Beauty and Light: Mystical Discourses of a Contemporary Female Sufi Master - Couverture souple

Sargut, Cemalnur

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1941610064 ISBN 13 : 9781941610060

Editeur : Fons Vitae,US, 2018

Synopsis

Cemalnur Sargut, the Turkish leader of the Rifa'i Sufi order, occupies a special place in the intellectual and social landscape of contemporary Islam. This is so for multiple reasons. As a female Sufi teacher who commands a loyal and active worldwide following, especially in Turkey, Sargut's career as a scholar and Sufi leader represents an important case study in the dynamics of contemporary global Sufism. This volume represents the first text in English translation that brings together some of her major discourses and teachings as presented to her students through the genre of oral discourses. More specifically, the discourses that form the core of this book were collected through oral interviews with Cemalnur conducted by her students as part of a weekly program aired on a national Turkish radio station. The original Turkish transcription on which this English translation is based is titled Dinle (Listen), and was published in 2012 by Nefes Press. Cemalnur has been actively training disciples and students in the teachings and practices of the Rifa'i Sufi order for the last forty years. While her oral and written discourses are widely available in Turkish, they have until now remained inaccessible to an English language audience. This book seeks to address this lacuna by introducing key aspects of her thought and spiritual orientation in English. In this brief introduction I wish to provide readers a broad outline of the key themes and concepts that animate the lineaments of Cemalnur's thoughts as presented in this book. In addition, I also hope to provide readers with the intellectual and institutional context in which one might be able to place Cemalnur's thought and scholarly career. Moreover, I will also have the occasion to discuss the literary genre within Sufism and Islamic literature that corresponds to the kind of oral teachings and sermons that populate the pages of this book. Finally I will briefly explain the stylistic decisions and choices that were made in the presentation of this text.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

The most indubitable influence on Sargut's intellectual and spiri- tual development is Kenan Rifai (1867-1950), the revered leader of one branch of the Rifa'i Sufi order. A noted educator, musician and composer, Rifai was born in Salonica in current day Greece (the Rifa'i order is named after its founder Ahmed Rifa'i (d.578/1182) from Iraq). Kenan Rifai's spiritual lineage, instruction and authori- zation is also tied to teachers of three other Sufi orders: the Mevlevi order (founded in the name of Jalal al-Din Rumi (d.672/1273)), Qadiri order (founded by Abdul Qadir Jilani (d.561/1166) and Shad- hili order (that derived its name from its founder Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili (d.656/1258). Sargut was first introduced to Sufi teachings through her mother, Mekure Sargut (d.2013), herself a devoted disciple of Kenan Rifai. In addition to her mother, another important influence on Sargut was Samiha Ayverdi (1905-1993), a close disciple of Kenan Rifai from a young age. Ayverdi was a prominent Sufi intellectual, a strong proponent of educational reform in Turkey's newly established Republic, and an accomplished novelist whose nostalgic writings on Ottoman history and culture are both a lament of a culture lost as well as a manifesto for its preservation. It was Ayverdi who first instructed Sargut to begin teaching Rumi's Mathnawi and later entrusted Sargut to another teacher, Hayri Bilecik, with whom Sargut studied the Qur'an and Rumi's Mathnawi more formally. It is useful to note that although there are many mentions in the present text by Sargut to "my teacher," by whom she means Kenan Rifai, Sargut never actually met Rifai in person. Yet Sargut speaks about him as a devoted disciple would speak about her spiritual teacher, indicative of an intimate master/disciple relationship and of the magisterial authority he holds in the genealogy of Rifai teachers. The temporal distance that lies between Sargut and Rifai is of no consequence here, as she relies on a notion of sacral time (as opposed to secular conceptions of time as linear) whereby the everyday sequence of events is interwoven with and mediated by characters, episodes and events of a higher time.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Fons Vitae,US
• Date d'édition: 2018
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1941610064
• ISBN 13: 9781941610060
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 192
• Éditeur: Thaver Tehseen
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: non disponible