Fethullah Gülen’s message to “Gülen Movement” conference in Senegal


Date posted: February 9, 2013

Dear guests, esteemed organizers, academics, thinkers, and honorable government authorities of Senegal,

I have gratefully received your kind invitation to the conference titled “Diversity and Cohesion in a Globalized World: Contributions of the Gülen Movement.” It is with deep sorrow that I am unable to join you due to my unfavorable health conditions.

Diversity is no doubt a reality of human life, as it is an auspicious and bountiful manifestation of Divine will in the universe. Our encounter with this reality has never been as intimate as it is now, as time and space have shrunk to make us neighbors. Yet, while on the one hand we are being drawn closer to one another, on the other hand, challenges are growing far and wide, with consequences transcending political, historical, and cultural borders. This is where the main theme of your conference, i.e., cohesion, comes into play as an indispensable solution for our pandemic problems of violence, wars, prejudice, lack of character, misguided education, and weakening spirit of neighborliness.

I sincerely hope that this conference will substantially contribute to a global awareness that “there are as many paths leading to God as there are breaths to take.” This awareness starts first in the heart, where we have to subside our inner hatred, our carnal desire for violence and hurt. It is a mission to change the world to become an abode of dialogue. It is a lifetime struggle and caregiving without despair in the face of all the trouble and suffering we are witnessing around us. First and foremost, it is our responsibility, to ourselves, to be who we are expected to be, and second, not to leave any excuses for others who refuse to assume it.

I am very thankful to the organizers, Ebru Magazine, ATSA Foundation, and Cheikh Anta Diop University for their cooperation in bringing this conference together. I wish Ebru Magazine success on their recently started journey of becoming a voice of peace, dialogue, and a source of inspiration for hearts and minds. I wholeheartedly commend the Senegal government, the Senegal Ministry of Education, and the brotherly nation of Senegal for hosting this event and for the peaceful hospitality they have been showering over the teachers and other volunteers of education and dialogue serving at Yavuz Selim schools and ATSA Foundation as they serve to build bridges of friendship across oceans and nations.

Sincerely yours,

M. Fethullah Gülen

Tags: | | | |


Related News

Toward an Islamic enlightenment

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, who has put forward an interpretation of Islam that advocates peace, democracy, secularism (in the sense of freedom of religion and conscience for all), science, education and a market economy, and who has supported interfaith dialogue and mutual understanding and respect for people of different ethnic and religious identities and lifestyles, has been the topic of much curiosity for native as well as foreign observers of Turkey.

Fethullah Gülen lawsuit [in the US] thrown out in setback for Turkey’s Erdoğan

A US judge has dismissed a human rights lawsuit against Fethullah Gülen, a US-based Turkish cleric who is a former ally turned prominent critic of his home country’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The lawsuit, funded by Turkey, had claimed the Muslim cleric in Pennsylvania orchestrated human rights abuses in his native Turkey.

Why I Asked National Security Adviser to Stop Turkish Espionage on Nigeria

If members of Hizmet have done anything wrong, since they are in Nigeria, the Turkish government, through its embassy here can report them with hard evidence to the Nigerian security service. The fact that they have resorted to underhand tactics means they have nothing credible against these innocent fellows.

Amir Hussain on Fethullah Gulen and Hizmet Movement

Dr. Amir Hussain is a professor of Theological Studies at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles. He has written numerous scholarly articles, and his area of research is on the study of Islam, specifically contemporary Muslim societies in North America.

Interview with the Journalists and Writers Foundation Chairman Mustafa Yeşil: Questioning the Gülen Movement: Truths, Lies, and Conspiracies

The Movement fights against ignorance all around the world, reaches and brings service to people who are forgotten by the governments with their volunteers, and helps enrich their morality with Islam and material worlds with their modern institutions and instruments.

Fethullah Gülen condemns the terrorist attack in Gaziantep, Turkey

I condemn, in the strongest terms, the barbaric terrorist attack on attendees of a wedding ceremony in Gaziantep, Turkey that took the lives of more than fifty citizens, including children, and wounded many others. This is not just an attack on the attendees of a wedding, but also an attack on the solidarity of people of Anatolia, including Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Boshniaks, Albanians, Georgians and Circassians and others who lived as neighbors for centuries.

Latest News

Turkish inmate jailed over alleged Gülen links dies of heart attack in prison

Message of Condemnation and Condolences for Mass Shooting at Bondi Beach, Sydney

Media executive Hidayet Karaca marks 11th year in prison over alleged links to Gülen movement

ECtHR faults Turkey for convictions of 2,420 applicants over Gülen links in follow-up to 2023 judgment

New Book Exposes Erdoğan’s “Civil Death Project” Targeting the Hizmet Movement

European Human Rights Treaty Faces Legal And Political Tests

ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal, clearing path for retrials in Gülen-linked cases

Erdoğan’s Civil Death Project’ : The ‘politicide’ spanning more than a decade

Fethullah Gülen’s Vision and the Purpose of Hizmet

In Case You Missed It

Syracuse celebrates Turkish culture, cuisine at City Hall event

17 Percent Students Of Nile University Are On Scholarship

Pak–Turk cooperation: Turkish NGO to support free eye surgeries

Once They were Brothers – Bir Zamanlar Kardeştiler

Gulen admits meeting key figure in Turkey coup plot, dismisses Erdogan’s ‘senseless’ claims

Indialogue’s Iftar Dinner: Role of Religions in Empowering Women

A private Turkish university opens in northern Iraq

Copyright 2026 Hizmet News