SDLC 111 - Culture Post 5

[Christopher Carl Rein]

Growing up, Rumi was just the name of the guy who authored all the different quotes decorating one of the streets in my city.  It wasn’t until well into my senior year of high school that I learned he was an amazing poet, and not until college when I learned that he was one of the most influential Sufis of all time.  As a historical figure, his legacy is steeped in equal parts Arabic, Persian, and Turkish heritage - he was an ethnically Persian man who preached in Arabic and lived in Turkey.  His name in Turkish is Mevlana Celaleddin-i Rumi.  The first part of his name, Mevlana, means “our master” in Arabic, but is phonetically Turkish (yay! Ottoman Turkish).  He was also known as “Hüdavendigar,” meaning great leader in Ottoman Turkish.  Rumi in his name means “Rum,” one of the historical names for Anatolia used in various Islamic countries (and to some extant still in Arabic… Turkeys, the birds, are known as Dik Rumi… or Anatolian Cocks).  Continued in next Culture Post