Do Good and Let it Unfold

The original interview was published in German on Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a famous daily newspaper in Germany.

The Turkish preacher Fethullah Gülen has been living in the United States for 13 years now. An extensive network of supporters has developed there, serving in projects under his name.

There is no sign on the road to indicate the exit and the dirt track which leads you through a foggy broadleaf forest, coloured in all the shades of autumn, to an estate with eight houses. Thirteen years ago, the most influential preacher of Turkish Islam Fethullah Gülen retreated to this secluded place. Back then, the still powerful military had driven him out of Turkey. Stricken with illnesses, he decided to undergo surgery in American hospitals. Since then, he has rarely left the estate despite being issued a visa and a residence permit by the United States.

The Turkish "Great Teacher" Fethullah Gulen and His Amazing Social Reforms

Hence, there is no doubt that a person who is armored with love needs no other weapon. Indeed, love is strong enough to stop a bullet or even a cannon ball.

 ──Fethullah Gülen, Love Towards Humankind (p. 6)

We all live in this world and we are passengers on the same ship. In this respect, there are many common points that can be discussed and shared with people from every segment of society.

            ──Fethullah Gülen, Understanding Fethullah Gülen (p. 22) 

M. Fethullah Gülen was born in 1941 in Korucuk near Erzurum, in Turkey. He is a devout Muslim and Sufi teacher. He is also an important contemporary thinker, educator and poet.

A letter to Fethullah Gulen from a Catholic Priest

Priests in Istanbul, Turkey.

In Niğde, we visited the schools of the Sungurbey Education Foundation, established by by a private businessman-donor, Celal Afşar, whom we were privileged to have as our host.

He is also a close colleague of Fethullah Gülen and good friend of Fr. Alexei Smith. Mr. Afşar asked Fr. Alexei to write a letter to Mr. Gülen describing our group and the nature of our trip, which Mr. Afşar will deliver personally to him when he visits him next week in the USA.  Here are excerpts from the letter:

Can the Gulen Movement Considered Sect/Cult?

Gulen Movement cannot be considered a cult.

No, the Gulen Movement does not fit any of the criteria which are used to identify sects or cults. The Gulen Movement participants have never attempted to form a distinct unit within Islam. It is not a distinct unit within the broader Muslim community by virtue of certain refinements or distinctions of belief or practice. It is not a small faction or dissenting clique aggregated around a common interest, peculiar beliefs or unattainable dreams or utopia. 

The Gulen Movement is already a well-established and transnationally recognized diffused network of people. It has no formal leadership, sheikhs or hierarchy. There is no ritual or membership rite or ceremony to be a member, participant or a sympathizer for the Movement. Participants do not undergo any procedures, ceremonies or have to pass any initiation in order to be affiliated or to take part in activities.

GULEN MOVEMENT A CLOSED GROUP?

In wider Turkish society, Gulen Movement participants are not viewed as and do not act as any kind of closed, special group. Movement participants, with their words, projects and actions, have proved that they do not have any strongly held views or ideology that are regarded as extreme by the majority in Turkey and abroad. The public, the media and the courts do not regard them as heretical or as deviant in any way. Movement participants have not been accused of practicing anything different from the generally accepted religious tradition.

The participants have always been in close connection with the society in which they live in. Their relations with the rest of the society is always positive and constructive.  

Dr. Greg Barton's Remarks about Gulen Movement

"If we want to understand the business dynamics of the Gulen Movement enterprises, so called the Hizmet enterprises, we can look at the model of the Nobel Prize winner Muhammed Yunus.

Fethullah Gulen Conferences Website

There have been several conferences about Fethullah Gulen on national and international level in the last decade. A number of distinguished and prominent scholars and academics wrote articles and essays about Fethullah Gulen and Gulen Movement. There is a specifically designed website to this end: Fethullah Gulen Conference. It is a simple but effective website where you can find almost all scholarly articles about Fethullah Gulen.

Teaching Peace in Schools

By Alp Aslandogan

This week New York City hosts the United Nations General Assembly, the Clinton Global Initiative and the Education Nation conference. These massive events focus on international diplomacy and peace, societal problem-solving and improving classroom instruction. However, just a few blocks away from these grand assemblies, a smaller group met for the first time to tackle all these issues with a single, bold strategy.

Monday, an international group of educators and convened for the inaugural "Peacebuilding Through Education" summit sponsored by Fountain Magazine, the Peace Islands Institute and co-sponsored by regional universities as well as the Alliance for Shared Values, where I serve as president. The goal of the summit was to show how lessons of tolerance, understanding and intercultural respect can be woven into classroom curriculum or extracurricular activities. Throughout the day, speakers offered insights and strategies for building character in the classroom and creating a safe learning environment to incubate future leaders of more peaceful communities.

The first panel, featuring Ministers of Education from both the Philippines and Tanzania, focused on government's involvement in creating an environment for peace education. Later, I was fortunate to join a panel with fellow academics from Ireland and South Africa to discuss strategies for mobilizing civil society to achieve peace. Fellow academics from Ireland and South Africa spoke of peace education in an increasingly connected world. Another diverse panel including experts from UNICEF, Arigatou International and Fatih University in Turkey discussed the notion of peace as a shared ideal that can be reinforced through education.

Fethullah Gulen's Condemnation Message of 9/11

Below is an excerpt from a website about Fethullah Gulen in which Mr. Gulen's condemnation message about the unfortunate 9/11 attacks. You can also find out the authentic picture of Fethullah Gulen's message on "Washington Post" which was published ten days after 9/11.

... Fethullah Gulen was the first Muslim scholar who publicly denounced the 9/11 attacks, just a few days after these unspeakable acts. As far as we knew, his public condemnation message was published in the Washington Post. We searched the exact quote online -contrary to conventional media reporting, which is not famous with amplifying the tolerant voices, online resources have always been more diverse. Thus, we were sure that we’d be able to find the message in a few seconds, or just in a millisecond, as Google advertises, but to our surprise, nothing popped up! We looked for hours and could not find the exact quote of Fethullah Gulen’s condemnation message. There were many websites letting people know that a denouncement exists, but none could provide it to their readers. Some of the intellectuals in the room became curious about the statement. Could it be an urban legend that a prominent Muslim scholar had condemned the 9/11 attacks just a few days after the events and in Washington Post?

Fethullah Gulen Trial: The Gulen Legal Journey

Dr. James Harrington, the author of the book about Fethullah Gulen.

I found a website about Fethullah Gulen's legal journey. Based on Dr. James Harrington's book, the website provides legal documents as well as other materials that could prove useful about Fethullah Gulen's struggle with the ill-intentioned prosecutors. 

Russian Intellectuals Pen Essays on Fethullah Gulen

Dialog Eurasia praises Fethullah Gulen.

Taken from Fethullah Gulen ad Gulen Movement Videos website.

The people of Eurasia have now a better understanding of the teachings of Fethullah Gulen, who wants everyone to walk on the path of righteousness; the schools established through his initiatives teach friendship, peace and love.

Published in Russian and Turkish in Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, the journal DA (Dialogue Eurasia) became a printing body that promotes dialogue development between people and cultures. The same is repeated in the motto of the journal: “Dialogue begins with “DA” (means "yes", in Russian).

Response to Hatchet Job on Fethullah Gulen

When Fethullah Gulen published his article on Financial Times, I was expecting a response from the infamous Islamophobes or those who happen to be in close connection with them. My prediction came true with the latter. Stephen Schwartz, who always seems to attack the mainstream Muslims in the U.S., published a incendiary and biased article in response to that of Mr. Gulen. Mr. Schwartz was mostly busy with attacking Mr. Gulen than criticizing the content of Mr. Gulen's article. He even brought that fallacious Gulen Charter Schools concept to the table again. Anyway, a timely and nice response came from Dr. Scott Alexander.  

It is pretty ironic that Fethullah Gulen, a moderate Muslim, is defended by a Catholic, Dr. Alexander, and is attacked by a Muslim, Mr. Schwartz! You decide who is right. Here is Dr. Alexander's response:

I am puzzled by the fact that a man as seemingly intelligent and articulate as Mr. Schwartz appears to have deliberately misread the Op-Ed piece by Mr. Gülen. I say this because, in the very beginning of Mr. Schwartz’s critique, he clearly demonstrates that he has no intention of striving for even the least degree of objectivity and fairness in his analysis of Gülen’s remarks. In fact, I am saddened to say that what Mr. Schwartz attempts to offer as a trenchant critique of Gülen and the global Gönüllüler Hareketi (“Volunteers’ Movement”) amounts to little more than a hatchet job on a religious leader who has inspired thousands, perhaps millions, of men and women to a reawakening of their faith and a faith-based commitment to service.

Violence is not in the tradition of the Prophet

Fethullah Gulen studies in his room.

Fethullah Gulen penned an article for Financial Times. The article is simple and brilliant and it constitutes the proper answer for the Islamophobics.

Muslims pray each day: “O Lord! Keep us on the straight path.” It is a prayer to help us move away from the extremes and maintain balance in our lives. We must neither be hostage to our reactionary instincts, nor must we remain completely silent in the face of the systematic defamation of our values and beliefs. This balance has been upset by the violent response to the insults targeting the legacy of beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The violent response was wrong and strayed from the straight path.

A Modern Ottoman

By Ehsan Masood

Is it possible to be a true religious believer and at the same time enjoy good relations with people of other faiths or none? Moreover, can you remain open to new ideas and new ways of thinking? 

Fethullah Gülen, a 67-year-old Turkish Sufi cleric, author and theoretician, has dedicated much of his life to resolving these questions. From his sick bed in exile just outside Philadelphia, he leads a global movement inspired by Sufi ideas. He promotes an open brand of Islamic thought and, like the Iran-born Islamic philosophers Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Abdolkarim Soroush, he is preoccupied with modern science (he publishes an English-language science magazine called the Fountain). But Gülen, unlike these western-trained Iranians, has spent most of his life within the religious and political institutions of Turkey, a Muslim country, albeit a secular one since the foundation of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s republic after the first world war.

Unusually for a pious intellectual, he and his movement are at home with technology, markets and multinational business, and especially with modern communications and public relations—which, like a modern televangelist, he uses to attract converts. Like a western celebrity, he carefully manages his public exposure—mostly by restricting interviews to those he can trust.

Turkish Schools Offer Pakistan a Gentler Vision of Islam

By Sabrina Tavernise

Praying in Pakistan has not been easy for Mesut Kacmaz, a Muslim teacher from Turkey.

He tried the mosque near his house, but it had Israeli and Danish flags painted on the floor for people to step on. The mosque near where he works warned him never to return wearing a tie. Pakistanis everywhere assume he is not Muslim because he has no beard.

“Kill, fight, shoot,” Mr. Kacmaz said. “This is a misinterpretation of Islam.”

But that view is common in Pakistan, a frontier land for the future of Islam, where schools, nourished by Saudi and American money dating back to the 1980s, have spread Islamic radicalism through the poorest parts of society. With a literacy rate of just 50 percent and a public school system near collapse, the country is particularly vulnerable.

Der Spiegel’s Recent Strange Attack on the Hizmet Movement

Nice piece by Ihsan Yilmaz.

Der Spiegel has published a piece about the Hizmet (Gülen) movement. Unfortunately, the piece does not look like a work of journalism.

The wording, selection of so-called experts, and most importantly distortions, misleading points and false information make the piece very problematic. The piece starts with a claim that “Gülen likes to present himself as the Gandhi of Islam”. However, Gülen has never made such a comparison. Without giving any background information about the Turkish politics and law, the piece accuses the movement being secretive. Its readers have a right to know that still in 2012, it is a crime to establish Islamic groups, movements and brotherhoods. These of course exist but they can only exist unofficially and depending on the socio-political situation, the authorities will turn a blind eye to these groupings that would operate normally in any proper democracy. Whenever conditions change, the authorities heavily punish these groups. Thus, as the piece puts the movement does not have an address or bank account but this is not its fault. This does not mean that the movement is secretive. It consists of volunteers, schools, businesses and so on. They operate as loose informal networks that the authorities know about and all these institutions are transparent institutions that regularly inspected by the relevant authorities.

A Mafia Opposing Alcohol, Violence and Firearms

"The recent yellow journalism example of Der Spiegel stirred some controversy. As an expert on Gulen Movement, I humbly think that the Gulen (Hizmet) Movement is the victim of biased journalists. Mahmut Cebi has recently written a nice behind-the-scenes article on that bad journalism."

I once listened to Mehmet Firinci, a student of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, recount the following story: “Bediuzzaman was about 75 years old when a group came to visit him. They were speaking of retaliating with violence against all the oppression they were facing. Bediuzzaman was listening to them while he was sitting on the ground. He became very outraged by what he heard, and all of a sudden he jumped as high as one meter off the ground despite his old age. He then stood up and pushed them away, saying “No to violence, no to violence.” In a similar vein, Mr. Fethullah Gülen made his position very clear against all kinds of violence and terror, be it from the al-Qaeda or PKK. His famous motto “A Muslim cannot be a terrorist, a terrorist cannot be a Muslim” has been ingrained firmly in the minds of many.

Fethullah Gulen Forum

Dr. Koc's recent book about Fethullah Gulen has opened my eyes about Dr. Dogan Koc. While doing some research about Dr. Koc's other possible articles, I came up with "Fethullah Gulen Forum", a website where you can find a number of articles about the Gulen Movement, including the ones from Dr. Koc. Here is what the website tells about itself:

FG Forum is an online discussion board of issues related to Fethullah Gülen. By creating active discussions, FG Forum aims to offer in depth analysis on Fethullah Gülen and the Gülen Movement.

Strategic Defamation of Fethullah Gülen: English vs. Turkish

Dr. Dogan Koc published a book about Fethullah Gulen entitled "Strategic Defamation of Fethullah Gülen: English vs. Turkish".

Here is what the book description reads:

Fethullah Gülen is a moderate Turkish Muslim scholar who is known mostly for his education and dialogue activities. The Hizmet Movement, inspired by Gülen, has established hundreds of education and dialogue institutions throughout the world. Several books and hundreds of articles and news reports have been written about Gülen himself and the movement. In recent years, a defamation campaign has been launched against Gülen and the Hizmet Movement. Although these defamation articles may seem random, this book will show that the articles are written strategically in a campaign manner. In Strategic Defamation of Fethullah Gülen, close to 500 defamation articles, books, and other forms of writings are analyzed according to their languages. Koç concludes that these defamations are not random and that they appear according to their respective audiences.

"Fortunately We Have not Closed Gulen Schools"

I was scanning the press the other day and came up a very interesting article by Mehmet Ali Birand, a secular journalist from Turkey, on Hurriyet Daily News. Entitled "Fortunately, We Have not Closed Gulen Schools", the article mentions a significant confession about the ultra-secular groups, some of whom are connected to Ergenekon underground organization, in Turkey: 

I have always been a supporter of Fethullah Gülen schools and the competitions they organized. Because I oppose those who said “these schools should be closed, they are a source of reaction,” I have suffered many troubles.

Look at the stage we have reached now. Yesterday, we wanted to close them, today we carry them on top of our heads. Fortunately, we have not closed them. Fortunately, we have not acted with a narrow-mind.

In his article, Birand talks about the current Turkish Olympiads in Turkey in which there are students from more than 130 countries. They put on a display in several cities including Izmir, where the organization took place in a packed stadium with more than 80,000 people. 

60 Minutes, Fethullah Gulen and the End of Gulen Charter Schools Myth

Fethullah Gulen in his bedroom

As a scholar studying the Hizmet Movement for more than a decade, I have opened this blog to clear some confusion/suspicion about Fethullah Gulen. My concern is not about the so-called Gulen Charter Schools, but rather for Mr. Gulen, who has no relationship or connection with any of the so-called Gulen (inspired) schools around the world (let alone the high achieving charter schools in America). Even if Fethullah Gulen was associated with Harvard or Oxford University, I would still object to that, because he himself would be the first person to do this. that is why, he never visits any of the schools he is claimed to inspire, nor does he have ownership or any other affiliation with any of them.

That is actually what makes the story of 60 Minutes very intriguing, because we see someone who constantly avoids associating himself with any of the educational institutions throughout the world. That is something rare in our American society. If we accomplish something, we fully take the credit for that accomplishment. But here we have someone who prefers self-exile and seclusion instead of publicity. Fethullah Gulen rarely talks to the media due to his health problems and "60 Minutes" was no exception. But even if he talks, he does not take the credit for the schools, charity works, and other activities of the Hizmet Movement.