Shems Friedlander

Shems Friedlander (born Ira Friedlander into a Jewish family in New York January 8th, 1940 - Istanbul, 22 November, 2022, buried in Konya in the shadow of Mawlana Jalal udin al-Rumi) Shems Friedlander was an American Muslim visual artist, filmmaker, scholar and author on Tassawuf and Professor Emeritus, American University in Cairo, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication. He produced many works on Tassawuf, especially the Mevlevi Tariqah, as well as the Halveti-Jerrahi Tariqa which he was a member of. After graduating from the Massachusetts College of Art in 1963 he embarked on a life seeking answers to spiritual questions, that led him through many explorations and many places across the world, as described in his own biography entitled Winter Harvest. He finally embraced Islam when he met sheikh Muzaffer Ozak Efendi of the Halveti-Jerrahi Tariqa. He is also the author of 8 other books, a published journal of Occasional Sufi Papers named Zawiyah and his art work has been ...