Why Fethullah Gulen will never support a coup?


Date posted: August 6, 2016

Hidayat Brown

A few weeks ago, there was an attempted coup in Turkey. Cleric Fethullah Gulen is still being accused of masterminding this attempted coup. Thousands of people have been imprisoned only because they are potentially sympathizing with Gulen. Gulen “categorically” denies being behind the coup and has been very vocal in condemning such attempts that undermine democracy. Based on his previous teachings, lectures, books and articles, his denial of involvement is extremely convincing.

Gulen is a moderate Islamic Scholar who is currently living in the US since 1999. His followers form a civil service movement called “Hizmet or Gulen” movement. The movement is well received throughout the world for their service to the social needs. His interpretation of the Islam has been consistently peaceful and peace-motivated.

One of the distinct and explicit features of Gulen has been a well-defined stance against violence and social chaos. In his lectures, he has advised against creating and taking part in social chaos. He has strongly discouraged going on the street to demonstrate and disturbing the social harmony. Even in the case where oppression becomes wide spread, maintaining social order is paramount. In his books, his lesson to the oppressed factions of society has been very similar to the teaching of Jesus mentioned in the Bible: “turn the other cheek when someone strikes you” [5:38-41]. As a matter of fact, he has expressed immediately his stance after any type of violence such as oppression or blood shed. Immediately after the September 11 tragedy, he was the first Muslim scholar who underlined the Quranic fact [5, 32] “ A real Muslim identity will not commit a satanic act of killing, as presented in an article in Washington Post. His philosophy of life is “to respect and love all the creation due to love and respect towards God”. Gulen sees himself as the follower of the Prophet Muhammad and Sufi masters such as Rumi. He praises the likes of Jesus and Ghandi and anyone who brings peaceful methods of social betterment to the table.

He is intensely dedicated to education and sees it as the strongest force that can defeat the darkness of violence. He has motivated millions of people to teach in underserved areas, whether it is downtown Cleveland or war-torn Bosnia.

I consider that it is very illogical and unsubstantiated to blame a personality and implicitly the followers of his teachings for an action that is a potential source of a lot of human deaths, destruction and chaos. A similar philosophy of respect and love for everything due to their real Source, the Creator, could be one of our vital prescriptions that is essential against all types and sources of ferocity which we unfortunately witness in the world today.

 

Tags: | | |


Related News

Turkey’s Purge Could Cause a Massive Brain Drain

The purge by the Turkish government has led to the arrest of thousands, including many academics. In addition to the purge, the government has invoked military law, set curfews and limited social media.

Turkish Airlines discriminates against critical newspapers on planes

THY significantly slashed its number of subscriptions to the aforementioned newspapers following an open disagreement between the government — which had made a decision to shut down prep schools — and the dailies, which held a critical editorial stance against the move. The numbers of these newspapers were lowered in THY’s private “Commercially Important Persons” lounge.

‘Hizmet is the attempt to celebrate all of humanity’

Hizmet Movement is unique because it doesn’t try to carry out what we call cultural and religious particularism. That would be the idea that your group is the best, that you have the only form of truth, that all other groups are impure, incorrect and that they are not worthy of time, or that they’re not worthy of learning something from them. Hizmet, in fact, says the opposite. Members reach out to learn from other peoples, they actively invite people from different cultural backgrounds, people from different religious backgrounds to come and teach them, to teach them things.

The Turkish “Great Teacher” – Fethullah Gülen and his Amazing Social Reforms

The Anatolia Cultural & Dialog Centre in Hong Kong (ACDC) invited and hosted two delegations from HKU – Centre for Buddhist Studies Alumni Association (CBSAA) during July and August this summer. The ACDC is a non-governmental Turkish cultural organization that promotes cultural & interfaith dialogue exchange to promote understanding between different communities. The Buddhist groups […]

Exiled cleric Gulen explains why he thinks Erdogan has branded him a terrorist

Gulen claimed that [Erdogan turn against Hizmet and accuse it of plotting the failed coup] because he had refused Erdogan’s appeal to use the domestic and international Hizmet network as a propaganda tool to present himself as leader of Islam, at home and abroad. “But Hizmet rejected him and so Erdogan was angry,” Gulen said.

Turkey crackdown: Gulen sympathizers abroad are feeling the heat

Turkey’s relentless pursuit of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen’s supporters during the past four months – both at home and abroad – has now resulted in Turkish military personnel serving at NATO bases seeking asylum, fearing persecution if they return home.

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

TUSKON-led trade volume reaches $30 billion

Turkish IT Technician Found Dead While Fleeing To Greece

Gulen-Linked Turkish Schools In Kazakhstan Being Renamed

Kimse Yok Mu continues relief efforts in Gaza

Slain prosecutor’s daughter: My father was not with Gülen movement

British law firm hired by AK Party gov’t launches defamation campaign against Gülen movement

Van NGOs: Calling Hizmet movement ‘virus’ and ‘hashhashin’ unnaceptable

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News