Daniel Skubik on Fethullah Gulen and Hizmet Movement
Date posted: October 28, 2014
Dr. Daniel Skubik is Professor of law, ethics & humanities at California Baptist University. He teaches public and private international law, constitutional law, and philosophy of law. He earned his master degree in political science and his doctoral degree in philosophy.
“What most strikes my wife and me—it may even sound a bit strange or even a bit silly—but what strikes us most is the holiness, the purity that we see represented in the lives of those who are associated with Hizmet.
They are not ashamed—by any means—in what they believe, to the One to whom they have committed their lives.”
“As an educator I may be a bit biased, but I think the focus on education that we see in Hizmet, that we see in Gulen and his teachings and his being, that focus on education which is critical to the work of Hizmet is itself the most critical work that can be done in this age.”
“Education is the opportunity to form young people, to form personalities, to form spirits as well as minds…”
“Forming young people in that way, providing that opportunity for them to become what God will have them be, and so, for them to be useable vessels for God as vicegerents in this age… what a wonderful task, what a difficult task, what a beautiful task..”
During the local election marathon, Erdoğan was saying this: “They cannot hold the Turkish Olympiad from now on. That business is over now. They will come and ask for halls from us. Forget it; that subject is closed…”
Sophia Pandya on Hizmet Movement
Dr. Sophia Pandya specializes in women, religion, and globalization. She received her BA from UC Berkeley in Near Eastern Studies/Arabic, and her MA and PhD from UCSB in Religious Studies, with a focus on women and Islam. She co-edited the book titled The GulenHizmet Movement and its Transnational Activities: Case Studies of Altruistic Activism in Contemporary Islam.
Questions we dare not ask: Gülen and the coup
Gareth Jenkins once criticized Turkey’s infamous Ergenekon indictments on the grounds that they were “products of ‘projective’ rather than deductive reasoning, working backwards from the premise that the organization exists to weave unrelated individuals, statements and acts into a single massive conspiracy.” Other than being a far more extreme example of “projective” rather than “deductive” reasoning, how is the Turkish government and its media’s attempt at connecting Turkey’s failed coup with Fethullah Gülen and the Hizmet movement he inspires any different?
Turkey’s first private Arabic station starts to broadcast
Hira TV will also feature Samanyolu TV, which has been broadcasting programs in Arabic for almost 20 years. Hira TV CEO Yusuf Acar said the new channel’s target audience is families, adding: “Through cultural and scientific TV programs, we will appeal to all Arab people, including both children and adults. In addition, we will broadcast lectures from Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish-Islamic scholar.”
Princeton professor accuses Gulen of orchestrating Turkish coup, Harvard professor disagrees
Edward Owen, professor of Middle East history at Harvard, said that he did not believe in Reynold’s certainty of Gülen’s guilt. Owen added that when a person writes “alarmist pieces” like Reynolds’, the main audience for the pieces is Washington. “It is a way of calling attention to yourself, and I imagine that Professor Reynolds would like his name registered by the people in Washington as somebody to go to, to employ, when there is a change in administration in Washington,” Owen said.
Division at home, cooperation abroad
Last week I visited Canada to speak at a panel on Turkey in Ottawa and give a lecture on Turkey-EU relations at the Munk School for Global Affairs in Toronto. The panel was part of the first Turkic-Canadian Convention intended to boost economic and cultural relations between Canada and Turkey. The convention was organized by the Anatolian Heritage Federation and was also attended by five members of the Turkish Parliament from the three major parties.
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