Rumi, The Wings of Love

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Rumi, The Wings of Love takes viewers into a secret world rarely seen by outsiders. Nearly eight centuries after his death, Jelaluddin Rumi, the most popular poet in the English language, is ever-present in the whirling ceremony of today’s Mevlevi dervishes.

Rumi “existed outside the differences which divide men.” In this extraordinary video, Rumi’s universal words and essence are seamlessly interwoven with his history and story of awakening.

Shems Friedlander has been given unprecedented access to document sacred ceremonies. The Halveti zikr, Mevlevi semas, and the Gharib, or secret sema (not seen for over 100 years)–were filmed in Cairo, Istanbul, and the Garden of Rumi, in Konya.

This unique footage set to Mevlevi music is enhanced by interviews with Abu Bakr Siraj ad-Din (Martin Lings), Islamic philosopher and author, Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Sheikh Omer Tugrel Inançer, who reveals the hidden meaning of the ney, or reed flute.

Come back, come back, 

even though you have broken your vows 

a thousand times, Ours is not a house of despair, 

ours is a house of hope.

--Jelaluddin Rumi