Mevlevi Order
Çelebi was born in Istanbul, Ottoman Empire in 1907, as the son of Mehmet Sait Halet Bey, an official of the Ottoman Ministry of Internal Affairs. Asaf Halet's surname at birth was not Çelebi, but he adopted it due to his reverence to the 13th-century Persian poet and Sufi mystic, Rumi. Descendants of Rumi established the Sufi Mevlevi Order, which they led for 800 years under the name or title Çelebi, translating to 'gentleman', 'well-mannered' or 'courteous'. Asaf Halet Çelebi, however, was not a descendant of Rumi.