This expression of Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam, “is creating an atmosphere to pray, and it’s an offering. I think it’s just a physical way of expressing this love for the divine, and in the whirling it becomes a meditation,” says Manjula Kumar, a program manager at the Smithsonian Institution. More →

December 13, 2013

The best-selling poet “helped present an appealing mystical idea of the wisdom of the East. He was someone who helped humanize and popularize Eastern thought,” says literary critic Liesl Schillinger. More →

July 12, 2013

This mystical tradition is declining in the Muslim world while attracting new followers in the West. More →

November 8, 2002