‘A very good representative of the best in Islam, Hizmet contributes to the non-Muslim world’s understanding of Islam’
Date posted: February 7, 2015
Ret. Rabbi Allen Maller is a graduate of UCLA and the Hebrew Union College. He was the spiritual leader of Temple Akiba for 39 years, and nowis President of the National Jewish Hospitality Committee. Maller has taught at Gratz College in Philadelphia, Hebrew Union College, University of Judaism, and Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
“Today, we’re in a world where everybody is interacting, and Hizmet seems to me to be a very good representative of the best in Islam, in terms of being open, feeling a responsibility to the world, and the pluralism that is evidenced in the Koran, which tells us to respect all the prophets and all the people of the book.”
“Unfortunately, there has been, especially in the last ten, twenty years or so, and after, in this country, the United States, after the World Trade Center attacks, people who take advantage of Islamophobia. That you should be afraid somehow; the Muslims are going to take over, gonna introduce Sharia law, and everybody’s gonna have to wear a veil, or other ridiculous things, … And Hizmet provides a model for people to see, not just in this country, but all over—the United States, Canada, and Europe, Asia—that that’s not true Islam. True Islam is really a religion that supports pluralism …”
“I remember reading something that Gülen wrote some time ago, where he speaks about an orchestra, where people play different instruments … Each one plays according to his instrument. But there’s one conductor, and there’s one composer. So, each of us has our one prophet who brought us the Book. And, of course, the composer we know is all, the same One. … And that’s the richness of the symphony … And if we understand that, that I think would help to alleviate a lot of the tensions, the suspicions, the hostilities that exist between people.”
*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 16, 2014
Tags: Fethullah Gulen | Hizmet (Gulen) movement | North America | USA |
