OPEN SECRET: Poems of the 13th Century Sufi Master Rumi

Jalaluddin Rumi was born in Afghanistan (1207) to a family of scholars and theologians. They fled the Mongol invasions, settling in Turkey, where Rumi succeeded his father as head of the Sufi dervish learning community. The direction of his life changed dramatically when he met Shams of Tabriz, the man who became his inspiration. With Shams, he discovered the "Inner Friend" a way of being with God in companionship. Out of Rumi's relationship with Shams, out of his love-joy-longing, came the poetry and the whirling of the original "Whirling Dervishes". when Rumi died in 1273, devotees of many faiths came to his funeral. "I go to the church, the Synagogue and the Mosque . . I see only one altar." He continues to be rediscovered by sympathetic sould from every culture.