A student of sufism for over thirty-five years, he converted to Islam in 1984. He has been a part of the Mevlevi [Mawlawi] tradition of Islamic sufism (the 700 year-old tradition which originated with Mawlana himself) since 1976. In 2007, he was made a Mevlevi Shaykh, or authorized teacher, by Faruk Hemdem Chelebi, the 22nd-generation direct descendent of Mawlana and the international leader of the Mevlevi tradition. Gamard is the author of Rumi and Islam: Selections from His Stories, Poems, and Discourses. He lives in Northern California.The accompanying photo is of Dr. Farhadi (left) and Dr. Gamard (right) taken in front of Hazrat-é Mawlana Jalâluddîn Muhammad Balkhi-Rûmi"s tomb in Konya, Turkey.