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.
How will prep school controversy influence elections [in Turkey]?
Gülen is a very important opinion leader in Turkey. He is not a politician but the leader of a social movement featuring religious motives. In addition to his followers, conservative people and groups also pay attention to his views and comments. Even those who are opposed to his worldview send their children to the schools set up by his followers because these schools provide very high quality education and training.
‘The Gulen movement is one of the very few that has managed to live what it preaches.’
Hizmet Movement is, in my view, an Islamically-inspired, Islamically-grounded movement, or Islamically-rooted movement, founded on the universal and fundamental principle of peace and—the essential values of Islam—peace, mercy and compassion, as normative, moral objectives and which seeks to translate these principles into—through the dynamic of ta’aruf, the dynamic of coming to know one another, especially coming to know the other—into a reality, into a living sociological and anthropological reality.
Fethullah Gülen: alleged coup mastermind – and friendly neighbor
Chuck Parker, who lives down the road from Fethullah Gülen, said: “When we have the traditional Thanksgiving, he has a dinner then. He also has a dinner for Ramadan.” He and many other residents have received invitations, which often come with a personal touch. “They usually hand deliver it, or one of the guys bring it over.”
The Gulen Movement is not a cult or terrorist group
The Gulen movement doesn’t support or engage in any terrorist activities. Although an Islamic movement, it is a social movement rather than a political one that focuses on the growth and change of education as a way to empower the Muslims for the future. They are open to dialogue, tolerant, moderate and non-violent. So for anyone to say that the Gulen movement is a cult, doesn’t know that they emphasize on dialogue and peace.
Gulen Movement, civilian governments and the AK Party
The Gulen movement’s understanding of politics and the political process differentiate it from the military and bureaucratic elite. Its main political objective is to transform society by raising the moral consciousness of individuals. By raising moral consciousness, the movement hopes to cleanse the bureaucracy of widespread corruption, increase the efficiency and transparency of state institutions, reinvigorate public work ethic to serve the people in order to enhance the legitimacy of the state, and create opportunity spaces for marginalized sectors of the Anatolian population.
Zephyrs from the Presence, the latest book by Ahmet Kurucan…
The book, Huzurdan Esintiler (Zephyrs from the Presence), published by Işık (Light) Publications in 2012, is a total of 216 pages. The author collected the articles he had previously written for Zaman, a Turkish daily newspaper, and his new articles in this book. The shared subject of these articles written in various occasions is Fethullah Gulen. In this article of both presentation and criticism I will attempt to underline these two matters: Firstly, how does Kurucan describe the conversational environment with Gulen, and secondly, how exactly does the author illustrate Gulen’s portrait?
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