Fethullah Gulen: Turkish Scholar, Cleric — And Conspirator?
A Rare Interview: Jamie Tarabay Meets Turkish Scholar Fethullah Gulen
Date posted: January 8, 2014
Al-Jazeera America reporter Jamie Tarabay interviewed Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen in his home last spring. It was published in The Atlantic last August. Gulen is a Turkish spiritual leader to millions of Turks, both in Turkey and around the world, and the head of the Gulen movement. His network of followers spans the globe, and it has opened academically-focused schools in 90 countries, including the U.S.
Robert Siegel speaks with Tarabay about the interview.
Legal action against Gülen in the US: A golden opportunity for Gülen
No one will be able to say members of the movement are complaining about Erdoğan in the US. They will defend themselves against Erdoğan’s attorneys who are paid millions of dollars. Thus, Erdoğan has placed a red carpet in front of the movement. The rest is up to how the movement performs…
Gülen calls for broadening freedoms, improvement in Kurdish rights
Well-known Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has encouraged the broadening of rights and freedoms of people and the improvement of ties with Kurds to restore peace and security in areas long plagued by a simmering conflict that has killed at least 40,000 people. Speaking to Rudaw, an online newspaper in northern Iraq’s Arbil, Gülen touched […]
Book Review — Fethullah Gülen: A Life of Hizmet
Gülen comes off in the book as a charismatic figure, who is defined by humility. You can understand why some might find him troubling. He has inspired great loyalty. Yet, like the Dalai Lama and Pope Francis, he has used this charisma and loyalty for the good. A biography like this is important because it brings to life both the person, whose vision led to the creation of the movement and the nature of the movement itself.
Fethullah Gülen: “Disbelief may prevail, but tyranny will not” (Interview in Asharq Al-Awsat-II)
As [Sunni scholar] Bediüzzaman Said Nursi aptly noted, we should combat the arch-enemies of the Umma (the Islamic community)—namely ignorance, poverty and disunity—with reasonable middle- and long-term projects for promoting education, science, art, trade, democracy, human rights, women’s empowerment, tolerance and dialogue. Any quest for democracy may fail if it does not stand on a firm foundation. The Hizmet Movement has long been trying to do this. with schools, universities, business associations, charitable foundations, dialogue institutions and media outlets.
The Gülen Effect: Filipino Muslims, Christians connect for peace
Fountain Magazine held a conference recently, titled “Peacebuilding Through Education”, in New York in cooperation with the Peace Islands Institute. Some institutions were honored with the best practice award, as they have served the peacebuilding under difficult conditions. Among the honorees was The Filipino–Turkish Tolerance School (FTTS), Zamboanga, The Philippines. Below is an article about this school […]
The recent fight between Kemalo-Islamism and Civil Islam
İHSAN YILMAZ As I have written here before, Islamists imagine Islam as a complete and ready-to-use divine system, with concrete political, cultural, legal and economic blueprints. Their ideology is exclusivist and they are not open to negotiation, compromise or pluralistic viewpoints. Islamists do not pay much attention to civil society and always pursue the seizure […]
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