Founded after Rumi's death in Konya, the Mevlevi Sufi order practices sema, a whirling dance inducing trance for divine love and ego dissolution. Accompanied by music and poetry, it spread through the Ottoman Empire. It mattered by embodying Sufi mysticism in performative ritual amid Islamic orthodoxy.

Sema reinforced Rumi's ecstatic poetry globally, inspiring translations and adaptations by poets like Coleman Barks, influencing Western mystical and dance-infused verse traditions.