‘Mr. Gülen is to me simultaneously both incredibly modest and a visionary’


Date posted: February 14, 2015

Stephanie Varnon-Hughes is a Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Inter-Religious Studies™ . She completed her Master’s in Church History in 2008 and her STM in 2009 at the Union Theological Seminary. She is completing her doctoral studies at Claremont Lincoln University, focusing on inter-religious curriculum and engagement.

“I’m inspired by the Hizmet Movement. I didn’t realize that until I came in contact with the Movement, but all of my life, education and service and dialog have been transformative to me. … This is the work that all of our hearts should be doing. So it remains a source of inspiration for me in my work.”

“One of the things that always strikes me about Mr. Gülen is his appreciation for poetry … And I just think it’s another fruit that someone who does so much for education and service also wants to nourish the souls of people; not just give them a desk, not just give them books, not just give them aid, but make sure that the imagination and the soul are not luxury items. They’re for each person.”

“There is a verse, I believe in the Koran, that God made us many nations and people so that we might get to know one another. … If we only study ourselves, and we only study the small world around us, our knowledge will never be enriched. But if we get to know one another, and get to know more about science, and more about the world, and more about other things, our knowledge is enriched.”

“I think that all of us—if you think about a tree with roots and the nutrients that come from the soil—all of us are more enriched when we have access to wisdom from different traditions. And that’s our work here, and it’s clearly the work of Mr. Gülen and the Movement.”


*Produced by Spectra Media exclusively for Irmak TV, Atlas of Thoughts (Fikir Atlasi) connects the scholars, politicians, jurists, religious figures, journalists, and academics reflecting on Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen and the Hizmet Movement with the audience. Each episode features a person from a different segment of the society with diverse experiences regarding the Hizmet activities and its volunteers. If you are interested to hear about the Hizmet and Mr. Gulen from these people’s perspectives, do not miss this show!

Source: Spectra Media , April 17, 2014


Related News

Pro-gov’t circles intensify hypocritical propaganda targeting Gülen movement

The pro-government media and Justice and Development Party (AK Party) circles continue to use hypocritical language against the faith-based Gülen movement — popularly known as the Hizmet movement — inspired by the views of Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, in propaganda both abroad and at home.

Moderate Islamic Gulen Movement Builds Bridges of Understanding With Christians, Jews

Jim Buie Gulen Movement is trying to identify youths at risk to join terrorist groups and give them free tuition to private schools and a place in the Gulen communities, in hopes of turning their lives around. I was reading in Today’s Zaman (English language daily newspaper in Turkey) about a conference at the University […]

Who is Fethullah Gulen? (by National Catholic Reporter)

By blaming Fethullah Gulen and the Gulen movement for the coup attempt, Mr. Erdogan’s authoritarian tendencies have only increased as witnessed by the tens of thousands arrested and detained, and the radical curtailing of free speech. It now appears that in Mr. Erdogan’s hands Turkey’s future and that of the Middle East will be less democratic, less stable and more tumultuous than ever.

Blinded by envious rivalry

Süleyman Sargın* 7 June 2012 The volunteers of the Hizmet Movement do not expect appreciation from anyone. Their highest ideal is that humanity can live in a world dominated by love and peace. The fidelity of Anatolian people makes them forget about all their trials and tribulations, yet the lack of fidelity from certain friends […]

Does the Gülen (Hizmet) Movement Deny the Armenian Genocide?

We have certainly been scapegoated, and enduring an ongoing collective trauma, with no end in sight. The fact that the Turkish state could label innocent people guilty, and punish them for their association (even tangential) with the Gülen Movement, opened the majority of our eyes. If they could do this to us, it must be true that they did it to other minority groups (Kurds, Alevis) and certainly to the Armenians.

EU’s Flautre says PM Erdoğan’s harsh words against Hizmet not acceptable

Hélène Flautre, the co-chairwoman of the EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, has criticized Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s harsh rhetoric against the Hizmet movement, saying that Erdoğan’s use of labels such as “traitor,” “virus” and “assassin” are simply not acceptable.

Latest News

Fethullah Gulen – man of education, peace and dialogue – passes away

Fethullah Gülen’s Condolence Message for South African Human Rights Defender Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Hizmet Movement Declares Core Values with Unified Voice

Ankara systematically tortures supporters of Gülen movement, Kurds, Turkey Tribunal rapporteurs say

Erdogan possessed by Pharaoh, Herod, Hitler spirits?

Devious Use of International Organizations to Persecute Dissidents Abroad: The Erdogan Case

A “Controlled Coup”: Erdogan’s Contribution to the Autocrats’ Playbook

Why is Turkey’s Erdogan persecuting the Gulen movement?

Purge-victim man sent back to prison over Gulen links despite stage 4 cancer diagnosis

In Case You Missed It

Students from 140 countries to participate in Turkish Olympiads this year

Turkey’s post-revolutionary civil war

The Gülen Movement in the public sphere

Kimse Yok Mu extends helping hand to Kyrgyz orphans

Gülen slams pro-gov’t media for disseminating lies and blasphemy

Unlawful accreditation ban against Today’s Zaman reporter ends

Gulen Schools Fight Provokes New Tensions in Bosnia

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News