Meşkûre Sargut: A 20th-Century Sufi Intellectual’s Journey in Sufism and Society
Meşkûre Sargut: A 20th-Century Sufi Intellectual’s Journey in Sufism and Society
This lecture portrays Meşkûre Sargut (1925–2013) as a distinguished Sufi disciple and cultural custodian who linked Ottoman spiritual inheritances with the civic and literary life of Republican Turkey. Formed in Kenan Rifai’s circle, she compiled thirteen sohbet notebooks, the series beginning in 1946 and continuing through the late twentieth century; the notebooks remain unpublished and constitute a rare archival window onto the vocabulary, ethics, and pedagogy of dervishhood.
Building on Rifai’s broader project—which relocated the center of Sufi formation from the dergâh toward modern educational and cultural venues and cultivated a cohort of women intellectuals and organizers—Sargut emerges as one of the key agents of this translation of tradition into contemporary life. Through close attention to the notebooks’ definitions of dervishhood and to their careful notes on scripture, poetry, counsel, and comportment, the talk reconstructs the ethical profile that guided Sargut’s home-based circles, literary gatherings, and music-friendly teaching during decades when lodges had stood closed by law.
The analysis situates these materials within the philology of Turkish Sufi discourse and within the social history of urban Istanbul, and it shows how seventy interrelated concepts of dervishhood—identified and organized across the corpus—illuminate a disciplined path that joins knowledge, service, humility, and love.
The portrait that emerges presents Sargut as a Sufi intellect and steward of sohbet whose fidelity to form has nourished continuities between classical tasavvuf and modern public culture.
Dr. Hasan Kerim Güç is a writer, editor, and dedicated researcher in Sufi studies with a career spanning information technology, publishing, and academia. As a founding member of the Kerim Foundation, he has been instrumental in establishing and supporting academic programs worldwide that promote the study of Islamic civilization and Sufi traditions.
In collaboration with the Turkish Women's Cultural Association and the Kerim Foundation, Mr. Güç played a vital role in creating several academic chairs and centers dedicated to Islamic and Sufi studies in the name of Kenan Rifai. This initiative has helped foster the academic study of Sufism and built bridges between different cultures.
Highlights of this international work include:
• University of North Carolina (UNC): Supporting the Kenan Rifâî Chair in Islamic Studies at UNC.
• Peking University (China): Enabling the establishment of the Kenan Rifâî Chair, which introduced a course on Islamic Philosophy with a focus on Sufism for the first time in the university's history.
• Kyoto University (Japan): Partnering to inaugurate the Kenan Rifai Center for Sufi Studies. • Professional and Academic Career Dr. Güç began his career in information systems and business administration in the United States, earning master's degrees from the University of Baltimore. After returning to Turkey, he transitioned into the world of publishing, serving as the chief editor for Nefes Publishing House and Tuti Books since 2014. He is also a managing partner at Nefes Akademi Inc..
His academic pursuits led him to the Institute for Sufi Studies at Üsküdar University, where he completed a master's degree and is currently pursuing his doctorate. His published works include the book Ken'ân Rifâî'nin Dervişlik Anlayışı (Ken'ân Rifâî's Conception of Dervishhood).
In addition to his academic and publishing work, Mr. Güç is a founding member of multiple foundations, including the Kerim Foundation and the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Hospitals Foundation. He is also a founding member of the Brussels-based Mindhub Association. His multi-faceted contributions reflect a deep and ongoing commitment to cultural understanding, education, and research.