Turkish institute holds Rumi meeting in Austria

By Askin Kiyagan

WIEN, Austria (AA) - Turkey’s Yunus Emre Institute (YEE) organised a conference to introduce the teachings of Mevlana Jalaluddin al-Rumi, a Sufi mystic and Islamic scholar, in the capital Wien on Wednesday.

A huge number of Turkish and Austrians attended the event in Wien.

“Despite the centuries that have passed, Rumi is still one of the most widely read Sufis today in the world. It only can be explained by his teachings’ influence on people’s hearts,” YEE Wien Manager Ayse Yorulmaz said at the opening ceremony.

“Mevlana is recognized as "Rumi" in the west and his works are all over the world,” said Prof. Mahmut Erol Kilic, academician at Istanbul based Marmara University.

Poet, scholar and Sufi mystic Rumi is one of the most widely read philosophers across the world, whose teachings have transcended boundaries of race, color and religion.

Rumi, fondly known by his followers in Turkey as Mevlana which means scholar, was a 13th-century Muslim poet, sufi mystic and philosopher born in present-day Afghanistan.

He is buried in Turkey's central province of Konya, where his followers flock to his mausoleum, especially on his death anniversary.

Rumi's Masnavi poem, with its more than 50,000 verses, is considered the most influential work in Sufism, and has been translated into 25 languages.