Following a Sufi mystic tradition of Islam, Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, known as Mevlana, created the Mevlevi Sufi Order in Konya in 1273. The Whirling Dervishes is a spiritual ceremony that stands as the final act of initiation for those who were interested in joining the Order, based on the belief that everything was created in the action of whirling, like day and night and life and death.