Modern Approaches to Sīrah Genre: Fethullah Gülen’s Contribution

Book info: Modern Approaches to Sīrah Genre: Fethullah Gülen’s Contribution (Hardcover, 245 pages) – Springer, 2025. Language: English.

This book offers a comparative analysis of contemporary approaches to the sīrah genre (biography of Prophet Muhammad). It explores the connection and juxtaposition of the sīrah genre with Islamic systematic theology (kalām), particularly in the context of the emergence of Islamic modernism. It also highlights the inherent interconnectedness of the sīrah and kalām disciplines. The book presents a careful study of Fethullah Gülen’s reading and interpretation of the sīrah within the broader framework of modern debates, investigating his approach through the lens of the kalām discipline and the philosophy of sīrah. The author argues that reading the sīrah from the perspective of the kalām discipline, kalāmisation of sīrah, is a novel response to modern debates around the life of Prophet Muhammad. Kalāmisation of sīrah together with the notion of sīrah philosophy, represents a significant advancement in the field, providing new methodological and interpretative frameworks that are likely to define future trajectories of sīrah writings. Gülen’s contributions are both ground-breaking and forward-looking, offering novel ways to engage with and understand the sīrah for a contemporary audience. This book is an essential resource for scholars and researchers in Islamic studies, theology, philosophy of religion, religious movements, and literature.

This book offers a comparative analysis of contemporary approaches to the sīrah genre (biography of Prophet Muhammad). It explores the connection and juxtaposition of the sīrah genre with Islamic systematic theology (kalām), particularly in the context of the emergence of Islamic modernism. It also highlights the inherent interconnectedness of the sīrah and kalām disciplines. The book presents a careful study of Fethullah Gülen’s reading and interpretation of the sīrah within the broader framework of modern debates, investigating his approach through the lens of the kalām discipline and the philosophy of sīrah. The author argues that reading the sīrah from the perspective of the kalām discipline, kalāmisation of sīrah, is a novel response to modern debates around the life of Prophet Muhammad. Kalāmisation of sīrah together with the notion of sīrah philosophy, represents a significant advancement in the field, providing new methodological and interpretative frameworks that are likely to define future trajectories of sīrah writings. Gülen’s contributions are both ground-breaking and forward-looking, offering novel ways to engage with and understand the sīrah for a contemporary audience. This book is an essential resource for scholars and researchers in Islamic studies, theology, philosophy of religion, religious movements, and literature.

​Suleyman Sertkaya is a Course Director and Senior Lecturer in classical Islamic studies at the Centre for Islamic Studies and Civilisation, Charles Sturt University. His primary areas of interest include the sīrah of the Prophet and sīrah philosophy, exegesis of the Qur’an, hadīth (Prophetic tradition), interpretation of Islamic sacred texts, Islamic theology, Islam and morality, history of the prophets, history of Islam and Muslims in Australia. He is the Managing Editor of the Australian Journal of Islamic Studies (AJIS) and, a member of the Australian Association of Islamic and Muslim Studies (AAIMS) as well as the Centre for Religion, Ethics and Society (CRES).