Cemalnur Sargut is a
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
Sufi
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
, a leader of the
Rifa'i order, author, and
Islamic
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God (or '' Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the mai ...
scholar.
Biography
Cemalnur Sargut was born to Meskure Sargut and Omer Faruk Sargut in 1952 in
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
.
Sargut's mother was a disciple of Turkish Sufi master
Ken'an Rifa'i.
She attended Kadikoy High School for Girls and studied chemical engineering at the National Academy of Architecture and Engineering in Istanbul. As a young woman, Sargut was a student of Sufi mystic and writer
Samiha Ayverdi
Samiha Ayverdi (25 November 1905 – 22 March 1993) was a Turkish writer and Sufi mystic.
Biography
Samiha Ayverdi was born in İstanbul to Fatma Meliha Hanim and İsmail Hakkı Bey, an Ottoman military official. She studied at Süleymaniye ...
.
She worked as a chemistry teacher for twenty years.
Sargut is a scholar of Ken'an Rifa'i, although she never met him in person.
She has studied the works of
Ibn 'Arabi
Ibn ʿArabī ( ar, ابن عربي, ; full name: , ; 1165–1240), nicknamed al-Qushayrī (, ) and Sulṭān al-ʿĀrifīn (, , 'Sultan of the Knowers'), was an Arab Andalusian Muslim scholar, mystic, poet, and philosopher, extremely influenti ...
,
Misri Niyazi,
Abu Bakr al-Shibli
Shaykh Abu Bakr Shibli (; 861–946) was an important Sufi of Persian descent, and a disciple of Junayd Baghdadi. He followed the Maliki school of jurisprudence (fiqh).
Biography
Abu Bakr Shibli was born in Samarra, although his family was of ...
,
Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi
Ṣadr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Muḥammad ibn Yūnus Qūnawī lternatively, Qūnavī, Qūnyawī ( fa, صدر الدین قونوی; 1207–1274), was a PersianF. E. Peters, "The Monotheists", Published by Princeton University Press, ...
,
Abd al-Karim al-Jili
Abd al-Karīm al-Jīlī, or Abdul Karim Jili (Arabic:عبدالكريم جيلى) was a Muslim Sufi saint and mystic who was born in 1365, in what is modern day Iraq, possibly in the neighborhood of Jil in Baghdad. He is known in Muslim mysticism ...
,
Ahmad al-Rifaʽi, and
Rumi
Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī ( fa, جلالالدین محمد رومی), also known as Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī (), Mevlânâ/Mawlānā ( fa, مولانا, lit= our master) and Mevlevî/Mawlawī ( fa, مولوی, lit= my ma ...
.
Sargut is active as a religious leader appearing on television and giving sermons aired on Turkish radio.
Her discourses were compiled by her students and published as ''Dinle'' (Listen) by Nefes Press in 2012. This work was translated into English and published by Fons Vitae as ''Beauty and Light: Mystical Discourses by a Contemporary Female Sufi Master''.
Sargut is the leader of the Istanbul branch of the Turkish Women's Cultural Association (TÜRKKAD) which promotes Turkish culture, traditional Turkish artforms, and provides education for low-income students. TÜRKKAD was founded by Samiha Ayyverdi in 1966 during a revival of NGOs resulting from the state's repression of Islamic organizations, schools, and
Sufi lodges.
Turkey
banned Sufi orders and practices in 1925 under
Kemalist
Kemalism ( tr, Kemalizm, also archaically ''Kamâlizm''), also known as Atatürkism ( tr, Atatürkçülük, Atatürkçü düşünce), or The Six Arrows ( tr, Altı Ok), is the founding official ideology of the Republic of Turkey.Eric J. Zurcher ...
ideology, forcing Sufis to operate covertly.
Sargut is the author of over a dozen books about Islam and Sufism.
Sargut and her organization endowed the Kenan Rifai Distinguished Professorship of Islamic Studies at the
University of North Carolina
The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...
in 2009.
They have also endowed a chair at
Peking University
Peking University (PKU; ) is a public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education.
Peking University was established as the Imperial University of Peking in 1898 when it received its royal charter ...
in
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
.
They helped establish the Kenan Rifa'i Center for Sufi Studies at
Kyoto University
, mottoeng = Freedom of academic culture
, established =
, type = National university, Public (National)
, endowment = ¥ 316 billion (2.4 1000000000 (number), billion USD)
, faculty = 3,480 (Teaching Staff)
, administrative_staff ...
.
Works
* Mülk Suresi
* Allah'ıma Sefere Çıktım
* Kenan Rifâî ile Aşka Yolculuk
* Dinle
* Aşktan Dinle
* Ey İnsan (Yasîn Sûresi Şerhi)
* Bakara (Bakara Sûresi ilk 10 Ayetin Şerhi)
* Bakara II (Bakara Sûresi 11-29 arasındaki Ayetlerin Şerhi)
* Bakara III (İnsan-ı Kamil'in Hakikati)
* Hz. Âdem (Füsusu’l Hikem Şerhi)
* Hz. Şit (Füsusu’l Hikem Şerhi)
* Hz. Nuh (Füsusu’l Hikem Şerhi)
* Hz. İdris (Füsusu’l Hikem Şerhi)
* Sâmiha Ayverdi ile Sırra Yolculuk
* Peygambere Sevdirilen Kadın
* Kâbe’nin Hakîkati
* Osmanlı Padişahlarında Peygamber Sevgisi
* Can-ı Candır Hz. Ahmed Muhammed Mustafa
* Hz. Meryem - Yaratılış Sırrı (Meryem Sûresi 1-15 arasındaki Ayetlerin Şerhi)
* Sohbetler
* Ayetü'l Kürsi
* Peygamber Sevgisi
* Yaratılış Sırrı
Works in English
* ''Beauty and Light: Mystical Discourses by a Contemporary Female Sufi Master'', translated by Canguzel Zulfikar, Omer Colakaglu and Nazli Kayahan, edited by Tehseen Thaver
* ''O Humankind: Surah Ya-Sin'', translated by
Victoria Rowe Holbrook
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sargut, Cemalnur
External links
Cemalnur.org(in Turkish)
Scholars of Sufism
Women scholars of Islam
Turkish Muslims
Turkish Sufis
Female Islamic religious leaders
Writers from Istanbul
Turkish scholars of Islam
Sufi teachers
Female Sufi mystics
Ibn Arabi scholars
Rumi scholars
21st-century Turkish women writers
Rifa'i order