Rumi

Jalal al-Din Rumi was born in 1207 at Balkh, in present-day Afghanistan. As a child he fled westward with his father before the Mongol invasion, and the family settled at last in Konya, capital of the Seljuk sultanate in what is now Turkey, where he succeeded his father as a respected jurist and preacher. In 1244 he met the wandering dervish Shams of Tabriz, and from their deep spiritual friendship the scholar became an ecstatic poet. After Shams mysteriously vanished, Rumi poured out tens of thousands of lines of longing and search. His disciples founded the Mevlevi order, famous for its whirling dance. Today he is one of the best-selling poets in the United States.