Rumi

1207 – 1273

Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī, commonly known as Rumi, was a 13th-century Sufi mystic, theologian, and poet whose six-volume Persian-language Masnavi-yi Ma'navi is widely regarded as the greatest mystical poem in Islamic literature. Born in present-day Tajikistan and settling in Konya in modern-day Turkey, he founded the Mevlevi Order—the Whirling Dervishes—after his transformative encounter with the wandering mystic Shams of Tabriz. His writings have been translated into dozens of languages and have made him one of the most-read poets in the contemporary English-speaking world.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM