Date posted: October 26, 2007

ALİ İHSAN AYDIN

The Gülen movement’s past, present and potential future influence on the Muslim world will be explored in a conference titled “Muslim World in Transition: Contributions of the Gülen Movement,” to be held on Oct. 25-27 at the House of Lords in London.

Organized by the Middle East Institute, the London Middle East Institute and Leeds Metropolitan University, the conference will examine the theological and intellectual contributions of Fethullah Gülen, situate him within the context of modern Islam’s intellectual history and discuss his own interpretations of faith-based issues. The movement’s projects regarding East-West relations, inter-civilizational cooperation, and global terrorism are of particular interest for the purposes of the conference. The radical social, economic, political and intellectual change, which the Muslim world has been undergoing since its encounter with the West several centuries ago, will also be discussed throughout this conference, the aim of which is to examine the nature and depth of this change and the impact of the Gülen movement on the contemporary Muslim world as well as the relations between the West and Islam in general.

Two parallel sessions — “The Gülen Movement in Redefining Turkey and Anatolian Muslimness” and “Euro-Islam, Identity and Integration” — will be held throughout the conference, during which Turkish Muslim writer and columnist Mustafa Akyol will address the audience with a speech titled “What Made the Gülen Movement Possible,” and columnist and writer Fatih Tedik will deliver an address titled “The Gülen Movement as a Mechanism for Integration of the Muslim Community in Europe: Potential and Constraints.” In addition, Muslim scholar Professor Marcia Hermansen will get across to the audience with her speech “The Cultivation of Memory in the Gülen Community,” and psychodrama psychotherapist Kate Kirk with “Modern Ideals and Muslim Identity: Harmony or Contradiction? A Text Linguistic Analysis of Gülen’s Teachings and Movement.”

As a religious intellectual and peace activist from Turkey, Gülen has influenced a whole generation of Muslims worldwide and inspired them to play an important role in charitable and educational projects and foundations. Setting off with the objective of bringing out the universal mission of Islam, which is to serve people worldwide regardless of faith, color or national origin, Gülen will bring several scholars and religious thinkers together at the conference to highlight the serious dialogue between Islam and the West.

Source: Today's Zaman , October 25, 2007

Tags: Conferences on Gulen | Fethullah Gulen | Hizmet (Gulen) movement | United Kingdom |