Fethullah Gulen’s books draw booklovers at Riyadh book fair
Date posted: March 20, 2013
Fethullah Gulen’s books received a high attention of book enthusiasts at International Book Fair in Saudi Arabian capital city, Riyadh. Rated as one of the largest cultural events of the country, the book fair featured 957 thousand publishers from over 30 countries. This year’s guest of honor country was Morocco.
Kaynak Publishing represented Turkey as the only Turkish publishing company. Gulen’s Arabic-translated books by Kaynak Publishing received an overwhelming attention of booklovers. Similarly, the books by Beduizzaman Said Nursi and Abd-al Qadir Gilani too were popular on the publishing booths. Additionally, books on Ottoman Empire history, children literature, Turkish cuisine, Turkey’s history and touristic sites found their places on the booths. Turkish author Elif Shafak’s book “Forty Rules of Love”, recently translated into Arabic for the first time, was among the wide book selection. The number of attendees of the book fair on its 10th day is estimated to be approximately one million.
Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric living in self-exile in the U.S. and a political rival of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, insisted Saturday that he had no involvement in Friday’s attempted coup.
Gülen, a man of peace, not behind attempted coup in Turkey
Despite Gülen’s repeated denials of any involvement and his open call for an investigation by an international commission, no concrete effort has been made to find out the true perpetrators of the heinous attempt. Instead, a state of emergency, which still continues today, was declared and is used to silence the opposition and all other critical voices.
The Hizmet Movement: Reflections from Sri Lanka
In Sri Lanka, the Hizmet Movement started the Learnium School as well as the Intercultural Dialogue Foundation. Initially, the funding for the school came from the Movement until it managed to support itself on its own income. Kimse Yok Mu was among the first to respond to the devastating tsunami that hit Sri Lanka. Large amounts of food and other requirements that the tsunami victims needed were supplied without any fanfare.
The Pigeon, The Finger, and Hizmet’s ‘Inevitable Ambiguity’
Hizmet combines characteristics that we are not used to seeing combined in such a way: faith-inspired (in motivation) yet faith-neutral (in so many activities), informed by Qur’anic principles yet inclusive and non-missionary, predominantly Muslim but proactively engaging with wider society and responding constructively to modern and post-modern ideas and lifestyles.
Don’t Make A Mystic into a Martyr: Fethullah Gülen as Peacebuilder
My conclusion? He’s a mystic in the Sufi tradition of Islam. And like other famous mystics in history—notably Gandhi, or Rumi—from whom Gülen draws deeply, Fethullah Gülen is a peacebuilder. And history teaches us that peacebuilders are likely to be misunderstood, vilified, and targeted. It would be tragic if once again historical forces conspire to turn a mystic into a martyr.
A Case for Why Gulen Would Never Support a Coup
In his interview with the prominent French newspaper Le Monde, Gulen has called the July 15 events in Turkey a “terror coup.” As a man who has always condemned terrorism and violence in any shape or form, to which his life’s work is evidence, it is hard to believe that Gulen could have had the slightest connection to the coup.
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