Early expansion ("Mustapha Pasha") visiting the Mevlânâ ("Rumi") tomb in
Konya circa 1580, with whirling dervishes The order was established after Rumi's death in 1273 by his son Sultan Veled and Husameddin Chelebi (who inspired Rumi to write the
Mathnavi). and both he and Husameddin Chelebi are honoured within the order as accomplished Sufi mystics in their own right. It was they who had Rumi's mausoleum built in Konya, which to this day is a place of pilgrimage for many Muslims (and non-Muslims). A number of Rumi's successors, including both Sultan Veled and Husameddin Chelebi themselves, are also buried there. Their personal efforts to establish the order were continued by Sultan Veled's son
Ulu Arif Chelebi.
Mustafa Kemal met with members of the Mevlevi Order in 1923 before its institutional expression became illegal.
1925 ban on Sufism in the Turkish Republic Sufism was outlawed in Turkey in September 1925 by the new Turkish Republic under
Atatürk. As a result, the Dervish lodge in Konya eventually became the
Mevlana Museum. According to the International Mevlana Foundation, preceding the ban 'Atatürk uttered the following words about the Mevlevi Order to Abdulhalim Chalabi, "Makam Chalabi" of Konya, and furthermore the Vice President of the First House of Representatives: "You, the Mevlevis have made a great difference by combating ignorance and religious fundamentalism for centuries, as well as making contributions to science and the arts. However we are obliged not to make any exceptions and must include Mevlevi tekkes. Nonetheless, the ideas and teaching of Mevlana will not only exist forever, but they will emerge even more powerfully in the future."' Though the Sufi lodges were forced to close down, Mevlevi practice continues within Turkey but in a more restricted and private mode. Sufism is still officially illegal in Turkey, and
sema ceremonies are therefore officially presented as cultural events of historical interest rather than as worship. A number of groups and individuals who have no connection to the Mevlevi Order claim to present "Mevlevi whirling," often for the entertainment of tourists.
Mevlevi Order comes to the West In the latter half of the twentieth century, the Mevlevi Order began to make its presence felt in the West. This was due to the great popularity of English translations and versions of Rumi's poetry (especially by
Coleman Barks), but was also due to the influence of Shaikh Suleyman Hayati Lorasulam of Konya - known as Süleyman Dede]. He began training in the Konya Mevlevi dergah in the early 1920s, and was appointed as a Mevlevi Sheikh in the 1960s by Dr Celaleddin Çelebi, whose grandfather had been the last Mevlevi leader in Konya before the 1925 closures. Suleyman Dede made a number of trips to the USA, Canada and Europe in the 1970s, and appointed several Westerners as Mevlevi teachers for the first time, including
Reshad Feild, David (Daud) Bellak and
Kabir Helminski, and sent his son Jelaleddin Loras to live and teach in America. David Bellak took Suleyman Dede's teaching to Edinburgh in Scotland where he settled in 1982 and established this strand of Mevlevi practice. There are ongoing disagreements whether Süleyman Dede had the traditional authority to appoint others as Mevlevi shaikhs, or only as his own deputies. At this point in time, there was no functioning Mevlevi Order or hierarchy, and prior to 1925 there had been a variety of means for succession of leadership in the Mevlevi centres that were spread around the Ottoman Empire. Around the 1970s, Mevlevi dervishes also began to present the whirling ceremony to audiences in the West. In 1971, they performed in London with
Kâni Karaca (known as the 'Voice of Turkey') as lead singer. In 1972, they toured North America for the first time with Kâni Karaca, Ulvi Erguner, and Akagündüz Kutbay among the musicians. Since the 1990s there have been several tours of the United States, including those led by the first Westerner to be officially initiated as a shaikh in the Mevlevi Order,
Kabir Helminski. Since the 1980s, the Helminskis (Kabir and Camille) have presented their own ideas of Mevlevi principles and practice to Western audiences through books, seminars, retreats, and their organisation Threshold Society. Practising Mevlevis under the tutelage of a recognised shaikh can now be found across the globe.
Women in the Mevlevi Order Camille Helminski explains in her book,
Women of Sufism, A Hidden Treasure, how Rumi had a number of noteworthy female students, and how in the early days of the order there were instances of female shaikhs and
semazens, such as Destina Khatun (who was appointed
shaykha of the Kara Hisar Mevlevi lodge). "In the early days of the Mevlevi order, women and men were known to pray, share
sohbet (spiritual conversation), and whirl within each other's company, though more often as the centuries unfolded, women held their own
semas and men also whirled in
zhikr separate from women. However, in the time of Mevlana [Rumi], spontaneous
semas would occur including both men and women". In the same book, Camille Helminski presents a 1991 letter from Celaleddin Bakir Çelebi, the
Çelebi heading the order, which granted permission for men and women to once more whirl together in mixed Mevlevi ceremonies. == Relationship with the Ottoman Empire ==