I think that the Gulen movement is an
extraordinarily unique movement. And it took me many years really to
appreciate it. Because it was so different also because, it doesn’t
advertise itself. So you have a movement that having a significant
impact, locally and globally and yet it’s not as if they are always out
there and you are facing in terms what they do. And when one first gets
interested in it, you also begin to realize that at times because people
don’t know or understand or because of the other people’s ideological
agendas this is kind of negative are. But the fact is that the more and
more that you get to know and engage the Gulen movement globally and all
of its components, whether you look at it in Turkey and across the
world and the components that are educational, social, cultural etc.
what you see is a unique movement. Particularly as I look to Muslim
world I don’t know of a movement that is as diverse in its impact, in
terms of countries, in terms of sects of the society but also in terms
of the areas that it has an impact, i.e. it is a movement that impacts
the corporate sector, it can impact the political sector, the religious
sector, social sectors, and do it an extraordinarily pluralistic way and
that was also interesting.
When you get your average Muslim movement, social movement whatever,
too often it’s focus is not as universal as it should be. Somewhere now
are beginning to making adaptation but none has the track record:
fifteen hundred schools across the world, various forums, Rumi, Niagara,
inter-religious all across the world and doing that in a way that is
able to at least as I see them in cities when I meet audiences they pull
it a sectors of society and a community where I kind of wonder how did
they get this people to come here? So I think it is a very significant
movement in terms of its long term impact but also it is one that others
will be wise to attempt to emulate.