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This book is the first volume of the Emerald Hills of the Heart series, which brings out a comprehensive and unique examination of concepts and terms associated with sufism in Islam. In this volume, Gulen looks at fifty different concepts. With an introduction on the heart and some of its dynamics, this work is a rich addition with more gates into spirituality. Concepts examined include freedom, altruism, wisdom, sainthood, intoxication and sobriety, wakefullness and the universal man. This book is a comprehensive study of concepts and terms associated with Sufi traditions of Islam. Gulen's informative analysis of Sufi ideas is a must read for those who seek a understanding of the dynamics of sufism. For Gulen, sufism is a form of self-purification leading to inner dimension of Islamic rituals, a deeper understanding of the divine acts, and a greater knowledge and love of the Divine. The continual process of spiritual development in sufism along a path of the innate human poverty, helplessnes, and powerlessnes before God is undertaken in the knowledge that everything come from God. The first volume of the Emerald Hills of the Heart presents such sufi concepts like repentance, reflection, self-criticism, asceticism, piety, abstinence, self-supervision and sincerity.

This book is the second volume of the Emerald Hills of the Heart series, which brings out a comprehensive and unique examination of concepts and terms associated with sufism in Islam. In this volume, Gulen looks at fifty different concepts. With an introduction on the heart and some of its dynamics, this work is a rich addition with more gates into spirituality. Concepts examined include freedom, altruism, wisdom, sainthood, intoxication and sobriety, wakefullness and the universal man.

Another important attribute of The Emerald Hills of the Heart, at least as important as the other attributes mentioned above, if not more so, is that it presents the Islamic spiritual life that constitutes the core of Islam not as a theoretical subject but as lived by the Companions of the Prophet. It presents this life as a profound experience of the heart, mind, and body described and appointed by Islam. It also investigates how it has taken shape throughout history. The Emerald Hills of the Heart bequeaths to future ages —a time in which perhaps apparently different realms of religion and reason, science, technology, rhetoric and welfare will, in cooperation, make unprecedented and inconceivable progress— the legacy of Sufism, with all its dimensions, or the spiritual life of Islam in its immense entirety as a safe and sound road that has been protected against all manner of deviations.

Sufism is a path that demands active participation in spiritual growth and development. Introducing and describing the various stages of the Sufi path, Emerald Hills of the Heart: Key Concepts in the Practice of Sufism presents a reliable metaphysical roadmap for the Sufi or Islamic spiritual life.

The spiritual journey or progression is virtually infinite, and is comprised of as many stages and ranks as there are believers, from the most honorable of all creation, Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, to the most ordinary Muslim. The spiritual path contains various distinguishing subtle characteristics or particularities that can only be comprehended by those with the ability to brave these rough terrains. Emerald Hills of the Heart is able to evaluate these characteristics both within the boundaries and limits of the Islamic measures and the enormous profundity and infinity of spiritual life; this is done within a conceptual framework.

This comprehensive four-volume series helps to establish the boundaries of the spiritual path so that spiritual life can advance on the basis of Islamic principles without causing or suffering from any digressions; at the same time this path is illuminated by the floodlights that have been placed at every stage and station. While delineating the boundaries, Emerald Hills of the Heart concurrently destroys any limits that have been imposed on the spiritual journey.

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fgulen.com is the offical source on the renowned Turkish scholar and intellectual Fethullah Gülen.