry as well as the whirling dervishes, will hopefully become more widely known in Western countries than they are at present. The whirling dervishes are famous for their ecstatic dance and but here it is hoped that their role within Sufism will become more clearly understood. The book is an attempt to suggest a renewed manner of thinking about one of the most celebrated trends in the mystical dimension of the Islam, the religion of love of Rumi and the cosmic dance of the dervishes. The theology is at the back of all the itinerary and the all five chapters represent the possibility to rethink the dynamic relation between disciples and their Founder, institution and charisma, politics and mysticism.