The Gülen Movement and human rights values in the Muslim world

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.
Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.


Date posted: November 4, 2007

ÖZCAN KELEŞ*

Fethullah Gülen is many things at once and it is this combination of characteristics, abilities and qualifications, some of which have hitherto seemed mutually exclusive, that marks him out from the rest and has provided him with a transformative edge.

It is the combination of three particular characteristics that have enabled Gülen to become immensely popular and influential in Turkey, namely: being a Sufi-oriented, spiritually-devout Muslim; an intellectual in contemporary reading and thought; and an acclaimed Islamic scholar, or alim.

Gülen has reinterpreted Islamic understanding in tune with contemporary times and has developed and put into practice a new Muslim discourse — on religion, pluralism, jurisprudence, secularism, democracy, politics and international relations. By doing so Gülen is undertaking a tajdid (renewing) through conduct, because his ideas are put into immediate effect through the movement and affects the surrounding wider society in la longe durée. I claim that Gülen is engaged in incremental ijtihad (independent religious ruling), since (i) he develops and communicates his ijtihad incrementally over many years and different mediums, respectively, and (ii) he does not claim that he is engaged in ijtihad at all, thus further delaying the recognition that he is.

This article deals specifically with freedom of belief which has been a tricky topic for the Muslim world. The exact difficulty relates to the concept inherent in this freedom, namely the right to change religion. The question for Muslim countries has been whether Islamic law allows for Muslims to convert out of Islam. The conventional answer is that it does not and that one who does (murtad) is punishable by death in Islamic law. Gülen’s evolving position on the death penalty for an apostate is an example of his incremental ijtihad.

In one article on the topic (a transcript of Gülen’s response dating back to the late 1970s), Gülen passingly refers to the issue of temporal punishment for apostasy. Whilst he reiterates the conventional position as his own, he treats the matter as political rebellion toward the state and equates it with high treason. This latter comment marks the beginning of an incremental ijtihad on the topic which will eventually manifest itself as part of an evolving tajdid on dialogue, pluralism and human rights in Islam.

Since the aforementioned article, Gülen has not expounded on his position. Instead, it has been picked up by Dr. Ahmet Kurucan, a personal student of Gülen for many years. In a 2006 Conference in Germany, Kurucan explained that the death penalty for apostasy was an ijtihad itself, not a definitive commandment of Islam and that therefore it could be superseded by another ijtihad today. He argued that the time in which pre-modern jurists arrived at their decision, communities were deeply divided over Islam and Muslims were under political and physical siege from a number of fronts. Thus, you were either a Muslim defending Islam or a non-Muslim attacking it. For these jurists, apostasy at the time meant rebelling against the state and joining forces against the Muslims. There were a number of incidents at the time when apostates subsequently took arms against Muslims. According to Kurucan therefore, apostasy was treated as high treason by the pre-modern jurists and their ijtihad of execution is in relation to this, not to the mere renouncing of faith.

Kurucan argues that the Quran makes no reference to temporal punishment for apostasy, that to the contrary it states that there is no compulsion in religion; that there are a number of recorded incidents in the Prophet’s lifetime when an apostate went without punishment whatsoever; that much of the justification for this ijtihad is based on incidents that occurred during the reign of the Prophet’s companion Abu Bakr when whole communities rose up against the central government and that therefore these were political acts of rebellion against the State; that the Hanafi school of thought states that a woman apostate is not punishable by death since she cannot take arms against Muslims, which, coupled with the fact that Islam treats man and women equally in reward and punishment, helps prove the overall point that in the pre-modern jurists’ mind, apostasy was equated with high treason and political rebellion.

Kurucan argues that since apostasy can no longer be charged with such meaning today (as imminent physical attack by the apostate), then this ijtihad can be superseded by another.

Given the importance of the topic and its potential for controversy, it is unthinkable that Kurucan would take such a stance without Gülen’s prior approval. Thus, the various incremental stages of this ijtihad include Gülen’s article dating back to the late 1970s, the overall dialogue works that became a priority for Gülen in the mid 1990s, the various meetings with minority religious leaders in Turkey in same period, the repeated emphasis on freedom of belief and human rights in the Abant meetings in the 2000s and Kurucan’s academic work in 2006. All of these comprise a further reason and justification in themselves toward a new position on the issue of change of religion in Islam.

Therefore, what we have here is an incremental development and communication of a hitherto minor opinion through new arguments to change the conventional thinking and attitude toward freedom of belief in general, apostasy in particular in traditional Islamic law.

Gülen promotes human rights directly by internalizing democracy, human rights, freedom of belief, pluralism and Anglo-Saxon-style secularism. It is well known among human right lawyers and academics that democracy and pluralism are considered the prerequisites for the enjoyment of human rights. Where there is antagonism toward either, there can never be the enjoyment of the other.

The net effect of Gülen’s efforts has been to contribute to a new type of Muslim in Turkey, who while remaining a strong believer supports democracy, pluralism and human rights because of his faith, not despite it. Just as Gülen’s discourse and the Gülen movement were instrumental in empowering the periphery in Turkey, their presence will have a similar effect in the Muslim world. The fact that Turkey’s profile has been on a steady rise in the Muslim world in recent years will only add pace to the movement’s efforts there. In time, and as in Turkey, that will lead to a change of culture, perception and mood on points pertinent to human rights enjoyment and contribute to a wider debate in the Muslim world on developing an internally meaningful and effective and externally coherent and consistent set of human right norms and laws.

*Özcan Keleş is a barrister and a Ph.D. candidate at the Human Rights Center of the University of Essex.

Source: Today's Zaman , November 3, 2007


Related News

Who is Fethullah Gülen?

The leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, rightly called it “a coup against democracy” when Zaman Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanlı and STV network executive Hidayet Karaca, together with a number of screenwriters and television producers, were detained on Dec. 14 on the incredible charges of founding or belonging to “an armed terrorist organization aiming to seize the sovereignty of the state.”

Discrimination by AKP government [against Hizmet movement]

Discrimination by the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, which argues that it has addressed this issue vis-à-vis religious people, has never been analyzed. The recent row between the AKP and the Hizmet movement refers to an important and interesting fact, because it reveals this reality. In light of these discussions, bureaucrats who have been discriminated by the AKP government because of their views are now talking.

The tragedy in Soma will also be felt in politics

Mr Erdogan has launched what he admits is “a witch hunt”, demoting and reshuffling hundreds of Gulenists within the bureaucracy.

Erdoğan raising new army of political Islamists

Gülen had to take a stand, not seeking power for himself at his advanced age, but to protect the fundamental teachings of Islam that emphasize humility, moderation, justice, accountability and transparency in governance.

Hizmet Movement is not interested in attaining political power in Turkey or elsewhere in the world

[Erdogan] has called Hizmet a state within a state, which to me is a strange characterization. To me, that’s like saying that the Catholics are a state within a state in America, or the Jews, a state within a state in America. Those kinds of statements are derogatory, they’re pejoratives. Catholics have a right to seek influence in America; Jews have a right to seek influence in America, that’s how we operate here.

‘Turkey using political rather than legal pressure against US to get Gulen extradited’

President Erdogan needs a victory so he can prove to the public and supporters that Fethullah Gulen was behind the failed coup and therefore get him extradited, says Ibrahim Dogus, the founder of the Center for Turkey Studies in London.

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

Did they make mistake?

Gülen’s ideas address the entire world

Hizmet schools win 64 out of 120 TÜBİTAK medals despite gov’t pressure

Future of political islam: lessons from Turkey, Egypt

When nations spy on their nationals on foreign soil

Trip to Turkey about understanding

Dedicated couples teaching Turkish to the world

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News