Fethullah Gülen

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Fethullah Gülen (born in 1938) is an Islamic scholar who does not have only deep knowledge of Islam but also Modern Philosophy and Thinking, History, Turkish-Arabic-Western Literature.http://www.islamonline.com/cgi-bin/news_service/profile_story.asp?service_id=750

Gulen speaks Arabic and Persian, has written over 60 books,, and received numerous prizes. Gulen has also been the subject of numerous studies, with widely diverging opinions on him..

Gulen lives in Pennsylvania, United States.

Biography

Gulen was born in Erzurum, Turkey in 1938. He started primary education at his home village, but did not continue after his family moved, and instead focused on informal Islamic education. He gave his first sermon when he was 14. He became a follower of Said-i Nursi, an Islamic leader, before he was 18. In 1959 he was awarded a state preacher's license in Edirne. In 1966 he was transferred to a post in İzmir. It was here that Gülen's recurring themes began to crystallize and his audience base began to expand. He also travelled around the provinces in Anatolia and gave sermons in mosques, town meetings and coffee houses among other places. From İzmir on, he placed a special emphasis on promulgating his ideas to high school and college students and recruiting them for his movement.

The range of his speeches was more versatile than that of other Islamic preachers; he talked about education, science, Darwinism, the economy and social justice. More broadly, adopting a theme that was previous explored by Said-i Nursi, he envisioned a society of devout Muslims who nevertheless would adopt methods and technical knowledge that led to West's superiority over the Muslim world . As such, he succeeded in recruiting large sections of the society. His popularity was aided by the emotional intensity of his sermons; at the climax he would display great emotion, often burst into tears. His sermons were taped and distributed by a network of followers at a time when Islamic activities were viewed with suspicion and proved instrumental in raising money for the movement.

In 1971 he was convicted to 3 years for his pro-Islamic activities. By the end of the 1970s he broke ranks with the mainstream Nurcu movement which was governed by a council of elders and instituted his own where he was the sole leader. Gülen retired from formal preaching duties in 1981. From 1988 to 1991 he gave a series of sermons in popular mosques of major cities. His long career had made him a well know figure in Islamic circles, and in particular, within the Nurcu movement, however, it was the Islamic political activism and his courtship with the center-right political parties in the 90s that made him a public figure. In 1994, he helped in the founding of "Journalists and Writers Foundation". and was given the title "Honorary Leader" by the foundation.

On 28 February 1997 Turkey withnessed the Post-Modern Coup D'etat. Behind the scene were there people who did not like Islamic values and they pushed Muslims in Turkey. Of course they began to bother Gulen, Hocaefendi did not have choice but to leave his home country. At this time, Gülen moved to the United States, allegedly due to health problems.

Philosophy and activities

Gülen's published works in the 1990s advocated dialogue among communities and faiths, tolerance, and acceptance of others. He personally met with religious leaders, including Pope John Paul II, the Panahriot Greek Patriarch Bartholomeos, and Israeli Sephardic Head Rabbi Eliyahu B. Doron.

According to Gülen his theological views lie solidly within the Turkish Sunni mainstream while being more responsive to modern world than other Islamic movements . It should be noted, however, he has also adopted the views and mystical tradition of founder of the Nur (light) movement, Said Nursi, as evident in his highly emotional sermons.

Gülen claims the modern world is plagued by individual's lack of faith, and in particular, the failure adopt sceintific methods while preserving moral values and belief in God. Gülen argues that faith can be scientifically proven, and science benefits from or requires a moral foundation from religion.

He has guided his supporters to open about 1300 educational institutions in more than 140 countries in Eurasia, Africa, Australia, Latin America, and North America.

Gülen's movement

Gülen's movement consists of legally autonomous units, personally and ideologically connected into a network by the leadership of Gülen. Most parts of the movement are run by volunteers, who were in turn educated or received support from previous members of the group. The movement runs thousands of schools, mostly in Turkey and Central Asia. In these schools children from different ethnicities and cultural backgrounds are educated by mainly Turkish educators. The financially very strong (estimated at 25 billion USD in 1999) movement owns - apart from their focus on schools - radio and TV stations, a news agency, a bank, several publishing houses, and newspapers (among them the very successfull Zaman). It has founded universities of its own (among them the Virginia International University (USA), an employers' association, unions, and hundreds of sub-organizations, lobby groups, and student bodies. The movement as a whole counts several hundred thousand of members, making it one of the largest - maybe the largest - islamic movement in Turkey.

Interfaith Dialogue

Gülen supports "Dialogue and Tolerance". He has met with several religious leaders, such as Pope John Paul II, Fener Greek Patriarch Bartholomeos, Chief Rabbi David Aseo, the Armenian Patriarch and the New York Cardinal John O'Connor. Under his article "Dialogue is a must," he describes how to reach world peace and interfaith dialogue:

Interfaith dialogue is a must today, and the first step in establishing it is forgetting the past, ignoring polemical arguments, and giving precedence to common points, which far outnumber polemical ones.

Works

Gülen has authored over 60 books and many articles on a variety of topics: social, political and religious issues, art, science and sports, and recorded thousands of audio and video cassettes. He contributes to a number of journals and magazines owned by his followers. He writes the lead article for the Fountain, Yeni Ümit, Sızıntı, and Yağmur, Islamic and philosophical magazines in Turkey. Some of his books are available in English, German, Russian, Albanian, Japanese, Indonesian, Korean and Spanish.

Bibliography in English

Pearls of Wisdom, Emerald Hills of the Heart, Prophet Muhammed as Commander, Questions and Answers, Essentials of the Islamic Faith, The Infinite Light vol 1-2, Towards the Lost Paradise, Truth Through Colors, Muhammad: The Messenger of God, Questions and Answers about Faith, Towards the Lost Paradise, Key Concepts in the Practice of Sufism, etc. His Books

Controversies

Gulen is not liked by small group lived in Turkey and abroad. Although this group is small, it has media power that speculate a lot about Gulen. This group has many members from high rank statesmen to media, military, intelligent service ant etc. they blamed him that he is trying to chnge secular regime in Turkey into Islamic oriented regime. But they can not give an example about Gulen and his followers that they have any kind of illegal activities nor they have militaristic ideas. Gulen was never punished by Turkish Law that he has illegal activities. Although the small group open cases at the judicial courts many times and the keep doing that Gulen gains those cases and recieved thousands of dollars from accusers and donated them to Turkish Military. In Turkey Turks have sentence that "The tree that gives fruit is stoned all the time".

Misplaced Pages

Biography

Philosophy and activities

Gülen's movement

Interfaith Dialogue

Works

Bibliography in English

Controversies

Notes

External links

Gülen's movement

Other sources