Editing Mevlevi Order (section)

==Principles and practices==
Approximately 750 years old, the Mevlevi Order was once a living tradition based on the teachings of Rumi, also known as Mevlevi or Mevlana, who is perhaps one of the most celebrated poets in Turkey. He is also venerated as a mystic within Islam. Rumi's friend and mentor, Shams of Tabriz, is also revered within the order and within Sufism.
 
The Mevlevis insist that love is central to Islam. Mevlevi shaikh [[Şefik Can]] writes, "Rumi tells us to take the love of God to the forefront, to abstain from being attached to the letter of the law rather than the spirit of it, to find the essence of the faith, and to raise our faith from the level of imitation to the level of realization."<ref name=can>{{cite book |last1=Can |first1=Şefik |title=Fundamentals of Rumi's Thought: A Mevlevi Sufi Perspective |date=2005 |publisher=Light}}</ref>

In addition to obligatory Islamic worship, some of the main spiritual practices within the Mevlevi Order are as follows (in order of importance):

* Study of the [[Quran]] and Rumi's works (especially his poetic masterpiece the ''[[Mathnavi]]'') 
* [[Muraqabah]] (Islamic meditation)
* [[Initiation|Initiatic]] conversation led by the sheikh (known as ''sohbet'') 
* ''[[Sama (Sufism)|Sema]]'': the whirling ceremony
* ''[[Dhikr]]'': invocation of the Divine Names which is believed to purify the heart
* [[Adab (Islam)|Adab]] (developing courtesy and mindfulness)<ref name="heart">{{cite book |last1=Helminski |first1=Kabir |title=The Knowing Heart: A Sufi Path of Transformation |date=1999 |publisher=Shambhala}}</ref>