So That Others May Live: A Fethullah G%C3%BClen Reader

Kurt, adjunct professor of Islam at the University of Houston, assembles these forty essays of the Turkish philosopher Fethullah G%C3%BClen in this "reader" of G%C3%BClen's works. The essays, which are organized into six broad topic areas, are short in length and a good introduction to G%C3%BClen's philosophy, which has a worldwide following. Kurt says in his well-written preface that he hopes his book brings more English readers to G%C3%BClen's views, which align the spiritual, Sufi side of Islam with a distinct and eloquent humanism. Kurt has done an excellent job translating G%C3%BClen's allegories and symbolic language, which is the book's main achievement. However, the essays mostly pre-date the critical post-9/11 period, which makes the book rather irrelevant on anything but a spiritual level and almost clich%C3%A9. Though Kurt's preface promises an elucidation of G%C3%BClen's philosophy, the essays, while loaded with quotable, inspirational phrases, have no intellectual heft. Anyone familiar with Sufism will not mind the refresher, and G%C3%BClen's followers will like the re-treading of familiar ground. (Oct.)