Why is Fethullah Gülen so influential?

Şahin Alpay
Şahin Alpay


Date posted: May 5, 2013

Şahin Alpay

In 2008, the American Foreign Policy magazine and the British Prospect magazine asked their readers to vote for the world’s top public intellectual. Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen won in a landslide. Time magazine, in its April 29-May 6, 2013 issue, published the names of the 100 most influential people in the world according to its own assessment. Gülen was one of them.

The brief article introducing him was written by Stephen Kinzer, The New York Times bureau chief in İstanbul from 1996 to 2000 and author of “The Crescent and Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds” (2001).

Kinzer said, in brief, the following about Gülen: “From a secluded retreat in Pennsylvania, he preaches a message of tolerance that has won him admirers around the world. Schools founded by his followers thrive in an estimated 140 countries. … His influence in his native Turkey is immense, exercised by graduates of his schools who have reached key posts in the government, judiciary and police. This makes him seem like a shadowy puppeteer and he is scorned by almost as many Turks as love him. But as the most potent advocate of moderation in the Muslim world, Gülen is waging an urgently important campaign.”

I pondered after reading my friend Kinzer’s lines. What was it that really made Gülen one of the most influential thinkers in the world? And why is he scorned by almost as many as respect him in his own country? My responses to these questions are clear. In Turkey and all over the world there are millions of Muslims who have no respect either for fundamentalist, fanatical interpretations of Islam or for those who try to turn Islam into a totalitarian political ideology. These millions, while being committed to Islam’s spiritual and social values, want to live in a world where freedom of expression, belief and enterprise have taken root, where ethnic and religious identities are respected, where education replaces ignorance, where science is valued as much as religious beliefs and where productive activity is encouraged and appreciated. This, undoubtedly, is the primary factor which makes Gülen one of the most influential thinkers of the world with messages he gives “from a secluded retreat in Pennsylvania.”

Another reason, surely, is the fact that he is a thinker well versed in Turkey’s rich tradition of Sufism, the people’s Islam. If Said Nursi is the religious scholar who has carried this tradition to the modern age, Gülen is the one who has helped reconcile it with the requirements of an increasingly liberalizing and globalizing world. Nursi was the leader of a religious community; Gülen is the source of inspiration for a faith-based social movement called “Hizmet” by its members.

The schools sponsored by the Hizmet movement, which literally means “movement in the service of the people,” have won the respect of thousands of parents in over 140 countries for the high quality of education they provide in English and local languages, and for establishing “peace bridges” between these host countries and Turkey. Businesses initiated by the movement at home and abroad make a substantial contribution to Turkey’s economic growth. Hizmet is an entirely voluntary social movement, independent of the state, which constitutes an important force for the democratization of the country by the values it stands for.

The secret behind the achievements of Hizmet is not directives issued by Gülen from Pennsylvania through a centralized and hierarchical structure. That is not its nature; rather, it has a highly decentralized and entirely voluntary character. There is no doubt that there are many graduates of Hizmet schools occupying positions in Turkey’s administration, judiciary and police who respect Gülen’s teachings, but to imagine that they act on orders from Gülen in any instance is highly misleading.

In addition to his admirers, Gülen has enemies who have obliged him to live in the United States far away from his beloved country since 1999. It is clear that the animosity towards Gülen stems from Kemalist hard-line secularism, which sees in any manifestation of Islam the worst enemy of modernization and wants to exclude religion from all spheres of society. Such Kemalism undoubtedly still forms one of the strongest ideological currents in Turkey.

Source: Today’s Zaman May 5, 2013


Related News

Turkey’s purges continue a year after failed coup

One year on, Turkey’s crackdown on suspected coup plotters shows no signs of ending – and has now reached human rights workers. Diego Cupolo reports from Ankara.

Approval rate of Turkish schools abroad at 78 percent

Research company Veritas conducted a survey in July 2013 with 4,296 people in face-to-face interviews in 42 provinces in an effort to measure the approval rate of the Turkish Olympiads that are organized annually.
Accordingly, 67 percent of the respondents expressed a positive opinion of these language olympiads while only 8 percent expressed a negative view.

Gradual transformation of Turkey into an authoritarian entity under Erdogan’s leadership

As Erdogan moved on the Islamic path of authoritarianism with political ambition of becoming of leader of Muslim world, it has adversely impacted the stability of Turkey — both internally and externally. By crushing the Gulen movement it undermined the Islamic ideational resources needed most to fight Islamic terrorism.

Ergenekon opinion lists subversive plans for coup d’état

A lead prosecutor involved in the trial of the Ergenekon terrorist organization listed in his final opinion of the case several plots by the terrorist group to spark chaos in society so as to lay the groundwork for a military coup. One such plan was the Action Plan to Fight Reactionaryism, which detailed a military campaign to destroy the image of the ruling AK Party and the faith-based Gulen movement in the eyes of the public.

South African, Kenyan leaders show support for Turkish schools

South African President Jacob Zuma and Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta have both expressed support for Turkish schools in their country, amid the Turkish government’s attempts to shut down Turkish schools located abroad that are affiliated with the Hizmet movement.

Turkish women make a difference in Africa

“Kimse Yok Mu has been very active in Africa providing humanitarian and development assistance. State-level or diplomatic presence has occasionally followed the NGO presence in Africa,” Cevik told SES Türkiye.

Latest News

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

University refuses admission to woman jailed over Gülen links

In Case You Missed It

Gülen’s curse was misquoted, misinterpreted, GYV chief says

Turkey cooperates with smugglers to catch Gulen sympathizers seeking asylum abroad

Gülen and the AK Party: A common quest for democracy or something more? (1)

Azeri NGOs harshly criticize Zeynalov’s deportation from Turkey

Dr. Ergil answers 100 questions about Fethullah Gülen and his movement

New Jersey Celebrates Turkic Day

The Muslim Way to React

Copyright 2023 Hizmet News