Date posted: March 14, 2015

Azam Nizamuddin is an activist and an attorney. He is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Theology at Loyola University of Chicago. Nizamuddin teaches courses on Islam, and History of Islamic Thought. He has previously taught at Elmhurst College in Illinois. He lectures on Islamic theology and law, and on Islamic civilization to churches, synagogues, civic organizations across the country.

“My general view of the Hizmet Movement is that it is one of the leading, I would say, Islamic movements in the world today. It’s also one of the leading global spiritual and social movements in the world because of its impact, not only within Turkey but also in various Muslim countries in central Asia and now today in North America as well.”

“I think the Gulen, or Hizmet, Movement represents Islam by, on the one hand, maintaining a strong connection to and being rooted in the Islamic primary sources, such as the Qur’an and the Prophetic teachings, but, at the same time, not neglecting the world around it.

And, I think that Fethullah Gulen promotes Islamic values, Islamic teachings without necessarily rejecting the world and rejecting the West, and I think that’s a very important and innovative development of the past 100 years of Islamic thinkers.”

“I think that the Hizmet Movement draws its inspiration and teaching from Said Nursi who, in the early 20th century, argued that religion and science are compatible; that the science that the West has promoted since the late 17th and 18th century, particularly Post-Enlightenment, has permitted people to develop but at the expense of faith and morality, and I think Said Nursi argued that you can have faith, morality and science together.

And I think the Hizmet Movement, and in particular Fethullah Gulen, draws from those teachings and has that engaged in very positive aspects of promoting education.”

*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 , April 30, 2014

Tags: Fethullah Gulen | Hizmet (Gulen) movement | North America | USA |