Cemalnur Sargut: A Sufi Life of Love, Suffering, and Divine Union

Cemalnur Sargut: "Love means everything to me, everything. Because without love one is not human. You cannot ascend to humanity without love. I've learned these things through love. Sufism is like a transformer that transforms every action we do in Shariah into love. It turns daily prayer into love. It makes fasting a journey of love. Your love increases because Sufism teaches you who you are connected to. I learned the pleasure of loving unconditionally and giving unconditionally. It creates such a place inside you that you can't let it go until you die."
----------
Cemalnur Sargut is among the most influential Sufi teachers in the Muslim world and one of Turkey’s most beloved spiritual guides, known for uniting deep scholarship with a life of radical love. In this intimate portrait, she reflects on God’s nearness in joy and loss, the beauty of servanthood, and the call to unite religions in love. Through stories of her childhood, her murshid, and her own grief, she reveals a Sufism that transforms every act into a journey of love.

A senior leader of the Rifa’i Sufi order, she stands out as a rare and powerful female voice in contemporary Islamic spirituality—respected both as a scholar and as a guide to millions.

A prolific author, Sargut has written more than a dozen books on Islam and Sufism, combining theological insight with lived mystical experience. Her commitment to intellectual and interreligious dialogue has led to major international academic initiatives: in 2009, she and her foundation endowed the Kenan Rifai Distinguished Professorship of Islamic Studies at the University of North Carolina, and she has supported the creation of Sufi studies programs at Peking University in Beijing and Kyoto University in Japan.

Formerly president of the Turkish Women’s Cultural Association, Sargut is a prominent public educator who regularly appears on Turkish radio and television and speaks widely at seminars and conferences in Turkey and abroad.

MB015G0KRLCDADH