The Centre for Hizmet Studies is delighted to launch its latest report titled ‘A Hizmet Approach to Rooting out Violent Extremism.’ This is the second publication in the ‘thought and practice’ series, the first being ‘Gulen on Dialogue’. The series aims both to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of Hizmet’s thought ad praxis on significant contemporary issues such as tackling violent extremism, the Kurdish issue or political Islam.
American-born Imam Wahy-ud Deen Shareef, 64, the imam of Masjid Waarith ud Deen in Irvington, New Jersey, has said, “What the American Muslims see in the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) may be fire, but it is not illumination.”
The English-born Archbishop Michael Louis Fitzgerald, one of the Catholic Church’s main experts on Islam and Christian-Muslim relations, has said that Fethullah Gülen has inspired many Muslims to engage in interfaith dialogue, and that this is a good thing.
“ISIS [the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham] is far from following ‘Prophetic methodology.’ ISIS preaches hatred and contempt for human life. Nowhere are these parts of anything that could be remotely described as the Prophetic methodology, and their killings and brutal treatment of other Muslims, Christian, Jews and others show that their methods are truly illegitimate,” according to Professor Zeki Sarıtoprak.
Prophet Muhammad refers to Islam as the religion that he and his companions promote. So he attracts attention to the Quran, sunnah and the righteous caliphs. We call the era where Islam was practiced well the age of happiness…
In our previous article, titled “How acts of ISIL, extremists have been securitizing ordinary Muslims,” we examined the impact of the emergence of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on Muslim minorities in the West by analyzing some recent tragic events that occurred in Canada and the US.
Many radical Islamists and Islamophobes are mirror images of each other. They want to divide the world into two diametrically opposing, antagonistic and constantly belligerent political camps: “dar al-Harb” and “dar al-Islam.” They hate co-existence. They hate interdependence…
Turkey was a shining star during the years that it implemented democratic reforms internally and improved relations with other countries, particularly its neighbors. Both the West and the Muslim world were watching Turkey’s progress intently and its economic success and democratic transformation would be referred to as exemplary.
Reza Aslan, a Muslim American writer, scholar of religion and author of the international bestseller “No god but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam” slammed comedian Bill Maher and CNN anchors Don Lemon and Alisyn Camerota for their simplifications of Islam. He also concluded that their rhetoric amounted to bigotry.
Influential Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, who is considered by TIME magazine as “the most potent advocate of moderation in the Muslim world,” has strongly condemned the kidnappings in Nigeria as well as other such violent acts. In an interview he said that denying girls access to education simply goes against the spirit of the Muslim religious tradition and that women should be able to take on every role in our society, including those of physicians, military officers, judges and head of state.
Ijtihad and Qiyas present a significant field of expansion for the potential treasury that transcends time and space as it is found in the Book and the Sunna. We will never run out of solutions and answers as long as these rich sources are available with their doors wide open for those who are able to benefit from them.