Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Bulent Aras and Omer Caha, “Fethul-

lah Gülen and His Liberal ‘Turkish Islam’ Movement,” 

Middle East Review of International Affairs 4, no. 4 

(2000): 30–42; Mucahit Bilici, “The Fethullah Gülen 

Movement and Its Politics of Representation in Turkey,” 

Muslim World 96, no. 1 (2006): 1–20; Fethullah Gülen, 

Essays, Perspectives, Opinions. Rev. ed. (Somerset, N.J.: 

The Light, 2004); ———, The Statue of Our Souls: 

Revival in Islamic Thought and Activism. Translated by 

Muhammad Çetin (Somerset, N.J.: The Light, 2005); 

M. Hakan Yavuz and John L. Esposito, eds., Turkish 

Islam and the Secular State: The Gülen Movement (Syra-

cuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press, 2003).

Gulf States

The Persian Gulf (also called the Arabian Gulf, 

especially by Arabs) is a strategic body of water 

about 93,000 square miles in area (slightly less 

than the size of Oregon) separating the Ara-

bian Peninsula from i

ran

. Its northwestern shore 

receives the outflow from the Tigris and Euphra-

tes Rivers, and it opens to the Indian Ocean at the 

Strait of Hormuz, located 615 miles to the south-

east. The gulf is surrounded by eight countries—

Iran, i

raq

, s

aUdi

 a

rabia

, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar,