Short answers, pulled from the story.
Jalal al-Din Rumi was born on the 30th of September 1207 in a village called Wakhsh, located on the east bank of the Vakhsh River in what is now Tajikistan. His family traveled westward to escape the encroaching Mongol hordes before settling in Konya, Anatolia.
Shams Tabrizi was a wandering dervish who met Rumi on the 15th of November 1244 and transformed him from a conventional religious authority into an ascetic seeker of divine love. Shams Tabrizi disappeared from Rumi's life on the night of the 5th of December 1248, never to be seen again.
The Masnavi is a six-volume masterpiece often referred to as the Quran in Persian that Rumi dictated to his scribe Hussam-e Chalabi over the next twelve years. The work contains approximately 27,000 lines and combines the Canon Law of Islam with the Sufi Path and the Divine Reality.
The Mevlevi Order, also known as the Order of the Whirling Dervishes, was founded in 1273 by Rumi's followers after his death. The order's ceremonies were banned in 1925 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who closed all dervish lodges and prohibited the use of mystical names and costumes.
Rumi died on the 17th of December 1273 in Konya and was interred beside his father. A splendid shrine known as the Green Tomb was erected over his place of burial, sponsored by the Georgian princess and Seljuq queen Tamar Gurju Khatun.