The Ideal of Serving Mankind

Şahin Alpay
Şahin Alpay


Date posted: January 29, 2012

Last week I was invited to speak at a panel organized for the occasion of the publication of Muslim scholar and preacher Fethullah Gülen’s new book “Yaşatma İdeali” (The Ideal of Serving Mankind), in which he explains the main principles of the faith-based social movement serving the nation and the mankind he has inspired.

Şahin ALPAY  January 29, 2012

On that panel, in the hope of contributing to a better understanding and appreciation of the movement, I presented as follows an assessment of it from a social science perspective.

I am not at all a religious person. I do, however, respect religions and religious people. I believe religious beliefs are coexistent with life, because human beings have spiritual as well as material needs and that they are, if not the only main source of moral principles that help societies stay together. I respect religious beliefs, but regard at the same time, the fight against dogmatic and oppressive interpretations of religions that infuse animosity between people as one of the main challenges of mankind. I deeply respect Fethullah Gülen’s understanding of Islam, which rejects dogmaticism and teaches love and respect between human beings. I have expressed my respect for Gülen and his work, not just since 2002 writing for the Zaman and later Today’s Zaman daily newspapers, which are products of the faith-based social movement he has inspired, but since 1995, while I was writing for the daily Milliyet, which is one of the bastions of Kemalism, that is authoritarian secular nationalism in the Turkish media.

In Turkey, the basis of an understanding of Islam that combined Islamic values with advocacy of  human rights, democracy, basic rights and freedoms, rule of law, secularism in the sense of religious rights for all, respect for cultural diversity, science and market economy was laid down by the late Said Nursi (1878-1960), a Kurd from Bitlis, while that understanding has been further developed by Fethullah Gülen, a Turk from Erzurum, living in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1998. Turkey today may be said to be in transition from an authoritarian to a liberal form of modernity.

In traditional agrarian society, religion was the main basis of knowledge as well as morality. In the transition to a modern industrial society, dogmas of religion were challenged, science gradually replaced religion as the main source of knowledge, and the universe began to be explained in terms of the laws of nature, society in terms of the laws of history. It may be said that in the transition from the modern to post-modern society that began in the latter half of the 20th century, the validity of the theories about the laws of nature and history were increasingly challenged and limitations of science were increasingly recognized.

It may be said that there were two basic arguments put forward by the Enlightenment philosophy of the 18th century that laid the ground for the notion of modernity: 1) Critical reason is the most valuable asset of mankind. No assumption, including those of religion, is above criticism and questioning. 2) Human beings can establish heaven on earth by utilizing scientific knowledge, which is the product of human reason. Those societies that relied on the former and also subjected science to critical reason were able to gradually constitute liberal and pluralistic political regimes. In such societies, modernity was increasingly identified with human rights, democracy, rule of law, respect for diversity and market economy. (Liberal-pluralist modernity.) Those societies that relied on the latter argument of Enlightenment philosophy formed oppressive and suppressive political regimes in varieties of fascism and communism. (Authoritarian-totalitarian modernity.)

The reaction of religions and religious people to modernity was mainly of two kinds: Those that rejected modernity led to dogmatic, fundamentalist interpretations of religion, while those interpretations that aimed at adapting to modernity assumed both liberal and authoritarian forms. In the 20th century Muslim world, authoritarian modernist interpretations of Islam resulted in various radical and violent Islamisms in various shapes, including al-Qaeda’s global Islamism. There appeared, however, also interpretations of Islam that aimed at a synthesis of Islam’s teachings with liberal principles.

In Turkey, the basis of an understanding of Islam that combined Islamic values with advocacy of  human rights, democracy, basic rights and freedoms, rule of law, secularism in the sense of religious rights for all, respect for cultural diversity, science and market economy was laid down by the late Said Nursi (1878-1960), a Kurd from Bitlis, while that understanding has been further developed by Fethullah Gülen, a Turk from Erzurum, living in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1998. Turkey today may be said to be in transition from an authoritarian to a liberal form of modernity. In this process of consolidating a full market democracy, besides Turgut Özal’s reforms towards liberalizing and globalizing Turkey’s economy, criticism of Kemalist authoritarian modernity by liberal intellectuals, reforms led by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) towards accession to the European Union, and the movement serving the nation and the mankind inspired by Gülen have also played a role.

Gülen’s views have surely evolved over time. That the evolution of his ideas has led him towards the ideal of serving mankind from all nations and regions is best demonstrated today by the schools he has inspired, which have spread to not less than 120 countries, building bridges of peace and understanding between Turkey and all of these lands.

Source: Today’s Zaman http://www.todayszaman.com/columnist-269906-what-does-the-gulen-movement-stand-for.html


Related News

Talking with the “Religious Terrorist” that Turkey Wants Trump to Extradite

Regardless of the threat Gulen poses as the purported leader of an international apparatus, any movement is a threat in that it is not easily controlled. If Gulen is right, and Erdogan fears anything that he cannot control, then the Gulen movement with its critical stance towards what it regards as abuses of the public trust, must seem threatening indeed.

Fethullah Gülen’s Message on International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

Like all forms of violence, violence against women is the expression of an unhealthy mindset and psychology. Therefore, we must not approach the matter solely from a punitive perspective, but get to the root causes and come up with long-lasting solutions.

UN praises Kimse Yok Mu for aid efforts in Somalia

Director of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) John Ging said in an interview on Thursday that Kimse Yok Mu and other Turkish NGOs’ aid efforts in Somalia should be praised.

Freedom award recipient Bartholomew praises Gülen’s peace efforts

13 May 2012 / BASRI DOĞAN, MIDDELBURG Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew praised well-respected Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen for his peace efforts around the world after receiving one of the Roosevelt Institute’s Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Awards. The award ceremony for the 2012 Four Freedoms Awards was held on Saturday at the Nieuwe […]

Turkey Concedes: No Evidence Linking Gulen to Coup Sent to Washington

Turkey is conceding it has not sent any evidence to Washington linking Fethullah Gulen to the failed July 15 coup attempt, despite increasingly angry calls by Ankara for the United States to extradite the Pennsylvania-based cleric or suffer a severe downgrade in diplomatic relations.

Interfaith Forum Ignores Islamic Immigration Questions

February 25 panel before about 50 listeners. Like him, “Welcoming the Stranger: Refugees and Immigrants in Our Midst,” a presentation of the controversial Islamic Gülen movement’s Rumi Forum, was uniformly uncritical towards current Middle Eastern refugee issues.

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

Archbishop Makgoba: Turkey’s religious tolerance answer to extremism

Çelik admits profiling as daily faces criminal complaint for revelations

Why Erdogan Is Soft On ISIS

Fountain Magazine wins APEX Award for publication excellence

Nigerian school wins 48 Olympiad medals in 1 year

Turkish Olympiads – A Blessing from God

One year after attempted coup, purges have left hundreds of Turkish academics imprisoned

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News