{"product_id":"9780998313818","title":"Rumi Comes to America: How the Poet of Mystical Love Arrived on our Shores","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn 1976, few people had heard of Jelaluddin Rumi. Yet, in a stellar leap that no one could have predicted, this 13th-century Islamic theologian would soon become America’s best-selling poet. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom the author’s first-hand storytelling, interviews, recorded talks, and archival photographs, \u003cem\u003eRumi Comes to America\u003c\/em\u003e describes the generational yearning, fortuitous events, spiritual mishaps, and everyday miracles that propelled Rumi’s ancient mystical tradition to take root in America.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe story focuses on a group of young seekers, inspired by author Reshad Feild’s spiritual journey to Turkey, who invite Süleyman Loras Dede, a sheikh of the Whirling Dervishes who spent most of his life cooking for the poor, to their modest duplex in Los Angeles. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSüleyman Dede was eighteen years old when he entered the dervish monastery in Konya, Turkey. But soon after, in 1926, all dervish activities, including the path of Rumi, were banned by Kemal Atatürk in his quest to create a secular, modern Turkey.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith dervish life underground, Dede’s spiritual mastery would go mostly unnoticed in Turkey until age 74 when he set foot in Los Angeles – his culminating mission to bring Rumi to America.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe intimate recollections that form the core of this story reveal how today’s Rumi phenomenon began as a series of fluke events that took root in the hearts of young people dedicated to Rumi’s timeless message of mystical love.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e---\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Bruce, thank you for doing this good work!” Coleman Barks, \u003cem\u003eThe Essential Rumi\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“This book tells the story of one of the most important moments in America’s recent religious and spiritual history using accounts of those involved and new translations of audio recordings from the time. Written with honesty, compassion, and understanding, it beautifully conveys the feeling of the place and period.” \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMark Sedgwick, Departmentt of the Study of Religion, Aarhus University, and author of \u003cem\u003eWestern Sufism: From the Abbasids to the New Age\u003c\/em\u003e (Oxford University Press)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Miller eMedia","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47036197241072,"sku":"9780998313818","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780998313818_p0.jpg?v=1763947445","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780998313818","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}