THE ATLANTIC: A Rare Meeting With Reclusive Turkish Spiritual Leader Fethullah Gulen

See also:

• FINANCIAL TIMES - Opinion (Op-ed) by Fethullah Gulen: Violence is not in the tradition of the Prophet
• F.A.Z. - Do good and let it unfold
• NEW YORK TIMES - Original interview transcript
• NEW YORK TIMES - Turkish Schools Offer Pakistan a Gentler Vision of Islam
• CBS News - Fethullah Gulen and the 60 minutes 'web extras'
• CHICAGO TRIBUNE - Patriarch Bartholomew praises Gülen's dialogue efforts
• read more press articles & interviews

*JAMIE TARABAY

Fethullah Gulen is a Turkish religious spiritual leader, some say to millions of Turks both in Turkey and around the world, and the head of the Gulenist movement. His network of followers span the globe and have opened academically-focused schools across 90 countries, including the U.S.

The hocaefendi, meaning "respected teacher," as he is called, left Turkey in 1998 to avoid charges from the Turkish government of involvement in anti-secular activities. He eventually settled in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, where he continues to preach, write, and guide his followers through television and the Internet.

He is sickly and doesn't travel, yet secular Turks worry his influence in political ranks will grow Islamist influence there and turn the country into a religious state. He is well-known in Turkey and across Central Asia, yet here in the United States, he remains a mystery.

The reclusive spiritualist keeps to his home in the Poconos, attended by believers, praying, lecturing, and claiming his influence is not as wide-ranging as his critics claim it to be. He rarely gives interviews, but I was recently allowed to travel to the idyllic resort-like compound he has been living in for around 14 years and meet with Gulen for an interview.

An edited transcript of his translated answers follows:

The Atlantic: It's so rare to have an interview with you, why is that?

Fethullah Gulen: I grew up in a humble family with a shy personality. I accept these kind offers out of respect for those who are requesting such interviews, otherwise, I would prefer to live a secluded life just by myself.

We just saw your living quarters, and I saw a very small bed, a small mat, a small room. When you can have all the space you need, why do you use such a small area for yourself?

My whole life has been this way, during my years as a student, and later on in life I have always lived in such humble spaces. It's because I would like to live like my fellow citizens because I consider myself among them. By no means do I consider myself superior in any sense. Also, it is in my nature. I believe in the hereafter; I believe that's the true life, therefore I don't want to attach myself too much to this world.

Do you still teach every day?

I try to spend time with the students here every day as much as my health allows me. Some days my health prevents me from doing so, but I'd like to continue to study with them for as long as I am alive.

I heard you had no female students.

In Turkey, our friends are running a program in which female students are taking graduate-level courses in divinity. Here, the same system couldn't be replicated, but there are ladies who regularly follow the lectures.

According to Islamic tradition, is the role of women limited to motherhood?

No, it is not. The noble position of motherhood aside, our general opinion about women is that, while taking into account their specific needs, it should be made possible for them to take on every role, including the jobs of physician, military officer, judge and president of a country. As a matter of fact, in every aspect of life throughout history Muslim women made contributions to their society. In the golden age (referring to the years during Mohammed's lifetime) starting with Aisha, Hafsa, and Um Salama (the Prophet's wives), had their places among the jurists and they taught men.

When these examples are taken into consideration, it would be clearly understood that it is out of the question to restrict the lives of women, narrowing down their activities. Unfortunately, the isolation of women from social activities in some places today, a practice that stems from the misinterpretation of Islamic sources, has been a subject of a worldwide propaganda campaign against Islam.

If there is one thing that you would say to people here in this country who don't know a lot about you, your beliefs and your teachings, what would that message be?

I don't have a need to promote myself. I've never sought to be known or recognized by people. I simply share ideas I believe in with people around me. If people recognize me despite that, that's their mistake. But my core belief is to seek peace in the world, helping people eliminate certain malevolent attitudes through education as much as possible. An Arabic proverb says: "If something cannot be attained fully, it shouldn't be abandoned completely."

What message do you have for Americans who are concerned about the number of charter schools founded by people you inspire? How do you expect that influence to reflect on that educator's life?

First of all, let me clarify that I have never been personally involved in the founding or operation of any school. My influence, if any, has been through my sermons, talks and seminars. If I have any credit among the people who listen to my words, I have channeled that credit or credibility to encouraging them to establish institutions of education. I have tried to explain that we can achieve peace and reconciliation around the world only through raising a generation of people who read, who think critically, who love fellow humans and who offer their assets in service of humanity.

You don't seek to be noticed, yet you were one of TIME's 100 people, and called a voice of moderation that is desperately needed. Why? And what more could other moderate voices do to be heard today?

Although there are voices of moderation around the world, it's sometimes hard to reach a consensus among them. Perhaps what is more important is to be an example. Could Turkey be an example in this regard? Could this movement be an example, could this community be an example? I believe if we're to face ourselves, ask ourselves, perhaps because we haven't been able to set a good example and fully represent our values, there hasn't been great interest or sympathy in the world. But we are hopeful, that God willing this will happen. These views were not welcome in Turkey, but now they are slowly being embraced. If you remember, when I said 20 years ago that democracy was a process from which there would be no return, certain media organizations that are now supportive of the present government were very skeptical and they criticized me severely.

You said earlier if you live in a democracy where you have full freedom of expression as a Muslim, then there's no need for any other kind of government. What is an example of being a Muslim without that freedom of expression, and what should they do in that situation?

In many places around the world, including Turkey until the 1950s, Muslims didn't have full freedom of religion. Even personal practice was not allowed, and they had to practice in secret. I remember when I was in elementary school around the age of 6 and when I did my noon prayer during recess once, I was locked in the basement as punishment by the principal. Such pressure was real. Today, on the one hand, some Muslims face oppression and in response, certain individuals commit suicide attacks. Religion doesn't condone or justify responding to those who oppress with oppression. Today, Muslims face oppressive conditions in some places, and Christians in others. Some things take time. All humanity should embrace a peaceful attitude, but this can only be achieved in the long term through rehabilitation of society. Can we achieve this? We will achieve whatever we can, and for our unrealized goals, we will be rewarded for our intention.

Many people love you, but there are also many people who fear you. Some want you to return to Turkey, and others fear what you might do should you go there.

I am neither the first nor the last to create such polarized attitudes and perspectives. Indeed throughout history, friends of the truth have faced obstacles and enmity, including the messengers of God. Perhaps, when looking at this situation, we should say that maybe we haven't represented ourselves or explained ourselves accurately to people. When we reflect on this, we should say, "If we were able to make it clear that we have nothing for them to be concerned about, then they wouldn't harbor enmity against us." We should give others the benefit of the doubt. Around the world, whole societies experience paranoia. And people in Turkey are also affected by this. We should act and express ourselves in such a way that eliminates every negative thought or suspicion. But we should also accept the fact that some people have historically entrenched attitudes and cannot change. So it is not possible to be praised and loved at the same degree by everybody.

Chief Rabbi of Israel Eliyahu Bakshi Doron, left, gives a vase as gift to Islamic scholar and spiritual leader Fethullah Gulen, right, during his visit to Istanbul on Feb. 25, 1998. (AP Photo/Murad Sezer)

Some statements concerning Jews or Israel in your early sermons have been perceived as anti-Semitic. How do you respond to this?

We can consider this matter from different angles. First, it is always possible for a person to go through an evolution in his thinking. In an article I wrote years ago I asked: Are you today the same person as yesterday? And are your interlocutors the same people as yesterday? Neither you are exactly the same person, nor are your interlocutors, which means tomorrow neither of you will be the same person either.

The actions and attitudes of your interlocutors affect your views and expressions. During the interfaith dialogue process of the 1990s, I had a chance to get to know practitioners of non-Muslim faiths better, and I felt a need to revise my expressions from earlier periods.

I sincerely admit that I might have misunderstood some verses and prophetic sayings. I realized and then stated that the critiques and condemnations that are found in the Koran or prophetic tradition are not targeted against people who belong to a religious group, but at characteristics that can be found in any person.

In some cases my words have been taken out of context. Sometimes people with questionable intentions selectively extract statements from my speeches and writings without regard to the context or circumstances. My efforts for interfaith dialogue were criticized as softening Muslims' perspectives on Jews and Christians. I have not done anything that I did not believe to be in the footsteps of the Prophet Mohammed. He was the one who stood for a funeral procession of a Jewish resident of Medina, showing respect for a deceased fellow human being.

It is a fact that I criticized certain actions of Israel in the past. But in my mosque sermons, I also categorically condemn terrorism and suicide bombings that target innocent civilians.

Why do you choose to stay in Pennsylvania?

Although there are no legal obstacles for my return to Turkey, I am concerned that certain circles are waiting for an opportunity to reverse the democratic reforms that were started in the early 1990s and accelerated in the last decade. I am concerned that these elements will try to take advantage of my return by putting the government in a difficult position. I have to sacrifice my intense desire to return to my homeland in the interest of both Turkey and the good work of volunteers of the (Gulen) movement around the world. I feel that I need to live with my pain of yearning to return and stay here until there are no more concerns about the consolidation of democratic reforms. Additionally, while in Turkey, I would seek corrections and possible legal actions against libel and slander. Here, I am away from such harassment, and I am less affected by them. I find this place more tranquil.

How do you view Turkey's current political ambitions and place in the world?

Turkey is in accession talks with the European Union. Part of Turkey is considered in Europe and the other part in Asia, and sometimes it is considered in the Middle East. It stands in a very important place geographically and politically. It is crucial for Turkey to preserve and advance its achievements in democratization, thanks in part to its ongoing relationship with the European Union.

Turkey also needs to make use of certain dynamics to take on a more active role in the region. For instance, if there is a favorable view and positive perception of Turkey due to its historic ties in the region, Turkey should be careful to protect those perceptions. It should protect its reputation. Good relationships and influence depend on love, respect, and good will, and collaborating around mutually agreeable goals. Is Turkey doing these fully today or not? This is a question that deserves discussion. If Turkey is indeed able to develop good diplomatic relations in the region, I believe it will be in the interest of Europe, the United States and the world. But I don't think Turkey is doing what it can toward this end at the moment.

How would you define your vision of Islam and the kind of Muslim you are?

I consider myself an ordinary Muslim who is constantly working to put himself in the framework established by the Koran and the tradition of the Prophet Mohammed. I study the works of experts of jurisprudence, Koranic commentary, hadith commentary, and Sufism. In the past I was asked about my views on the spiritual dimension of Islam. I was asked whether I belonged to a Sufi order or whether I was against Sufism. Although I do not belong to any Sufi order and I have never attempted to establish one, I can say that the righteous masters of Sufism have influenced me greatly.

Finally, my understanding and vision of Islam cannot be understood only through my words. My lifework and the projects through which my friends and I hope to serve humanity should also be considered. The educational dialogue, humanitarian assistance initiatives represent our vision better than words.

*JAMIE TARABAY is a former contributing editor at Atlantic Media. Her writing has appeared in National Journal, TheAtlantic.com and the quarterly dispatch: Beyond Iraq. As Baghdad Bureau Chief for NPR News, her reporting on the war in Iraq received the Alfred I duPont-Columbia University Award. She is the author of A Crazy Occupation; Eyewitness to the Intifada.

SOURCE: http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/08/a-rare-meeting-with-reclusive-turkish-spiritual-leader-fethullah-gulen/278662/

Evangelical Christian Pastor on Gulen: "gained a profound respect for his ability to balance strong conviction with a desire to promote peace among all people"

Speech to the Maryland Turkish American Inhabitants + Rumi Forum
“Peace through Education and Dialogue”
Thursday, November 29, 2012, Pikesville Hilton Hotel, Baltimore
Joel O. Rainey, Ph.D.

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It is truly a pleasure to be standing in front of you tonight, and to share some recent experiences that our group of pastors had in the Republic of Turkey with our new friends.  And tonight, I think it is very important that I be clear how much I mean that.

An interfaith dinner is a strange place to find an Evangelical Christian.  For anyone in the room who follows professional football, it’s a little like finding a Steelers fan at M&T Bank Stadium wearing purple, but I am brave enough to stand in this room and admit that I am, and, I have. So I am very accustomed to being in places you wouldn’t expect me to be.

But I do stand here as an evangelical Christian, who leads a network of more than 60 evangelical churches, and typically, we just aren’t the sort to be found at events like this.  And I think my presence speaks well of our Turkish friends, and their high capacity for developing unlikely relationships. They have modeled for me what it means for two people of very different faiths to walk together, and I am very grateful to them for their example, and for their friendship.

It was through our new friends that I first heard the name Fethullah Gulen.  The trip I and our pastors took two months ago was largely for the purpose of seeing with our own eyes how Mr. Gulen’s influence is shaping not only Turkey, but the wider Muslim world for the better, and so my curiosity was raised even more about this man.  Who is he?  And why would he want those who follow his example to reach out to people like me?   

I spent a good deal of time reading Gulen’s writings, and I was particularly interested in his theology.  After all, I am a pastor and those tend to be the circles in which I walk.  And what I discovered is that from the perspective of belief, Fethullah Gulen is very much an “old school” Sunni Muslim preacher.  Many of his writings aggressively defend the Koran as the written Word of God.  I discovered a man who is serious about his own faith, and who believes deeply and profoundly in the following words from the Koran; “Say he is Allah, the one and only.  Allah, the eternal, absolute.  He begets not, nor is He begotten.” [Surah 112]  And initially, I found it strange that a man who believes such things would want to reach out to me.  I serve a network of churches that believes God not only had a Son, but that the ultimate way in which He has demonstrated His love for the world—including everyone in this room--is by giving that Son to die and bear the wrath of God as our substitute so that we can be redeemed.  But as I continued to research Mr. Gulen, I discovered a man who is anxious to reach out to people of other faiths, regardless of significant differences, and I have gained a profound respect for his ability to balance strong conviction with a desire to promote peace among all people.

I love this quote from his book Toward a Global Civilization of Love and Tolerance, “With the blessings and beneficence of God, we are going to do our best to help this breeze of tolerance and dialogue to continue blowing.” Among those who have answered Gulen’s call to this vision are those who host us tonight, and they are people who I am honored to call friends.  

These friends recently hosted a group of our pastors for a nine day visit to Turkey, and because of their hospitality, we were able to witness first-hand the good that is being done by our friends in this part of the world.  We saw things transpiring in that part of the world that I honestly have never read about in the Baltimore Sun, or seen on CNN.  I understand that it takes bad news to sell papers and increase Nielsen ratings, but the good things we witnessed there stand in great contrast to how most Americans perceive the so-called “Muslim world.”  

Among the great things we saw were Gulen-inspired institutions of higher learning.  In Konya, home of the 13th century philosopher Rumi, we visited Mevlana University, where students from all over the world come to study education, law, medicine, engineering and business.   In Sanliurfa, less than 30 miles from the violence that has recently occurred across the Syrian border, our pastors and I spent the day in a place where Turkish, Arabs, Kurdish, Jews and Christians have lived in peace for 1000 years.  One young pharmacist who lives there and is part of this movement told me “I want to take what we have done in this city, and spread peace across the border and throughout this part of the world.  I want my city to be the starting gate for peace!”  I love his heart, and I’m hopeful for a world where that heart is shared by all of us.

It was Istanbul where our pastors were introduced to an organization called Kimse Yok Mu, a non-profit disaster relief organization that since its inception in 2002 has brought help and relief to more than 60 countries.  We were also introduced to the good people at the Journalists and Writers Foundation, an organization that provides six very distinct platforms for dialogue and the promotion of peace among adherents to the world’s religions.

One of the most impressive things we learned about was their food.  I’m more than just an evangelical Christian, I’m also a Baptist, and we Baptists place a high value on food!  And theirs was amazing!  I have never tasted better lamb, and ever since returning to the states I’ve been on a seemingly hopeless search for mirash, which is a form of ice cream that has left me completely dissatisfied with what my local grocery store offers.  And of course, there is the baklava, which makes me believe our Turkish friends have stumbled onto the recipe for the manna that God provided Moses and his followers in the Egyptian wilderness.  It was exquisite!

Of course, the real benefit of a meal is the opportunity to get to know those with whom you are dining.  My primary role in my work is to be  a mobilizer of churches for intercultural work here in the Baltimore-Washington region, and around the world.  This means that I’ve had the opportunity to be in the company of people from almost every nation and tribe.  But I can tell you that when it comes to hospitality and graciousness, my Turkish friends cannot be matched!  By hosting us in their home country, they have given us an incredible gift, and an experience that I think has changed all of us for the better.  As I reflect on what we have learned from each other thus far, there are some lessons that my friends taught me on this trip that I want to share with you tonight.

The first lesson is this; the movement we witnessed in Turkey, while appearing on the surface to be a “young man’s movement,” embodies the power of cross-generational effort.  Many young people have responded to Fethullah Gulen’s call to service, but while in Turkey we also observed older generations responding to that young passion for world-change with financial support, and other resources necessary to accomplish their goals.  It was not uncommon for us to see this kind of cooperation carried out by three or four generations of Turkish people, all of whom were committed to these goals of peace and prosperity for their nation.

Second, these are people who speak quickly, boldly, and loudly to the violent elements of their faith, and in doing so, they teach all of us to speak against the violent tendencies within our own spheres of influence.  Our group landed in Istanbul less than a week after the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in Benghazi, and our friends were quick to condemn the violence.  And as we have discussed this and other issues, I have discovered that our friends genuinely abhor violence committed in the name of their faith.  It is their strong opposition to these elements that has challenged this Christian to examine my own responses to violence that is sometimes committed in the name of Jesus.

When most of what we see of Islam in the media consists of images like masked men shooting a young girl for no more than simply wanting an education, the temptation is to see such violence as inherent in Islam itself.  But when we look at a picture like that and simply conclude “That is Islam,” we are too quickly forgetting that extremists of every sort and kind often appeal to their faith of origin as a source of authority.  I am a native southerner, and have examples of such violence in my own family tree: individuals who also intimidated minorities and the weak, and did so while hiding behind a white mask, and with a burning cross in the background.  As a follower of Jesus, I’m thankful that no one pointed at that picture and said “There is Christianity!”  And I’m grateful to be in agreement with Muslim friends who believe with me that neither of our religions should be defined by the cowards among us who would commit such atrocity, nor should we tolerate those within our own ranks who seek to do harm to others created in God’s own image and likeness.

Third, the dialogue they advocate is the very kind of “public square” discourse that makes for a healthy society.  As Americans, we rightly resist what Evangelical social critic Os Guiness calls a “sacred square,” wherein our social standards and body of law are based on one specific religion.  In a pluralistic and democratic society, the sacred square is impossible to maintain peacefully.  But while we are wise to resist “theocracy” as more progressive pundits have called it, neither can we have what Guiness calls a “naked square.”  Somehow, many of us in the U.S. have developed the idea that religious conviction isn’t just personal, but private, and therefore should not be an appropriate subject of national discussion.  The problem with that assumption is that faith touches the deepest and most meaningful part of who we are as human beings.  From a personal perspective, my relationship with Jesus Christ isn’t limited to what I do on Sunday.  It defines the totality of who I am, so if I can’t talk to you about my faith, you can’t really get to know me. Similarly, if a person sincere in any faith isn’t allowed to share that faith because of perceived cultural taboo, we never get to truly know and understand each other.  

While abroad, I experienced people who are quick to speak of their faith in God, who are willing to hear about our faith, and wrestle with us through the implications of our differences in a way that is respectful of each other.  This is the kind of atmosphere that illustrates well what Christian social observers call a “civil public square,” and in an ironic way, I was delighted to find its full expression in a nation whose predominant religious affiliation is Islam.  If done with respect for the image of God stamped on all of us, talking about our differences, and even urging each other to consider the truth of our respective faiths out of concern for each other can build a strong, healthy relationship of the sort we need so badly in our own country. After our visit, I’m convinced that our Turkish friends are highly qualified by their own experience to teach us how to have precisely this kind of conversation.  

Our group learned much while abroad with our new friends, and we look forward to learning even more as we continue to walk together.  We look forward to engaging with them in matters of common interest, and to building the sort of genuine friendship that demonstrates our common humanity in powerful ways.  If invited by these precious people to visit their country with them, I urge you to accept the invitation.  Clear your calendar and go!   And when you do, be prepared for the world to open to you in ways you may not have thought possible.  I’d like to thank my friends at MARTI for allowing me to share our experiences, and thanks to all of you for being here tonight.  

SOURCE: http://joelrainey.blogspot.com/2012/11/truth-in-dialogue-model-for-evangelical.html

OPEN DEMOCRACY Anatolian Muslim hood: humanising capitalism?

Anatolian Muslimhood: humanising capitalism?

Max Farrar, 29 October 2008

The influential network of the Islamic Turkish thinker Fethullah Gülen is a challenging fusion of faith and modernity, finds Max Farrar in Istanbul.

About the author

Max Farrar is a sociologist ^↑ at Leeds Metropolitan University.

A week in Istanbul can hardly fail to be an enriching experience for the intellectually curious visitor - even more when this great city, and Turkey generally, is at the heart of so many of the world's shaping concerns of faith and politics. This was certainly the case for me, when I stayed in Istanbul as a guest of the London-based Dialogue Society ^↑ which supports the ideas and aims of the influential Islamic thinker Fethullah Gülen. ^↑

These days of intense and enjoyable discussion - against the backdrop of escalating legal and political dispute in Turkey - took place in a conference room, in mosques, and over meals in people's houses. The participants were around forty in all; almost all the visitors were academics. The Turkish hosts were the majority; the guests came northern Europe and the United States, and included people from a variety of Christian denominations as well as atheists. The atmosphere was informal.

Our common interest lay in examining the ideas and practices that flow from Fethullah Gülen's ^↑ thirty years of searching for truth through incremental renewals of the Islamic faith (see M Hakan Yavuz & John L Esposito, eds., Turkish Islam and the Secular State ^↑ , Syracuse University Press, 2003).

The western media coverage of Gülen and his movement (such as it is) has concentrated on two questions: whether they really are as good as they seem, and whether this is the "moderate" bulwark against the Islamists that "the west" so desperately seeks. The first is an important issue because the Kemalite Turks who have ruled the country since the republic's foundation on 29 October 1923 are certain that the movement's real aim is sinister: to overturn Kemal Atatürk's ^↑ secular constitution and impose a form of Islamic fundamentalism (see Erik J Zürcher, A History of Modern Turkey ^↑ , IB Tauris, 2004).

Is there a hidden agenda? The Dialogue Society has been working with my university ^↑ in northern England for almost two years now with the explicit, agreed aim of subjecting the Gülen movement to academic scrutiny. The latest gathering was designed both to further the intellectual debate initiated at an international conference^↑ in 2007 and to bring the media and business arms of the network into full view.  

The wealth and the spirit

The movement appears to be very rich, leading to questions about the source ^↑ of its money (with the implication that if the money is "bad", then the movement must be too). The answer seems to be: voluntary donations, largely from rich businessmen. The Gülen network's organisations - mainly schools ^↑ , based in over 100 countries - are publicly registered and subject to legal scrutiny. Their members are also highly motivated, as reflected in the fact that Fethullah Gülen was (in July 2008) voted the world's most significant intellectual in the respected intellectually monthly journal Prospect ^↑ .

If there were any secret and "bad" funding it is near-certain that the Kemalites would have unearthed it by now. After all, the state agencies' intelligence-gathering is a central feature in the alleged "Ergenekon" plot ^↑ against the Gülen-influenced government which is now in its trial stage (see Bill Park, "Ergenekon: Turkey's ‘deep state' in the light", 7 August 2008). But, if the Gülen movement really is what it claims to be - a tolerant, pro-democracy, socially conservative, European Union-oriented movement which promotes modern, secular education and favours advanced business methods - the Kemalites must be very worried about it. It has, after all, displaced them from their position at the centre of Turkish cultural life by democratic means.  But if they are what they claim to be, they are no threat to secularists who respect moderate forms of religious practice.

At the event, we listened to the stories of men from humble backgrounds who had after years of work and investment recently become rich; they now supported the movement's drive for an ethical capitalism. They seemed to personify the argument of the Nobel prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk ^↑ (in his memoir Istanbul: Memories of a City ^↑ ) that the elite's cosiness with the Turkish Kemalite military is based on the shared fear that people rooted in or close to the great unwashed mass of urban and rural (and Muslim) working people are on the verge of gaining power.

The Gülen people seemed at peace with themselves. There was no sign of what Pamuk describes as the "spiritual void" in the elite among whom he grew up - whose privileged children n public talk of mathematics and football, but "grapple with the most basic questions of existence...in trembling confusion and painful solitude".

A tradition in focus

In my view, the movement ^↑ is what it says it is. The encounter with it raises in my mind three issues, more interesting than the questions posed in much of the western media.

The first is the way the movement responds in practice to those who criticise Islam's patriarchal bias. The women we met from the Gülen movement were as impressively intelligent, as fully engaged in public life and as confident and outgoing as their equivalents in the west (see "Sex and Power in Turkey: Feminism, Islam and the Maturing of Turkish Democracy ^↑ ", European Stability Initiative, 2007). Women compose about three-quarters of the workforce at the  Zaman media group, whose publications - such as the impressive Today's Zaman ^↑ - are close to the movement.

The Qur'anic verses which insist on women's equal human status with men really do seem to operate in the movement. The women (choose to) obey the injunction to dress modestly; at the same time, the verse "(there) is no compulsion in religion" seems to operate as strongly on this question as it does in the movement's relations with people of other faiths. But, as the Muslim feminist Kecia Ali ^↑ points out, the Qur'an does not propose full social equality, however ‘complementary' men's and women's roles are seen to be (see Sexual Ethics And Islam: Feminist Reflections on Qur'an, Hadith, and Jurisprudence ^↑ , Oneworld, 2006).

The second issue is the way the movement places itself in the context of Islam as a whole, not least given its strong commitment ^↑ to changing Islamic practice, The movement resists the idea that it is reformist. "Renewal" is as far as Fethullah Gülen himself will go, because he insists that he is absolutely rooted in the Qur'an and thehadith.

These roots in tradition are the only thing they have in common with the salafi current of rigorous ("fundamentalist") Islamism that has widespread influence in Saudi Arabia. It is precisely in sharing and being part of this tradition, and having a recognised scholar of Islam at its head, that gives the movement such potential to rally influence Muslims worldwide (see Ehsan Masood, "A modern Ottoman ^↑ ", Prospect, July 2008).

To the outsider, it looks like major developments are taking place. The movement deliberately builds schools, rather than mosques; its educational model may be elitist, but it offers bursaries for the poor, and girls and boys are equally welcome. In justification, they reiterate that the Prophet Mohammed insisted that all people must develop and use their powers of reasoning (see Patricia Crone, "What do we really know about Mohammed?", 31 August 2006).  

In public discourse, the Gülen movement accuses the Kemalites of "fundamentalist secularism" - since the Kemalites use secularism as a stick to beat down the supporters of Gulen. But the movement strongly supports a western-style secular state, on two grounds: this is the model that truly separates the state from religion (rather than subordinating religion to the state, as in modern Turkey under the Kemalists); and it guarantees freedom to worship in any way that people choose (thus making "no compulsion..." a reality).

In deciding which political system should be favoured, the movement's method is an artful fusion. The Qur'anic past is again invoked to establish the movement's theological credentials (it invokes the prophet's introduction of inclusive decision-making in Medina as its model), but this sits alongside a passionate advocacy of democracy (a radical break here with the salafi denunciation of "man-made laws").  

Fethullah Gülen ^↑ is in the centre of Islamic belief that the Qur'an is the revealed word of God, and thus cannot be modified. But the prophet's own practice, he goes on, initiated the processes of interpretation that have been continuously developed for the past 1,400 years. These processes are influenced by the conditions of their time, and their geographical location. The implication could be drawn that this - Turkish and modern - movement is developing an Anatolian Muslimhood which might influence other formations of Muslimness.

The constraints of character

The third issue the encounter led me to reflect on is the rather quaint notion of "character" (especially in light of recent discussion on this topic in the British context about the search ^↑ for public policies that can enforce "pro-social behaviour"). It is instructive in this respect to note the character of the people I met in the Gülen movement (students, journalists, business-people, academics and volunteers) did appear to embody the movement's values of sincerity, openness, respect, empathy and concern for the other. Their warmth and care shows every sign that this is indeed a movement producing thinking, compassionate human beings.

These kind people are, though, just as committed to neo-liberal capitalism as the western leaders - politicians, financiers, central-bank governors - who are currently engaged in frantic efforts to consolidate it in face of systemic crisis. Fethullah Gülen may have created a fascinating variant on Max Weber's message about the Protestant ethic's symbiosis with the spirit of capitalism, yet he emphasises none of Weber's darker messages about modernity (see "Islamic Calvinists: Change and Conservatism in Central Anatolia ^↑ ", European Stability Initiative, 2005). In the end, therefore, what I think we were witnessing in Istanbul was the emergence of yet another effort by spiritual people to humanise a monster. It is probably the best organised and most coherent effort yet; but, as with all the world's religions, this movement seems unable fully to confront the massive injustices and inequalities that capitalism engenders.

SOURCE: http://www.opendemocracy.net/article/anatolian-muslimhood-in-search-of-a-humanised-capitalism

FETHULLAH GULEN - Sufism And Its Origins

Sufism And Its Origins
M. Fethullah GULEN

See also Dr Zeki Saritoprak's FETHULLAH GULEN: A sufi in his own way -  LINK














 





Sufism (tasawwuf) is the path followed by Sufis (adherents of Islamic mysticism) to reach the Truth-God. While this term usually expresses the theoretical or philosophical aspect of this search, its practical aspect is usually referred to as "being a dervish."


WHAT IS SUFISM?

Sufism has been defined in many ways. Some see it as God's annihilating the individual's ego, will, and self-centredness and then reviving him spiritually with the lights of His Essence so that he may live according to His will. Others view it as a continuous striving to cleanse one's self of all that is bad or evil in order to acquire virtue.

Junayd al-Baghdadi, a famous Sufi master, defines Sufism as a method of recollecting "self-annihilation in God" and "permanence or subsistence with God." Shibli summarizes it as always being together with God or in His presence, so that no worldly or other-worldly aim is even entertained. Abu Muhammad Jarir describes it as resisting the temptations of the carnal self and bad qualities and acquiring laudable moral qualities.

There are some who describe Sufism as seeing behind the "outer" or surface appearance of things and events and interpreting whatever happens in the world in relation to God. This means that a person regards every act of God as a window to "see" Him, lives his life as a continuous effort to view or "see" Him with a profound, spiritual "seeing" indescribable in physical terms, and with a profound awareness of being continually overseen by Him.

All of these definitions can be summarized as follows: Sufism is the path followed by an individual who is seeking to free himself or herself from human vices and weaknesses in order to acquire angelic qualities and conduct pleasing to God. Such a goal can be realized by living in accordance with the requirements of God's knowledge and love, and in the resulting spiritual delights that ensue.

Sufism is based on observing even the most "trivial" rule of Shari'a in order to penetrate their inner meaning. An initiate or traveler on the path (salik) never separates the outer observance of the Shari'a from its inner dimension, and therefore observes all of the requirements of both the outer and the inner dimensions of Islam. Through such observance, he or she travels toward the goal in utmost humility and submission.

Sufism, being a demanding path leading to knowledge of God, has no room for negligence or frivolity. It requires that the initiate should strive continuously, like a honeybee flying from the hive to flowers and from flowers to the hive, to acquire this knowledge. He should purify his heart from all other attachments, and resist all carnal inclinations, desires, and appetites. He should lead his life in a spiritual manner, always be ready to receive divine blessing and inspiration, and in strict observance of the example left behind by Prophet Muhammad. Convinced that attachment and adherence to God is the greatest merit and honor, he should renounce his own desires for the demands of God, the Truth.

After these [preliminary] definitions, we should discuss the aim, benefits, and principles of Sufism.

Sufism requires the strict observance of all religious obligations, an austere lifestyle, and the renunciation of carnal desires. Through this method of spiritual self-discipline, the individual's heart is purified and his senses and faculties are employed in the way of God, which means that he can now begin to live on a spiritual level. Sufism also enables man, through the constant worship of God, to deepen his awareness of himself as a devotee of God. It enables him to renounce this transient world and the desires and emotions that it engenders, and awakens him to the reality of the other world that is turned toward God's Divine Beautiful Names.

Sufism allows the individual to make this transition, for it develops the angelic dimension of one's existence and enables the acquisition of a strong, heart-felt, and personally experienced conviction of the articles of faith that he had accepted only superficially.

The principles of Sufism may be listed as follows:

1. Reaching true belief in God's Divine Oneness and living in accordance with its demands.

2. Heeding the Divine Speech (the Qur'an), and discerning and then obeying the commands of the Divine Power and Will as they relate to the universe (the laws of creation and life).

3. Overflowing with Divine Love and getting along with all other beings in the realization (originating from Divine Love) that the universe is a cradle of brotherhood.

4. Giving preference or precedence to the well-being and happiness of others.

5. Acting in accord with the demands of the Divine Will-not with the demands of our own will-and living in a manner that reflects our self-annihilation in God and subsistence with Him.

6. Being open to love, spiritual yearning, delight, and ecstasy.

7. Being able to discern what is in hearts or minds through facial expressions and the inner, Divine mysteries and meanings of surface events.

8. Visiting spiritual places and associating with people who encourage the avoidance of sin and striving in the way of God.

9. Being content with permitted pleasures, and not to taking even a single step toward that which is not permitted.

10. Continuously struggling against worldly ambitions and illusions that lead us to believe in the eternal nature of this world.

11. Never forgetting that salvation is possible only through certainty or conviction of the truth of religious beliefs and conduct, sincerity or purity of intention, and the sole desire to please God.

Two other elements may be added: acquiring knowledge and understanding of the religious and gnostic sciences, and following the guidance of a perfected, spiritual master. Both of these are of considerable significance the Naqshbandiyah Sufi order.

It may be useful to discuss Sufism according to the following basic concepts, which often form the core of books written on good morals, manners, and asceticism, and which are regarded as the sites of the "Muhammadan Truth" in one's heart. They can also be considered lights by which to know and follow the spiritual path leading to God.

The first and foremost of these concepts is wakefulness (yaqaza), which is alluded to in several Prophetic sayings (hadiths): "My eyes sleep but my heart does not," and "Men are asleep. They wake up when they die."

THE ORIGIN OF SUFISM

As the history of Islamic religious sciences tells us, religious commandments were not written down during the early days of Islam; rather, the practice and oral circulation of commandments related to belief, worship, and daily life allowed the people to memorize them. Thus it was not difficult to compile them in books later on, for what had been memorized and practiced was simply written down. In addition, since religious commandments were the vital issues in a Muslim's individual and collective life, scholars gave priority to them and compiled books on them. Legal scholars collected and codified books on Islamic law and its rules and principles pertaining to all fields of life. Traditionists established the Prophetic traditions (hadiths) and way of life (sunnah), and preserved them in books. Theologians dealt with the issues concerning Muslim belief. Interpreters of the Qur'an dedicated themselves to studying its meaning, including issues that would later be called "Qur'anic sciences," such as naskh (abrogation of a law), inzal (God's sending down the entire Qur'an at one time), tanzil (God's sending down the Qur'an in parts on different occasions), qira'at (Qur'anic recitation), ta'wil (exegesis), and others. Thanks to these universally appreciated efforts, the truths and principles of Islam were established in such a way that their authenticity cannot be doubted.

While some scholars were engaged in these "outer" activities, Sufi masters were mostly concentrating on the pure spiritual dimension of the Muhammadan Truth. They sought to reveal the essence of man's being, the real nature of existence, and the inner dynamics of man and the cosmos by calling attention to the reality of things lying beneath and beyond their outer dimension. Adding to the Qur'anic commentaries, the narrations of the Traditionists, and the deductions of the legal scholars, the Sufi masters developed their ways through asceticism, spirituality and self-purification-in short, their practice and experience of religion. Thus the Islamic spiritual life based on asceticism, regular worship, abstention from all major and minor sins, sincerity and purity of intention, love and yearning, and the individual's admission of his essential impotence and destitution became the subject-matter of Sufism, a new science possessing its own method, principles, rules, and terms. Even if various differences gradually emerged among the orders that were established later on, it can be said that the basic core of this science has always been the essence of the Muhammadan Truth.

The two aspects of the same truth-the commandments of the Shari'a and Sufism- have sometimes been presented as mutually exclusive. This is quite unfortunate, as Sufism is nothing more than the spirit of Shari'a, which is made up of austerity, self-control and criticism, and the continuous struggle to resist the temptations of Satan and the carnal, evil-commanding self so as to be able to fulfill religious obligations. While adherence to the former has been regarded as exotericism (self-restriction to the outer dimension of religion), following the latter has been seen as pure esotericism. Although this discrimination partly arises from assertions that the commandments of the Shari'a are represented by legal scholars or muftis, and the other by the Sufis, it should be viewed as the result of the natural, human tendency of assigning priority to that way which is most suitable for the individual practitioner.

Many legal scholars, Traditionists, and interpreters of the Qur'an produced important books based on the Qur'an and the Sunna. The Sufis, following the methods dating back to the time of the Prophet and his Companions, also compiled books on austerity, the spiritual struggle against carnal desires and temptations, states and stations of the spirit. They also recorded their own spiritual experiences, love, ardor, and rapture. The goal of this literature was to attract the attention of those whom they regarded as restricting their practice and reflection to the "outer" dimension of religion, and directing it to the "inner" dimension of the religious life.

Both Sufis and scholars sought to reach God by observing the Divine obligations and prohibitions. Nevertheless, some extremist attitudes-occasionally observed on both sides-caused disagreements. Actually there was no substantial disagreement, and it should not have been viewed as a disagreement, for it only involved dealing with different aspects and elements of religion under different titles. The tendency of specialists in jurisprudence to concern themselves with the rules of worship and daily life and how to regulate and discipline man's individual and social life, and that of Sufis to provide a way for man to live at a high level of spirituality through self-purification and spiritual training cannot be considered a disagreement. In fact, Sufism and jurisprudence are like the two schools of a university that is seeking to teach its students the two dimensions of the Shari'a and to enable its students to practice it in their daily life. One school cannot survive without the other, for while one teaches how to pray, how to be ritually pure, how to fast, how to give charity, and how to regulate all aspects of daily life, the other concentrates on what these and other actions really mean, how to make worship an inseparable part of man's existence, and how to elevate man to the rank of a universal, perfect being-a true human being. That is why neither discipline can be neglected.

Although some self-proclaimed Sufis have labelled religious scholars as "scholars of ceremonies" and "exoterists," real, perfected Sufis have always depended on the basic principles of the Shari'a and have based their thoughts on the Qur'an and the Sunna. They have derived their methods from these basic sources of Islam. Al-Wasaya wa al-Ri'aya (The Advices and Observation of Rules) by al-Muhasibi, al-Ta'arruf li-Madhhabi Ahi al-Sufism (A Description of the Way of the People of Sufism) by Kalabazi, al-Luma' (The Gleams) by al-Tusi, Qut al-Qulub (The Food of Hearts) by Abu Talib al-Makki, and al-Risala (The Treatise) by al-Qushayri are among the precious sources where Sufism is dealt with according to the Qur'an and the Sunna. Some of these sources concentrate on self-control and self- purification, while others elaborate upon various topics concerned with Sufism.

After these great compilers came Hujjat al-Islam Imam al-Ghazzali author of Ihya' al-Ulum al-Din (Reviving the Religious Sciences), his most celebrated work. He reviewed all of Sufism's terms, principles, and rules, and, establishing those agreed upon by all Sufi masters and criticizing others, united the outer (Shari'a and jurisprudence) and inner (Sufi) dimensions of Islam. The Sufi masters coming after him presented Sufism as one of the religious sciences or a dimension thereof, promoting unity or agreement among themselves and the so-called "scholars of ceremonies." In addition, they made several Sufi subjects, such as the states of the spirit, certainty or conviction, sincerity and morality, part of the curriculum of madrassas (institutes for the study of religious sciences).

Although Sufism mostly concentrates on the inner world of man and deals with the meaning and effect of religious commandments on man's spirit and heart and is therefore abstract, it does not contradict any of the Islamic ways based on the Qur'an and Sunna. In fact, as is the case with other religious sciences, its source is the Qur'an and the Sunna, as well as the conclusions drawn from the Qur'an and the Sunna via ijtihad (deduction) by the purified scholars of the early period of Islam. It dwells on knowledge, knowledge of God, certainty, sincerity, perfect goodness, and other similar, fundamental virtues.

Defining Sufism as the "science of esoteric truths or mysteries," or the "science of man's spiritual states and stations," or the "science of initiation" does not mean that it is completely different from other religious sciences. Such definitions have resulted from the Shari'a-rooted experiences of various individuals, all of whom have had different temperaments and dispositions, over the centuries. It is a distortion to present the viewpoints of Sufis and the thoughts and conclusions of Shari'a scholars as essentially different from each other. Although it is undeniable that some Sufis have been fanatic adherents of their own ways, and that some religious scholars (i.e., legal scholars, Traditionists, and interpreters of the Qur'an) have restricted themselves to the outward dimension of religion, those who follow and represent the middle, straight path have always formed the majority. Therefore it is wrong to conclude that there is a serious disagreement, which most likely began with some unbecoming thoughts and words uttered by some legal scholars and Sufis against each other, between the two groups. When compared with those on the side of tolerance and consensus, those who have started or participated in such conflicts are very few indeed. This is natural, for both groups have always depended on the Qur'an and Sunna, the two main sources of Islam.

In addition, the priorities of Sufism have never been different from those of jurisprudence. Both disciplines stress the importance of belief and of engaging in good deeds and good conduct. The only difference is that Sufis emphasize self-purification, deepening the meaning of good deeds and multiplying them, and attaining higher standards of good morals so that one's conscience can awaken to the knowledge of God and thus embark upon a path that leads to the required sincerity in living Islam and obtaining God's pleasure. By means of these virtues, man can acquire another nature, another heart, a spiritual intellect within the heart, a deeper knowledge of God, and another "tongue" with which to mention God, he can observe all Shari'a commandments based on a deeper awareness of, and with a disposition for, devotion to God.

An individual practitioner of Sufism can use it to deepen his or her spirituality. Through the struggle with one's self, solitude or retreat, invocation, self-control and self-criticism, the veils covering the inner dimension of existence are torn apart, enabling the individual to acquire a strong conviction of the truth of all the major and minor principles of faith.

OTHER WRITING OF FETHULLAH GULEN

• The Necessity of Interfaith Dialogue by Fethullah Gulen
• A Movement Originating Its Own Models by Fethullah Gulen
• Mevlana Jalal al-Din Rumi by Fethullah Gulen

Press & Media  - Washington Post, NY Times, Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Foreign Policy, The New Republic, Prospect, PBS TV, NPR Radio, The Age, Forbes, LA Times, Reuters

Rumi Forum sites:

• HD videos    
• Youtube videos
• Picasa photos
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Podcast

SOURCE: http://www.fountainmagazine.com/article.php?ARTICLEID=616

Op-Ed - Fethullah Gulen on going green

An interesting piece on Fethullah Gulen's approach to the environment:

Gulen on going green

I will go green. This is one of my New Year resolutions for 2011. I know I am already late but better than never. Besides I am already half green. I have been printing less; reading my articles online. I have unsubscribed from printed version of the daily paper and been following it online for more than a year. I try to use less water, program the thermostat to save energy. We have been recycling at home for many years now; paper, plastic, bottles and all go to the recycle can. We would have switched to a hybrid car but could not afford it even with the tax credit. I am trying to prefer e-books lately, but old habits are hard to change. I need to be more conscious on going green. It is not just the e-books, I know almost all the tips on how to go green, but I am not that good at living all of them: I need motivation on more of a foundational level. I need to work on “why” to go green. What follows is a result of my little study on this chain of thought and where it took me in my search of stimulus for going green.

Why should I go green?

I learnt that I was not alone in my search for incentives. Several years back Time magazine reported 90% of Europeans recognized climate change was a major issue, and 75% identified fossil-fuel emissions as a major cause, but less than one percent was able to take action on switching to renewable energy sources even though it was only a one phone call away. The Time article argued the question was as old as Socrates, and listed several reasons for disconnect on the information and action¹. At the end main cause was diagnosed as the lack of the motivation on the consumer side.
Why would someone go green today? You might start with listing tax credits, health benefits of green products, or initiatives on alternative energy sources.  But that would be ignoring the actual source of the problem: consumerism and materialism. Why can’t we consume less? However civilized or educated we might be, we, well at least most of us, do not consume consciously. We always want more than we need. The more we buy, the more we own, the better we feel. Our shopping habits are not driven by logical and calculated decisions but by advertisements. You might try to self-control by sticking to prewritten and revised shopping lists. However advertisement campaigns are getting sneaker than ever on targeting our subconscious that we always end up buying clutter that we never need.
This reminds me the words of notorious Tyler Durden character from the movie Fight Club: “Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate, so we can buy s*** we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact.”² The only difference today is that it is not a small fight club anymore: It is almost the entire society. Materialism is the de facto standard for modern man. The economy in total is based on consumerism.  Satisfaction with less or enoughism is still a marginal thought. We are always inclined, educated, and directed to buy more. We can’t stop doing that. Even during our worst days we could not sacrifice: Indeed even in the aftermath of the tragic September 11 events, our President told us that we had to keep shopping³.

Green Zone in the Consuming War

While our troopers were hunting down terrorists in the deserts or on the mountains, we were advised on hunting down deals in the malls. We both were working to save our freedom, as we needed a sound economy as much as we needed safety and security. It is hard to say whether we gained and lost those battles, but as a matter of fact that we were hit really hard on both frontlines. We lost lives and we lost businesses. Our greed to buy bigger cars and larger homes turned against us and hit back with doubling gas prices and subprime mortgage crisis.  Century old car companies, banks, lenders went bankrupt. We lost our homes. We lost our jobs. For years we fought to have more but after all ended up with less.
Have we learned our lesson? Some of us did. At least we became more conscious on saving and consuming less. Yet current approaches for going green sound like creating a green zone in the battlefield. Green products constitute to only a small percentage of market. Alternative energy methods are very costly for the general population. Development of green industries and facilities is still very limited. Sustainability is only discussed in the academic circles.

“More” is still motto of the day

Consumerism is still sitting on the steering wheel in our economy. If we look at the big picture, it is not just our economy but most of our life is based on “greed”. Our financial plans, our health programs, our educational plans, all aim to get more. We do not eat less to lose weight: We have new diet pills and programs that allow us eat more while we are losing weight. We pursue advanced degrees not to learn or master in a field but to get a better-paying job or get promotion at work. More people are choosing business and technology majors at the college, and only a few in hundred want to study in History or English, because moneywise the latter worth less (!); and as always we want more.
As you can guess, living in a world of greedy people focusing on only their self interests; going green requires more than a few buying incentives. We have to dig deeper. Doing so, I came across a bunch of articles, workshops and conferences brainstorming on environmental and ecological issues. There are many good studies worth to read about.
In a research report from 2007, EPA determines six main themes that we should focus on to motivate individuals, businesses and governments on sustainable choices. In addition to the themes on renewable resource systems, biological and chemical impacts of our choices, urban development, land use, the last two themes listed are economics, human behavior and decision making.⁴  At the end sustainability boils down to our individual decisions and how much we consider and value the ecosystem in our daily lives.
Our decisions do not only affect the quality of our lives, but also lives of future generations and also plants and animals, hence the entire ecosystem. The Planet Green puts it “As globalization makes the world become smaller, it becomes increasingly easy to see how the lives of people (and plants and animals and ecosystems) everywhere are closely synced up with one another. So toys made in China can affect the quality of life in Europe, pesticides used in Argentina can affect the health of people in the U.S., and greenhouse gas emissions from Australia can affect a diminishing rainforest in Brazil.”⁵

At the Heart of the Crisis of Eco-justice is a Spiritual Crisis

As global citizens we have to be eco-conscious.  We have to curb and manage our consumption as a society. We cannot think nature as a mere commodity anymore.  We have to reshape our economy considering the environmental consequences of consumerism. In one recent study, Dr John Raines of Temple University concludes along the same lines: “Eco-Justice is the task of global economic justice and at the same moment the task of global ecological justice. To pursue that task, we must disenthrall ourselves of the dominant ideology that defines the self in relationship to its material possessions.”⁶
Dr. Raines points out that “at the heart of the crisis of eco-justice is a spiritual crisis” ⁷ and describes the problem as “We turned the natural world (upon which at every moment we are intimately and absolutely dependent) into “raw material,” into a commodity, something we could and should manipulate for our “higher” human purposes. But then came an ironic twist.  What we had de-sacralized and commodified we re-sacralized.  The stuff we owned and displayed became the powerful determiners of our meaning and value as persons.  It is called “conspicuous consumption” (Veblen) and it quickly became an endless race of “obligatory ostentation”.   We became a self trapped with other selves inside an endless competition for “comparative repute”. We could never get enough stuff.  As a result, we have turned out natural world into, literally, a “waste-land”.”

Gulen Echoing the Sufi way on Eco-Justice

At the same conference, Dr Eileen Eppig addresses the eco-justice problem at a deeper level through the Sufi way of well-known Muslim scholar Fethullah Gulen.  She explains the peaceful and harmonic way of Gulen as a reflection of traditional Sufi thought expressed in the words of 13th century Sufi poet Yunus Emre: “Love every creature because of the Creator.”
Dr Eppig explains Gulen’s universal approach as, “The nonviolent and peaceful lifestyle of Fethullah Gulen reflects the Sufi belief that love is the essential element in every creature. Gulen’s own love extends to the entire universe, which is meant to be “read” by human beings in order to achieve faith, knowledge, and closeness to God. With traditional Sufi theology, Gulen relates the inner meaning of the Qur’an to the inner meaning of the natural world. The Qur’an and the universe are two expressions of the same truth. The Qur’an calls on human beings to study creation for the sake of knowing the Creator. The natural world, like the Qur’an, reveals the Divine Names and so has a kind of sacredness in it. The universe teaches human beings to demonstrate compassion, not only to other humans, but to every living creature. Gulen calls this “the grand orchestra of love.” All creation is to be loved in the way of God’s loving, replacing violence and hatred with peace and harmony.”⁸
Dr Jon Pahl shows that Gulen’s extension of the Sufi notion that nature as a “sacred space” does not only provide a theoretical foundation but also a practical basis as reflected in every practice of the Hizmet movement, the transnational society inspired by Fethullah Gulen. He unravels this practice as, “The thought of M. Fethullah Gulen, and the Hizmet ("service") movement inspired by him, offers an alternative to any anti-material Islam.   Explicitly, Mr. Gulen asserts that "nature is much more than a heap of materiality or an accumulation of objects:  It has a certain sacredness, for it is an arena in which God's Beautiful Names are displayed." Fethullah Gulen develops this Sufi notion of the sacred space of nature in several directions, and those Muslims inspired by him have applied his thinking in practical action.  First, the Hizmet movement clearly emphasizes "scientific" education--with many of the schools organized by movement leaders serving as "science academies."  More indirectly, but perhaps even more importantly, crucial metaphors found in the theology of the movement--light, water, growing things such as the rose--feature nature.  These metaphors serve as reminders that creation is linked to a Creator.  Finally, the Hizmet movement embraces not only "professional" theologians, but also "lay" professionals--engineers, financiers, economists, physicians, and more--who integrate the practice of natural sciences with religious commitment in a social movement that might help remedy some of the damage done to the environment in previous generations.  Many have focused on the political dimensions of implications of the Hizmet movement.  More important, perhaps, will be its contributions to global environmental justice, flowing from the sense of nature as sacred space at the heart of the movement.”⁹

Comparative Analysis of Gulen’s Thoughts on the Ecosystem

In the course of the aforementioned conference, Dr Ori Soltes of Georgetown University compares Gulen’s sufi notion of ecosystem with Judeo-Christian tradition and also Plato’s “ergon” and Aristo’s “harmonia”. Besides he analyzes several passages from sacred texts of Abrahamic religions and study what they instruct on “shaping of humanity with respect to our relationship to each other and to the world around us” and “How are we intended by God to act vis-à-vis each other and the world?”
Dr Soltes’ research also provides “a brief discussion of how Plato’s thought distinguishes logos—discussion—from ergon: action; of what Aristotle means by the term harmonia—the bringing of apparently opposed ideas into dynamic synthesis ; and of how the Platonic and Aristotelian perspectives differ with regard to the human approach to the world around us”. In his detailed analysis Dr Soltes also focuses on writings of Gulen titled as “Humanity and Its Responsibilities,”  “An Ideal Society,” and “The Meaning of Life”, and concludes that “all contribute to a world view that both explicitly and implicitly draws from the threefold Abrahamic tradition with respect to human-human and human-natural world relations and does so by applying principles expressed by Plato and Aristotle—specifically the ideas of logos, ergon and harmonia.”¹⁰
In another comparative analysis, Dr Gage examines “why Gülen’s reinstituting wisdom in education promises to balance the benefits of science and humanism. Drawing from analyses by astrophysicists Primack and Abrams from their The View from the Center of the Universe and by economist Matt Ridley from his The Rational Optimist, the discussion centers on education and the existential choice to sustain today’s I/It enmity of winners and losers or to embrace Gülen’s ethos that elicits I/Thou equity through tolerant dialogue upon our common ground.”¹¹
Dr Gage concludes that Gulen’s balanced approach to Eco-Justice reflected in Gulen-Inspired Schools does provide a unique solution: “Yet, living today we are of that cohort, unique in history, with understanding and perspective to comprehend a cosmic responsibility. And, we have the benefit and chance to attune with F. Gülen, whose humanism fosters harmony and tolerance among people living with our common Earth. Of the many Hizmet agencies that assert his inspiration and that evidence the dual mission of Eco-Justice - - of both living together in peace and with the planet - - are Gülen-inspired schools encircling Earth. In spite of the gravity challenging humanity, schools season many of the planet’s communities with young minds forecasting how to save their home, their real economy.”¹²

Gulen On Going Green

In the light of the above studies, I would conclude that Gulen’s extension of Sufi way of seeing nature as a “sacred space” and “grand orchestra of love”, gives us a more foundational basis for “going green”. In this way one can value each and every creature with respect to their relationship to the Creator. We do not need to superficially make a habit to conserve the environment, but to become aware of that loving and respecting the rest of the nature is already inherited in our own nature. As human beings, it is our existential responsibility to embrace the entire universe and protect the general harmony of existence.

READ FULL ARTICLE AND REFERENCES:
http://www.fethullah-gulen.org/op-ed/gulen-going-green.html

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