Keyword: Fethullah Gulen
Hypocrisy in languages: criticizing Fethullah Gülen, English or Turkish?
Abdulhamid Türker* Fethullah Gülen has been the subject of several books and hundreds of articles, in many languages. Some of these books and articles are very critical of Gülen and the Gülen movement (also known as Hizmet movement). If someone wants to understand who Gülen is, the first thing this person would do is to […]
‘Fethullah Gülen and Today’s World’ to be a reference book in Eurasia
ŞULE KULU , İSTANBUL A conference was held two weeks ago in Almaty to introduce a new book titled “Fethullah Gülen and Today’s World” written by Kazakhstan’s Sciences Academy’s Philosophy and Politics Institute along with two other books, a Kazakh translation of “Beyan” (Exposition) written by Fethullah Gülen and a Russian translation of “A Dialogue […]
GYV President Yeşil decodes the Gülen movement
MUSTAFA EDİB YILMAZ Mustafa Yeşil, the chairman of the Journalists and Writers Foundation’s (GYV) executive board, a Turkish NGO undertaking projects that emphasize mutual understanding and tolerance to establish global peace, described the movement named after the GYV’s honorary president, Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen, as being faith based, pacifist, pluralist, colorful and pro-democratic. Gülen […]
Fethullah Gulen named the world’s No. 1 public intellectual
Over half a million people voted in our poll to find the world’s top public intellectual. Of the many voting campaigns that were mounted, only one had a decisive impact on the results. Tom Nuttall on the campaign that delivered Gülen’s victory.
Former Norwegian PM: Our center takes same approach as Gülen
KADİR UYSALOĞLU, OSLO Former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik has said the ideas of Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish-Muslim scholar, and the activities of his movement are in complete harmony with the approach of The Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights, which Bondevik currently heads. Bondevik yesterday paid a visit to the En Verden i […]
Global Muslim networks: How far they have travelled
IT IS a long way from the Anatolian plains to a campus in the heart of London, where eminent scholars of religion deliver learned papers. And the highlands that used to form the Soviet border with China, an area where bright kids long for an education, seem far removed from a three-storey house in Pennsylvania, […]
Fethullah Gulen: A farm boy on the world stage
PIOUS people in eastern Turkey, where Fethullah Gulen was born, are eager to praise him. Before hearing the preacher’s words 12 years ago, “I led a life full of women and alcohol,” admits Unal Sahin, a jeweller in Erzurum. Under Mr. Gulen’s guidance, he became devout and generous, helping a university in Georgia, and schools […]
Understanding Fethullah Gülen (2)
Ekrem Dumanli One of the reasons for the difficulty in understanding Fethullah Gülen is the term “community” itself. Unfortunately, the meaning attached to this word connotes a group of people closed to and isolated from the outside world. It is also used to refer to illegal organizations. Both approaches are tendentious. As Ali Bulaç says […]
Understanding Fethullah Gülen (1)
Ekrem Dumanli Some of the most reliable newspapers in the world published important articles about Fethullah Gülen last month. For instance, the International Herald Tribune wrote that Gülen was “an inspiration for Muslims who feel at home in the modern world.” After dwelling on his childhood spent in Erzurum, his youth, his activities following his […]
Fethullah Gülen’s initiatives for peace to be discussed in Rotterdam
BASRI DOĞAN A university in the Netherlands will today launch a two-day international conference on peaceful coexistence in modern times. Erasmus University in Rotterdam will host an international conference titled “Peaceful Coexistence: Fethullah Gülen’s initiatives for peace in the contemporary world” on Nov. 22-23. Gülen is an Islamic scholar, peace activist and the mentor of […]
The Gülen Movement and human rights values in the Muslim world
ÖZCAN KELEŞ* Fethullah Gülen is many things at once and it is this combination of characteristics, abilities and qualifications, some of which have hitherto seemed mutually exclusive, that marks him out from the rest and has provided him with a transformative edge. It is the combination of three particular characteristics that have enabled Gülen to […]
The Gülen Movement in the public sphere
The Abant Platform is a good example of a religiously inspired social capital formation in a society with ideological, ethnic and religious fault lines. This platform departs from a belief that religion, and particularly Islam, can be a positive factor in social, political and economic life. The Gülen movement has been quite successful in utilizing its cultural and human capital in order to empower the civil society and expand the democratic space available for the formally excluded periphery vis-à-vis the centre.
Fethullah Gülen’s prospects for inter-religious dialogue
Fethullah Gülen has emerged as one of the most persuasive and influential voices in the Muslim community calling for dialogue as a step toward peace. Indeed, he offers “a way to live out Islamic values amidst the complex demands of modern societies and to engage in ongoing dialogue and cooperation with people of other religions.”
Fethullah Gülen and the role of nonviolence in a time of terror
Fethullah Gülen is unusual in adding a distinctly Islamic voice to the calls for a non-violent approach to conflict resolution. But how well do Gülen’s teachings on non-violence lead to peaceful transformation on the ground? Is his a static and passive approach bounded by dogma, or are we witnessing an innovative, active and self-aware spirit of transformation which really can lead to a new way of defining Islam in action?
