Jihad Turk on Fethullah Gulen and Hizmet Movement


Date posted: September 22, 2014

Jihad Turk, a founding Board Member of Claremont Lincoln University, has been instrumental in the establishment of Bayan Claremont, a graduate school designed to train Muslim scholars and religious leaders. He previously served as the Director of Religious Affairs at the Islamic Center of Southern California. His current interests include Islamic Law, interfaith relations, Islamic reform movements, and community leadership and development with a focus on youth.

In his speech, Turk focuses primarily on the ways he feels that the Hizmet Movement is contributing to today’s Muslim world and culture. He says, “As we are a minority that is misunderstood here, the efforts of the Hizmet Movement and Fethullah Gulen to help Muslims here and around the world to speak in our own voice, as opposed to being represented or misrepresented in the media, is something that we benefit from tremendously.”

Commenting on the state of Muslims today, he notes, “[as Muslims] we feel like we’re victims because of the oppression here … we have a victim mentality, that we have nothing to offer and we just kind of sit and pour and really have no hope. But, in [Hizmet Movement] there’s a focus, instead of on what’s going wrong with the Muslim world, what’s going wrong with humanity, the position and the posture is one of, “what can we do as Muslims to help make the world a better place.”


*Produced by Spectra Media exclusively for Irmak TV, Atlas of Thoughts (Fikir Atlasi) connects the scholars, politicians, jurists, religious figures, journalists, and academics reflecting on Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen and the Hizmet Movement with the audience. Each episode features a person from a different segment of the society with diverse experiences regarding the Hizmet activities and its volunteers. If you are interested to hear about the Hizmet and Mr. Gulen from these people’s perspectives, do not miss this show!

Source: Spectra Media


Related News

Human rights associations up in arms over deputy’s remarks on torture allegations

In an open letter to the Turkish Parliament, six Turkey-based human rights associations on Thursday criticized recent remarks of ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) deputy Mehmet Metiner, who said the government would ignore allegations of torture and mistreatment if victims were sympathizers of the Gülen movement.

On the internal workings of the Gulen Movement

HAKAN YAVUZ* In general terms, the Gulen movement reflects a new understanding of Islam and modernity from within an Islam that is informed by Anatolian modern history and secular progress: This is a civil Islam that has successfully found fresh ways to inspire social activism through piety. It has modernized the humanistic treasures of Islam […]

Fethullah Gulen: I Condemn All Threats to Turkey’s Democracy

I have been advocating for democracy for decades. Having suffered through four military coups in four decades in Turkey — and having been subjected by those military regimes to harassment and wrongful imprisonment — I would never want my fellow citizens to endure such an ordeal again. If somebody who appears to be a Hizmet sympathizer has been involved in an attempted coup, he betrays my ideals.

Gülen’s lawyers: PM’s only correct statement is that he visited Gülen

Lawyers representing Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen dismissed on Friday remarks made by Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu that Gülen rejected an invitation from Davutoğlu to return to Turkey on the grounds that “it was not time yet.”

Ideal human, ideal society in Gulen’s philosophy

Abdul Rauf I was introduced to the personality of Fethullah Gülen in 2010 when about 300 Turkish businessmen reached Lahore just a few days before Eid-ul-Adha. They announced that they would celebrate their Eid with the flood victims of Pakistan. It was a matter of amazement for us. Turkey is considered as one of the […]

Lecture: What Went Wrong in Turkey?

Sahin Alpay is a columnist for Turkish dailies Zaman (since 2002) and Today’s Zaman (since 2007). He has previously served as editor and columnist at other leading Turkish dailies Cumhuriyet (1982 – 92), Sabah (1993 – 94) and Milliyet (1994 – 2001).

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

Gulen Schools Fight Provokes New Tensions in Bosnia

Turkey: Inspiring or insidious

PM’s son: Dad, let’s initiate an operation against Hizmet’s senior members

Cuban artist wins Kimse Yok Mu’s international cartoon competition

Kimse Yok Mu lends helping hand to Guinean families during Ramadan

Pakistan’s Sindh High Court restrains Turkish teachers’ deportation

Nigerian students lament harassment, detention by Turkish authorities

Copyright 2025 Hizmet News