Mevlevi Order
| Turkish: Mevlevi Dergahi | |
Whirling dervishes, illustrated in Le Livre d'Or des Voyages by Louis Mainard, c. 1890 | |
| Abbreviation | Mevlevi |
|---|---|
| Formation | approx. 1250 |
| Founder | Baha al-Din Muhammad-i Walad |
| Founded at | Sultanate of Rum |
| Type | Dervish order |
| Headquarters | Konya, Turkey |
| Membership | ca. 2,000 as of 2015 |
Makam Chalabi (Chief Master) | Faruk Hemdem |
| Rumi | |
Main organ | Diyanet |
| Part of a series on Islam Sufism |
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| Islam portal |
The Mevlevi Order or Mawlawiyya (Turkish: Mevlevilik; Persian: طریقت مولویه) is a Sufi order that originated in Konya, Turkey (formerly capital of the Sultanate of Rum) and which was founded by the followers of Jalaluddin Muhammad Balkhi Rumi, a 13th-century Persian poet, Sufi mystic, and theologian. The Mevlevis are also known as the "whirling dervishes" due to their famous practice of whirling while performing dhikr (remembrance of God). Dervish is a common term for an initiate of the Sufi path; whirling is part of the formal sema ceremony and the participants are properly known as semazens.