Sufi poets and philosophers such as Khoja Akhmet Yassawi, Rumi and Attar of Nishapur (c. 1145 ??? c. 1221) greatly enhanced the spread of Islamic culture in Anatolia, Central Asia, and South Asia.[56][57] Sufism also played a role in creating and propagating the culture of the Ottoman world,[58] and in resisting European imperialism in North Africa and South Asia.[59]