Toward an Islamic Enlightenment: The Gülen Movement
"Provides a helpful general introduction for newcomers to the field and contributes some original fieldwork data that will be of interest to specialists." --American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences"This is a comprehensive and brilliant analysis of one of the most influential and controversial Turkish thinkers and activists of the contemporary world-Fethullah Gülen. M. Hakan Yavuz lays bare the wellsprings of the Gülen movement and probes with unusual clarity and evenhandedness the reasons for its remarkable success. Highly recommended for those who wish to take the pulse of Turkish Islam and its global ramifications."--Asma Afsaruddin, Chair & Professor, Department of Near Eastern Languages & Cultures, Indiana University Bloomington"Richly nuanced... a well-written, first-rate analysis that will lead one to empathize with its subject, appreciate its strengths." --Middle East Journal"This is an insightful scholarly narrative and authoritative analysis of the pragmatic evolution of an Islamic enlightenment project. The Gülen Movement remains a contingent and contested work-in-progress, yet it has already realized some of its modernizing potential through an Islamic contextual theology of deep concern with the dialectic of the eternal message of Islam and the human condition."--Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, author ofIslam and the Secular State"A deeply sympathetic yet critical interpretation of Fethullah Gülen and his increasingly influential and controversial Turkish Muslim movement.  Yavuz offers a contextually rich, nuanced, and balanced account of the ongoing aggiornamento of the pietist Muslim movement to secular modernity."--Jose Casanova, Professor of Sociology and Senior Fellow, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, Georgetown University"This well-timed book not only provides an update on the growth of the [Gulen] movement over the last decade; it also offers the deepest view yet of its roots... In terms of its scope and analysis, the book is of a high caliber and fills an important gap." --Middle East Policy