Christianity and Monasticism in Wadi Al-Natrun Reviews

Rumi and the Whirling Dervishes is an account of the Mevlevi Sufi order and its founder, the poet and mystic Mevlana Jalalu’ddin Rumi. Rumi danced and sang his famous verses in memory of his friend and teacher Shams Tabriz, who opened to him the way to direct experience of the Divine Beloved. After Rumi’s death in 1273, the whirling dance was introduced as part of the Mevlevi ritual, a statement of a timeless and passionate yearning toward God. Author Shems Friedlander has been doing documentary photography of the whirling dervishes since his first trip to Konya in 1973, and this book features haunting, evocative pictures of the order’s dancers, clad in their traditional white skirts and tall hats that represent their tombstones. Taken within the dervish lodges, known as tekkes, these photographs provide an insider’s view of ceremonies usually closed to the public. Friedlander’s images of the dervishes in mid-whirl evoke the exaltation of union with the divine source. In addition to Rumi’s life story and the accounts of dervishes past and present, the book features excerpts from Rumi’s poetry and the teachings of other Sufi masters, descriptions of the tekke and the symbolism of the dervish ceremony, an overview of the music that accompanies the Mevlevis’ turn, and a concluding section on the universality of Rumi’s message of love. This classic account of the Whirling Dervishes is now presented in a new and revised edition containing additional text and photographs.

Between the glory of the pharaohs and the grandeur of Islam lies another Egypt: that of the Copts, Egypt’s Christians. This venerable church embraced the teachings of Jesus when they were new, invented monasticism, gave saints and scholars to the world, and has preserved its ancient traditions down to our day. The Copts were famous for their richly colored textiles and figurative paintings: today, the wide-eyed faces of antiquity gaze at us from out of the past, proclaiming the eternity of Egyptian humanity. According to legend, Mark the Evangelist founded the Coptic church in Alexandria in the first century A.D., when Egypt was under Roman rule and practiced polytheistic religions. Though Egypt has been an Islamic nation since the seventh century, the Copts have maintained their traditions and rites at monasteries and villages throughout the country. Beautiful antique textiles, mosaics, illuminated manuscripts, frescoes, book-bindings, and monuments attest to their rich and venerable culture, which drew inspiration from Egyptian, Hellenistic, and Near Eastern art. This lavishly illustrated little book brings the extraordinary artistic and cultural heritage of the Copts to life.