Keyword: Islamic World
Islamic scholars to discuss ‘Ijma’ at Istanbul symposium
OSMAN ÜNALAN, MUSTAFA KUŞEN, ORHAN YILDIRIM, ÖMER ÖZDEMİR, İSTANBUL Scholars from 80 countries will convene in İstanbul over the weekend for a two-day symposium during which they will exchange views about ijma, an Islamic term meaning religious consensus, and stress the unity of Muslims. The event, which is jointly organized by the Yeni Ümit and […]
Islam-state-society relationship: the Turkish model
Dr. Husnul Amin* Countries like Tunisia and Egypt and their respective Islamist movements have positively revised their strategies taking inspiration from the Turkish model of society and statecraft in which both modern trends and Islamic values can coexist in the context of a pluralist society. While walking in the streets and bazaars of Istanbul, my […]
The unwanted truth: the Muslim enemies of Islam
GÖKHAN BACIK Islamists (or Islamic groups) have to face a simple reality: There are radical religious Muslim groups around the globe with false interpretations of Islam. The threat of religious radicalism is not simply Western imperialist jargon devised to benefit self-serving Western strategies. It is a fact that various radical Islamic groups have paradoxically served […]
Can the West believe in Islamic progress?
This means the [Gulen] movement’s Islamic core is intertwined with an internalization of Western Weberian and Calvinist worldviews, highlighting the interconnectedness of religious principles and economic applications, believing, in the spirit of Capitalism, that socioeconomic prosperity is the most favorable way to bring about and reflect God’s pleasure.
What befell Niyazi-i Misri in the past is happening to Fethullah Gülen now
BÜLENT KENEŞ I immediately accepted an invitation from my dear teacher Ziya Kesiriklioğlu, who had taught my religious course at high school and who I hadn’t seen for more than 25 years, to an event in Lemnos to commemorate a major Islamic scholar from my hometown of Malatya who had lived 300 years ago and […]
The Islamic case for a secular state
‘Abant Platform,’ as it became known, declared the compatibility of Islam with a secular state based on liberal democracy. This was a milestone not only because the participants included top Islamic thinkers, but also because the organizers were members of Turkey’s strongest Islamic community, the Fethullah Gülen movement.”
Fethullah Gülen: Even democracy needs a metaphysical dimension
Rainer Hermann There is no obstacle to democracy in Islam, says Fethullah Gulen. However, even democracy needs a metaphysical dimension. As there are Christian, Jewish and Buddhist democrats, there could also be Muslim democrats. Western World is disputing with Islam. Muslims also have some responsibility for this attitude: the Taliban is practicing the ‘stoning sentence’ […]
Turkish Schools Offer Pakistan a Gentler Vision of Islam
Praying in Pakistan has not been easy for Mesut Kacmaz, a Muslim teacher from Turkey. He tried the mosque near his house, but it had Israeli and Danish flags painted on the floor for people to step on. The mosque near where he works warned him never to return wearing a tie. Pakistanis everywhere assume he is not Muslim because he has no beard.
The Einstein of the Islamic world
BÜLENT KENEŞ LONDON – Let’s think about a man born into an ordinary family of meager means in a suburban Anatolian town. He sets out on that adventure called life all alone, deprived of a formal education. But he educates and raises himself through unconventional means. Despite this lack of a formal education everything he […]
Turkish Islam and Fethullah Gulen
ŞAHİN ALPAY Many studies concerning Fethullah Gulen, the Turkish religious leader scholar and his movement have been published. The book published by Syracuse University in the United States last month is, however, the most important academic study so far. The book entitled “Turkish Islam and the Secular State: The Gulen Movement” is edited by John […]
