Edip Yüksel

Edip Yüksel (Kurdish: ادیپ یوکسل; born 1957) is a Kurdish American intellectual considered one of the prime figures in the modern Islamic reform and Quranism (Quraniyoon) movements. Author of many books on the Qur'an and Islam, he has gained much attention through his works and speeches.

His main aim, as stated throughout his writings, is to spread an Islamic understanding that is rational, progressive, and humanistic, which in his eyes can only be gained through accepting the Qur'an as the only Divine authority. He is also a promoter of Theistic evolution, an understanding he gets from science and the Qur'an, instead of Creationism. Specifically, Yüksel is critical of Islamic creationists such as Harun Yahya. Yüksel is a former member of United Submitters International.

Biography

Yüksel was born in Turkey in 1957 into a Kurdish family. His father, Sadreddin Yüksel, an Islamic scholar, taught Arabic at a Turkish university. His brother Metin Yüksel, an Islamist activist, was assassinated by far-right nationalists. Yüksel says that he was an outspoken Islamist as a youth, and spent years in prison for his views. Yüksel says that he broke with Islamism in 1986 and adopted the Qur'an Alone philosophy as preached by Rashad Khalifa, the inspiration of the United Submitters International whose beliefs include: the dedication of all worship practices to God alone, upholding the Quran alone, and rejecting the Islamic traditionalist hadith and sunnah attributed to Muhammad. Because of this, Yüksel's traditionalist father, Sadreddin, declared his son an apostate, and he received many death threats from Orthodox Muslims. In 1989, he was sponsored for immigration to the US by Khalifa. Yüksel moved to Tucson, entered college, got a legal degree, and became a prominent member of the United Submitters International. He became a U.S. citizen in 1993.