Finally, Baha-uddin was invited to Iconium by `Ala-uddin Kaikubad (1219-1236), the sultan of Asia Minor, or, as it is commonly called in the East, Ram - whence Jalaluddin's surname (takhallus) Rumi.
The heirs of Jelal-ed-Din (Rumi) were favoured by the Osmanli sultans until 1516, when Selim was on the point of destroying the Mevlevi establishment as hostile to the Osmanli and the faith; and though he did not do so the Mevlevi and their chiefs were deprived of influence and dignity.
As the most uncompromising 5Ufis appear the greatest pantheistic writer of all ages, Jelal ud-din Rumi (1207-1273; 604672 Au.; see RUM!), and his scarcely less renowned predecessor Farid ud-din Aflar, who was slain by the Moguls at the age of 114 lunar years in 1230 (627 A.H.).
According to the Arda-Viraf--Nama the religion revealed through Zoroaster has subsisted in its purity for 300 years, when Iskander Rumi (Alexander the Great) invaded and devastated Iran, and burned the Avesta which, written on cowhides with golden ink, was preserved in the archives at Persepolis.
It is true that for Rumi the moral virtues are never ends in themselves.
