Rumi's Tasbeeh

What it is

This is a photograph of a long string of dark wooden prayer beads, with a tasselled cord and tapered handle, shown in a glass case at the Mevlâna Museum in Konya, the shrine built around Rumi's tomb. The museum identifies these beads as having belonged to Rumi himself.

Why it matters

Prayer beads, or tasbeeh, are used in Islamic devotional practice to count recitations. As an object connected to Rumi's personal religious life, it reflects his identity as a Sufi teacher whose daily practice combined with his poetry to shape the Mevlevi order that grew around him after his death.

Look closer

• What does displaying an everyday object like this in a museum tell us about how Rumi is remembered?
• How might we know, or not know, that these beads truly belonged to Rumi?
• Why do religious shrines often preserve personal objects of their founders?