Fethullah Gulen inspired dialogue: john esposito

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Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Response to CBS's 60 Minutes on Fethullah Gulen and Gulen (Hizmet) Movement - CBS News

Fethullah Gulen is the Honorary President of the Rumi Forum and on Sunday night, May 12, 60 Minutes aired a report on the Gülen movement, which included many positive aspects but also raised allegations and speculation without including responses to those claims.

The segment clearly stated Mr. Gülen’s commitment to education, interfaith dialogue, tolerance and peace. This shows an effort to tell a balanced story, and we commend the producers for that. However, in the interest of factual accuracy, we also believe it is important to share with you some critical information that 60 Minutes omitted, but is relevant to the story.

Regarding allegations of Mr. Gülen’s political aspirations: First and foremost, Mr. Gülen has always advocated for the separation of religion and politics. On many occasions, he has said that if religion is politicized then both religion and politics suffer, but religion suffers more. Many social scientists have stated that the movement Mr. Gülen inspired is spiritual and social in nature; not political. For instance, see the works of Elizabeth Ozdalga, Nilufer Gole, Greg Barton, Paul Weller, Graham Fuller, Muhammed Cetin, Helen R. Ebaugh and John Esposito among others.

According to Dr. James Harrington, professor of law at the University of Texas who studied Gülen’s legal journey, the charges against him involving police infiltration and an Islamic hidden agenda were “painstakingly discredited in a 48-page opinion” by a three judge trial court, which acquitted him. An appellate panel upheld the verdict and subsequently, a plenary appeals court did the same. (Harrington, James Wrestling with Free Speech, Religious Freedom and Democracy in Turkey The Political Trials and Times of Fethullah Gülen, University Press 2011.)

Regarding “state department cables”: The communications referenced in the story were not official statements from the U.S. State Department. These were intercepted communications from and between government employees in the Turkish consulate and embassy offices. These employees were not making official statements but were making comments colored by their own opinion, ideology and local contacts. In contrast, many high ranking officers, elected officials and dignitaries in the United States and throughout the world, have made public statements commending Mr. Gülen for his commitment to intercultural and interfaith dialogue. For examples of such praise, please visit the web site of the Gülen Institute (http://www.guleninstitute.org/testimonials).

Regarding the incarceration of critics: Mr. Gülen has consistently supported freedom of the press and, in a written statement, categorically denied any involvement in the jailing of journalists. Indeed, tens of books defaming Gülen have been in circulation for decades in Turkey, and some of them have been reprinted many times. Their authors continue to speak their minds, write their columns and publish books. One of the most defamatory books against Gülen recently saw its 22nd reprint. Recently, in her book entitled “Is the (Gulen) Community Under Every Stone?,” independent journalist Nazli Ilicak unequivocally refuted such claims against Gulen. See also Harrington’s response to The New York Times:http://rumiforum.blogspot.com/2012/04/response-to-nytimes-setting-facts.html

Regarding the assertion that “followers” regard Mr. Gulen as a “living prophet”: This statement is, first of all, factually wrong and ignorant of the Islamic tradition. In Islam, Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) is the last prophet and nobody can assume the title of prophethood after him. Irresponsible and disrespectful use of such a term is grounds for apostasy. The book that popularized this claim, which is circulated in certain fringe blogs, is the worst kind of conspiracy text, going so far as to suggest that Mr. Gülen is being used by the CIA, the FBI and the Vatican to establish an Islamic state in Turkey (Merdan Yanardag, Kusatilan Turkey – Turkey Surrounded, 22nd print, Destek Yayinlari, Istanbul, 2011).

Regarding Mr. Gülen’s role in the movement: The Gülen movement is an open, amorphous and inclusive transnational social movement. According to noted social scientist Helen R. Ebaugh, “Unlike sects or cults that tend to isolate their members from societal involvement while emphasizing strict discipline, authoritarian leadership and the rites of membership, the movement has no formal leadership or hierarchy. It has no procedures, ceremonies or initiation rites for becoming a member. Likewise, the movement has not been regarded as heretical or extreme by the public, the media or the courts, either in Turkey or abroad.” (Ebaugh, Helen R. The Gülen Movement, Springer 2010). Mr. Gulen’s role in the movement is primarily inspirational and motivational through his work and life example.

Unfortunately, not all of the content that 60 Minutes gathered for this piece was included in the televised broadcast, which impacted the editorial balance of the piece. I know that the Turkish American interviewed for the piece was asked questions for a very long period. Only 30 seconds were used.

Additional interviews, including expanded portions of one interview, and a discussion with Mr. Abdulhamid Bilici, director of Cihan News Agency are available in the “Web Extras” section of the show’s website (also on our blog) Additionally, 60 Minutes Overtime, a web-only feature, offered more insight from the perspective of the producer and correspondent Lesley Stahl.

A major component of the story was a highly successful charter school system. For questions regarding this school system please refer to their web site at http://www.harmonytx.org/.

The Rumi Forum remains unwavering in its commitment to gather people of diverse backgrounds together in the spirit of social harmony, mutual trust, partnership and community service. Cooperating with the news media on stories like this is essential in order to advance this mission and to eliminate or reduce false stereotypes, prejudices and unjustified fears.

We have posted additional information on our website, www.rumiforum.org to serve as a resource for people seeking more information. I’d like to thank you for your ongoing support for the Rumi Forum and the positive goals we share. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. I look forward to continuing our work together to achieve a more harmonious world.

Kindest Regards,

Emre Celik
President
Rumi Forum

Friday, November 11, 2011

5 years of Rumi Peace and Dialogue Awards - Washington DC

The Rumi Forum has been bestowing the awards to individuals and organizations that have contributed to the social fabric of society. Below is a historical review of the first 5 years.

VIDEO - Brian Katulis: Changing the Mindset on US Policy in the Middle East

Below you will find two Rumi Forum videos, one from a recent event, and another from the archives. Enjoy !

1. Changing the Mindset on US Policy in the Middle East - Brian Katulis, Center for American Progress
2.Who Speaks for Islam? - John Esposito , Georgetown University

VIDEOS - Chicago Fethullah Gulen Conference

The Chicago Gulen Conference was very informative, as it brought together more than 20 scholars to discuss a transnational movement of volunteers dedicated to education and civic service.

The conference includes21 speakers across 7 panels, a summary after each panel and a Q&A session at the end of each panel. A description is below each video.

The opening remarks were by NBC5 Anchor woman, Alison Rosati, John Esposito, Georgetown University presented the keynote speech. Scholars and writers that took part include Cherif Bassiouni, Thomas Michel, Martin Marty, Carter Findley, Greg Barton, Robert Pape, James Harrington, Jon Pahl, Dick Simpson amongst numerous others

BOOK REVIEW - Faith, Theology and Service in Peacebuilding

Stanley Ridge*

Fethullah Gülen's work and thinking starts and ends in faith. In a world that commonly extends conflict by speaking of religion either in stereotyped or in ideologized terms, this is a refreshingly engaged perspective.

Faced with the challenge of mounting hostility between the Islamic world and the West, and with belligerent and increasingly fundamentalist groups on both sides supposedly speaking in the name of religion, the need for peacebuilding with integrity is pressing. The writers of different traditions whose essays resonate here explore the faith-based ideas of one of this century's seminal thinkers and tease out their implications and potential for peacebuilding.

Gülen is deeply and unequivocally Islamic. The first three chapters of the book, by the editors and Mohammed Abu-Nimer, introduce his approach to peacebuilding. They analyze his ideas through various modern lenses as within a tradition from Rumi, Al Ghazali, and Said Nursi, while also showing that the specific approaches he takes to peacebuilding arise from a thorough reading of the contemporary globalized world. Because these approaches are predicated on faith, the initiatives are heuristic. The movement into a caring engagement with the world is a movement of faith, marked by openness to discovery and so by an expectation of change. The object is not simply to change others, but to be changed with others, and so to move into and discover more of the just and caring social condition desired by Allah.

Part 2 takes a closer look at Gülen's reading of the globalized world and his deliberate transgression of the kinds of borders which are a product of modernism and fail to meet human realities or to orient us to global perspectives. In a fascinating essay, Klas Grinell bringsGülen's thinking into association with wider, postmodern debates. Borders, he points out, are associated with fixed identities which do not accord with our realities "in the multi-layered present" (68). Accordingly, crossing the border into the territory of the "other" perhaps does not characterize Gülen's aspiration because it seems to accept existing stereotypes and fails to leave room for the large areas of overlapping territory. Grinell changes the metaphor, seeing Gülenrather as on the border in the sense proposed by the Argentinian Mignolo:

Border thinking ... is thinking and knowledge produced from the borders of colonial modernity, knowledge that recognizes the colonizing aspects of what has been seen as true knowledge in mainstream modernity, and uses local resources to confront and alter that knowledge in order to know the particularities of life lived in that setting better. (75)

Irina Vainovski-Mihai pursues some of the implications of dialogue, which requires an open awareness of the other. She concludes that "the dialogical approach may transform the experience of the other into an experience of the self" (96). As Karina Korostelina suggests, though, that self embodies the creative tension in a dual identity, between "one component connected to a religious identity and another component that reflects membership in a secular nation" (104). The borders involved are different and shifting, finding resolution in a much more sophisticated and tolerant sense of the self. That, taken with Gülen's view of globalization outlined by Richard Penaskovic as more than economic and ideological, as referring "to connectivity and interdependence in all areas of life: cultural, ecological, economic, political, religious, social, and technological" (126), makes hostility manifestly problematic and is conducive to peace.

The third part of the book examines Gülen's theology of dialogue in comparative perspective. Turan Kayaoglu's informative essay traces the overlapping theologies of Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Pope John-Paul II and Fethullah Gülen - theologies which place interfaith dialogue in the context of the core concerns of each faith. The theological leadership of these three major figures "validates, accommodates, and humanizes the 'other' in order to open up religious space for interfaith activities and to establish religious grounds to complement humanity's quest for peace, tolerance, and care for God's creation" (166). Zeki Saritoprak shows the continuity between Gülen and Ibn Khaldun, the fourteenth century Muslim sociologist, who emphasizes asabiyya or a non-racist, non-nationalist "group solidarity" around key transformative values. Forgiveness, love and compassion are values at the heart of all major religions and are essential to our full humanity. However, in the heat of social tension, they tend to provoke persecution which has to be faced with a patience that involves being true to the self one has discovered through faith. Despite the legal and spiritual persecution and exile Gülen has faced, he concludes "We are going to respect our character... As a believer, I promise that I will never shun any person, and I will not persecute those who have transgressed against me" (184). Approaching the topic from another angle, Douglas Pratt examines the historical "baggage" in Muslim-Jewish-Christian relations and some of the ways in which Gülen seeks to surmount it. I would have welcomed more attention to the persistent discursive patterns that mark that history. However, central to the notion of dialogue is acceptance that the supreme greatness of God cannot be captured in words and that truth blossoms and its implications become clear in an ongoing process of awed interpretation. For People of the Book, "The 'book' is ever a text requiring interpretive understanding and application" (203). Felicitously, the final chapter in this section has a strong emphasis on the hermeneutic. David B Capes places the thinking of the American Baptist, A J Conyers in dialogue with Gülen. Conyers critiques "the modern, secular doctrine of tolerance" in attempting to reclaim "the practice of Christian tolerance based upon humility, hospitality and . . . the incarnation" (207). At the same time, he explicitly recognizes the affinities between Christians and those of other faiths, including specifically "the Sufi mystics of Islam," in this practice (not doctrine) of tolerance (209). Capes concludes with the observation that whileGülen is specific about forgiveness, there seems to be no explicit discussion of it in Conyers. Of course, Gülen's "the road to forgiveness passes through the act of forgiving" (221) is strikingly resonant with "forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us" in the Lord's Prayer. Capes concludes that the difference in the contexts in which the two theologians worked accounts for this apparent gap, implicitly emphasizing the need to interpret contextually.

Part four looks at the practice arising from this rich understanding of Islam. The five sets of initiatives discussed are a sample of the hundreds of innovative Gülen Movement ventures undertaken worldwide. All are undertaken by volunteers who seek to serve in lands or regions faced with conflict and very difficult social adjustment. In Gülen's words, "Holy people" carry the "new atmosphere, new understandings and dialogue" around the world, creating "islands of peace for stability and harmony" (181). What is most remarkable to me is the humility and rigor with which the volunteers "read" the local situation to determine how best to engage with it.

Modern Cambodia, recovering from more than two decades of traumatic instability, is a striking example. The situation of the minority Cham Muslim group, impoverished, hostile to public education as assimilatory, with religious education usually separated from life needs, and a high level of illiteracy in Khmer, complicates recovery. Philipp Bruckmayr shows Gülen Movement participants supporting Cambodian NGOs which promote "the acquisition of secular knowledge" within the context of faith, and offer practical support to the Chams (234f). The emphasis on "common values rather than differences" is reflected in translation of seminal works on Islam and in cooperation and dialogue with Buddhists (235). More characteristically Gülenian is the Zaman International School of Phnom Penh, which offers excellent secular schooling within a spiritually sensitive context, and has no assimilationist motives (245).

Jonathan Lacey discusses the Turkish Irish Educational and Cultural Society, a Gülenian group in a country with a tiny, fragmented and fractious Islamic minority. It emphasizes dialogue, supports conferences, and shows hospitality in annual iftar dinners during Ramadan, but most strikingly its members accept full, responsible citizenship: "[T]hey have no intention of assimilating, but instead intend to integrate" (263). It is a vital distinction.

The importance of civil society is emphasized by Mehmet Kalyoncu. He looks at the ways in which Turks, Kurds, Arabs and Assyrian Christians have been mobilized by the Gülen Movement in Mardin "to cooperate in tackling their common problems" (275). The Gülenian school there is also a community focus, and helps build civil society organizations. The focus shifts to initiatives in Kenya and the Philippines, again based on schools which bring together the children of parties in conflict, and provide a platform for addressing local needs.

The role of the Gülen Movement in predominantly Muslim South East Asian societies where there is strong sectarianism and a divisive politicization of religion is explored by Mohamed Nawab bin Mohamed Osman. The fact that the volunteers are driven by a sense of duty to serve in places in great need underlines the appropriateness of the Turkish name of the Movement: hizmet or "service to humanity." The service in Singapore and Indonesia involves dialogue and education with a strong emphasis on honoring and using local customs, as in the Halalbihalal ceremony in Indonesia to bring conflicted groups together in an atmosphere of trust and hospitality.

The final essay by Harun Akyol puts the Movement's credentials to the acid test in the multiple conflict zone of northern Iraq. Fifteen successful schools and a university have been established to provide a base for thinking and interacting differently.

This book, bringing together key papers from three conferences, offers refreshingly varied, critically nuanced views of Gülen's thinking and shows the profound impact hizmet has had on particular individuals and societies.

* Emeritus Professor of English and retired Pro-Vice-Chancellor of the University of the Western Cape, South Africa.

Published on The Fountain Magazine, January-February 2011 issue

See also:

And Rumi Forum sites:

Friday, December 31, 2010

MEDIA - The New Republic: The Global Imam

The New Republic recently published a feature article by Suzy Hansen titled The Global Imam on Rumi Forum's Honorary President, Fethullah Gulen. Excerpts are below:

The Global Imam
by Suzy Hansen, The New Republic December 2, 2010

THE LEADER OF what is arguably the world’s most successful Islamic movement lives in a tiny Pennsylvania town called Saylorsburg, at the Golden Generation Worship and Retreat Center, otherwise known as “the Camp.” The Camp consists of a series of houses, a community center, a pond, and some tranquil, woodsy space for strolling. From this Poconos enclave--which resembles a resort more than the headquarters of a worldwide religious, social, and political movement--Fethullah Gülen, a 69-year-old Turkish bachelor with a white moustache, wide nose, and gentle, sad expression, leads perhaps five million followers who, in his spirit if not his name, operate schools, universities, corporations, nonprofits, and media organs around the globe.

Last spring, I visited the center and was warmly shepherded around by Bekir Aksoy, the president of the Camp. Just past a checkpoint, a portly Turkish man in a “Sopranos”-esque tracksuit was stretching, preparing for a jog. Along a road leading to the pond, we encountered a group composed mostly of Turkish men who had come from Japan to see Hocaefendi, as Gülen is respectfully called by his followers; they had been escorted onto the premises by a Columbia University student in a white Mercedes. The guest of honor for the day was a professor from the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. He was fishing for trout...

...Gülen’s views are moderate and modern. He is fiercely opposed to violence and enthusiastic about science. According to Gülen, “avoiding the physical sciences due to the fear that they will lead to heresy is childish.” He is emphatically not a radical Islamist. “The lesser jihad is our active fulfillment of Islam’s commands and duties,” he has written, and “the greater jihad is proclaiming war on our ego’s destructive and negative emotions and thoughts ... which prevent us from attaining perfection.” ....... His followers run nonprofit organizations that promote peace, tolerance, and interfaith dialogue, and Gülenist businessmen devote their resources to building secular schools.

It’s no surprise, then, that Gülen has many admirers in the West. “It’s a civic movement,” says Islam scholar John Esposito, one of many American academics who praise the Gülenists. “It’s an alternative elite within Turkish society, as in many Muslim societies, that can be modern, educated, and successful, but also religiously minded.” Particularly after September 11, Gülen’s movement had a lot of appeal in the United States, which was suddenly desperate for “good Muslims.” “It was 2003, two years after 9/11; we were just in the beginning of the Iraq war, and here’s this ecumenical Muslim movement that seems to be open to modernity and science and is focused on education,” said one senior U.S. government official who has had dealings with Gülenists. “It seemed almost too good to be true.”...

With the help of Turkish businessmen, Gülen began building dorms, or “lighthouses.” At the time, Turkey was urbanizing at a breakneck pace. Country kids often floundered, socially and financially, when they moved to the big cities. The “lighthouses” provided a religious community for these young people, one that offered help with academics and didn’t, say, watch porn or get carried away with leftist causes.

Within these safe havens, the Gülen movement introduced the pious to the possibilities of modern life. “My father was a teacher in a primary school. His father was a stonecutter,” says Kerim Balcı, a journalist who works for the newspaper Zaman, which is owned by Gülenists and claims to have the largest readership in Turkey. “And here I am a Ph.D. student, columnist, and academician probably earning my father’s yearly salary in a month.” Balcı’s life story--he hails from the small Black Sea city of Samsun, yet went on to receive his master’s from a university in Israel and is working toward his Ph.D. from Durham University in Britain--echoes the trajectory of many middle-aged Gülen followers from conservative families. The Turkish state had been founded on the notion that modernity meant rejection of religion--and, for a long time, it was dominated by a military and a political class that enforced this ideal, sometimes harshly. Gülen suggested there was an alternative path. “It may be possible to be both religious and a TV commentator,” Balcı says....

....Even as the movement has sprouted numerous organizations and companies, the schools have remained at the center of the Gülen orbit. Starting with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Gülen dispatched his students to the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, where he rightly suspected that they might find some post-communist youths in need of religion. But it is not just Central Asia that hosts Gülen schools. They also exist in far-flung Muslim countries like Indonesia, Sudan, and Pakistan, as well as mostly non-Muslim countries like Mexico and Japan. In total, according to Ebaugh, Gülenists operate over 1,000 explicitly secular schools and universities in more than 100 countries. They emphasize science and technology, teach the Turkish language, and, by many accounts, are very good schools. Gülenist businessmen build these institutions and sponsor scholarships to them. Whenever you ask who’s funding anything, Gülenists reply “a group of Turkish businessmen,” “a Turkish businessman,” “a Turkish-American businessman,” or “our Turkish friends.”

When I recently visited Afghanistan, I was surprised to learn that Turks had been operating schools there since the ’90s, even during the Taliban era. They currently have schools not just in Kabul, but in Mazar-e-Sharif, Herat, Shebhergan, and Kandahar. Behind the lovely painted-pink school in Kabul were dorms where kids from all over the country sat outside, some of them eager to say hello in English. Every Afghan I spoke to in Kabul, from politicians to cooks, told me that “the Turkish school” was the best in the city. As we left the premises, the teachers gave my Afghan translator some books by Fethullah Gülen....[continues]

SUGGESTED MEDIA LINKS on FETHULLAH GULEN
http://rumiforum.blogspot.com/2010/09/rumi-forum-suggested-links-has-been.html

SEE ALSO BELOW ARTICLES BY FETHULLAH GULEN
The Necessity of Interfaith Dialogue
A Movement Originating Its Own Models
Mevlana Jalal al-Din Rumi
Sufism And Its Origins

FULL ARTICLE TEXT:http://fethullah-gulen.idcnj.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=207:the-global-imam&catid=83:op-eds&Itemid=199

ORIGINAL SOURCE:http://www.tnr.com/article/world/magazine/79062/global-turkey-imam-fethullah-gulen

Thursday, November 25, 2010

MEDIA - John Esposito: It sets an example in that it (Gulen Movement) is very global and pluralistic

Ebru TV interviews Dr John Esposito and Dr Robert Pape at the recent Gulen Conference in Chicago
Full interview below
Supporters Gather Over Gulen Movement
Scholars from around the world gathered for a conference in Chicago to talk about the Gulen movement and Fethullah Gulen. Organizers say the meeting was necessary because fear and hatred continue to influence public opinion and there is a need to focus on people and groups that promote peace and understanding.

Speakers from 26 different countries addressed the international conference.

It began with a keynote speech by John Esposito, who recently co-edited a book titled “Islam and Peacebuilding: Gülen Movement Initiatives.”

Also on hand was Thomas Michel of the Vatican, who focused on the two core values of the Gulen movement -- worship and servanthood to God

Meanwhile, the legendary scholar of religious studies Martin Marty suggested in his presentation that “the Gülen example helps relate moderate Islam to others....

WATCH INTERVIEW :
http://news.ebru.tv/en/USA/17417.html

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

John L. Esposito and Ihsan Yilmaz book on Fethullah Gulen and movement - amongst other books that are a must read to understand such a global civic and social movement involved in peace building and education

The Rumi Forum is part of a global civic movement motivated by the ideas of Fethullah Gulen. Though global in nature through various types of organizations - including schools, dialogue centers, media, health and welfare organization - little is know of the movement or the ideas of Fethullah Gulen. Some new books both by Gulen and about Gulen (and the movement) are mentioned below to acquaint you with Gulen's ideas.

Each of these book are a must to better understand the contributions of an important civic movement on the global scale...

NEWSEST BOOK by John Esposito:

Amazon.com: Islam and Peacebuilding: Gulen Movement Initiatives (9781935295075): John L. Esposito, Ihsan Yilmaz: Books

The exploration of the contributions is made with regards to the title in hand by the thought and practice of the global movement associated with the Turkish Muslim scholar Fethullah Gulen. The importance and distinctiveness of teaching of Gulen and the practice of the movement is that it is rooted in a confident Turkish Islamic heritage while being fully engaged with modernity. It offers the possibility of a contextualised renewal of Islam for Muslims in the modern world while being fully rooted in the teachings of the Qu'ran and the Sunnah of the Prophet. It advocates the freedom of religion while making an Islamic contribution to the wider society based on a commitment to service of others.

Amazon.com: Key Concepts in the Practice of Sufism Vol.4 (Emerald Hills of the Heart) (9781597842136): Fethullah Gulen: Books

Concluding a textually long but spiritually endless journey toward insan al-kamil?the perfect human?this fourth volume approaches Sufism through the middle way, an approach that revives the legacy of the Prophet Muhammad. With an awareness of the social realities of the 21st century, concepts such as tranquility, the truth of divinity, life beyond the physical realm, the preserved tablet, the glorified attributes, and the beautiful names are delicately explained. (3 previous volumes are also available)

Amazon.com: The Gulen Movement: Civic Service without Borders (9781935295082): Muhammed Cetin: Books

This book seeks to develop an appropriate discourse for studying the Gulen Movement and phenomena like it. The established discourse concerns itself with social movements as protest, as challenge to the System, as contentious actors looking to alter or even overturn existing structures and/or policies in some field, usually political or economic. Approaching the matter from social movement theory and taking an insider's perspective, the author argues that the Gulen Movement is, as it has always been, non-contentious' it is not a marginalized actor working on the System from the outside. On the contrary, it has always worked within the System - within the boundaries of the laws and public norms that obtain in the different local and national settings where it has set up institutions.

Amazon.com: Toward a Global Civilization of Love and Tolerance (9781932099683): M. Fethullah Gülen: Books

This book has a double purpose. On the one hand, it is a call to Muslims to a greater awareness that Islam teaches the need for dialogue and that Muslims are called to be agents and witnesses to God's universal mercy. On the other hand, the book is an invitation to non-Muslims to move beyond prejudice, suspicion, and half-truths in order to arrive at an understanding what Islam is really about.

Amazon.com: A Dialogue of Civilizations (9781597841108): Jill Carroll: Books

Writer Carroll states in the introduction that prior to a trip she made late in 2004 she was unaware that the organizers of the Institute for Interfaith Dialog based in Houston, Texas as well as the organizers of the trip itself were members of a community of people inspired by the notions of Fethullh Gulen, a Turkish Islamic scholar. Reading further we find Carroll's intent in this book is to 'place the ideas of Fethullh Gulen into the context of the larger humanities. Chapter titles are 1: Gulen and Kant on Inherent Human Value and Moral Dignity, 2: Gulen and Mill on Freedom, 3: Gulen, Confucius, and Plato on the Human Ideal, 4: Gulen, Confucius, and Plato on Education, 5: Gulen and Sartre on Responsibility. Kant's belief was that humans have inherent value, Gulen spoke of the transcendent value of human beings. Mills' assertions that the tyranny of the majority must be met head long was presented from his viewpoint of the nineteenth century Briton. Gulen avows that 'freedom allows people to do whatever they want, provided they do not harm others and they remain wholly devoted to the truth.' A Dialogue of Civilizations: Gulen's Islamic Ideals and Humanistic Discourse presents the query 'what is the level of resonance between Islam and the West?' That the twenty-first century has become an episode of heretofore unnoticed quandary is obvious. Up until 9-1-1 few worldwide really gave much thought to anything other than their own viewpoint. Writer Carroll finds significance can be gleaned an awareness of the theoretically divergent views of Gulen, Turkish Muslim scholar and those of Immanuel Kant, Confucius, Plato, John Stuart Mill, and Jean Paul Sartre regarding critical hypothesis including intrinsic ethical pride, creature significance, learning, autonomy, and accountability. The reader may be surprised to find out these figures who are separated by centuries in time, as well as oceans or continents have a propensity toward speaking the same language.

Writer Carroll's attentive writing style has produced a judicious and timely work, she is knowledgeable, presents her thesis in readable manner and holds reader interest. Not for everyone, if you are looking for a lighthearted, 'story' book for a quick afternoon read A Dialogue of Civilizations: Gulen's Islamic Ideals and Humanistic Discourse is not that book. If you would like to learn a little more about Gulen and his notions of education and dialog then A Dialogue of Civilizations: Gulen's Islamic Ideals and Humanistic Discourse will prove an eye-opening read.

Educational read, happy to recommend for those who are hoping to learn something of an interesting thesis. -- Midwest Book Review

More books on Fethullah Gulen:
Amazon.com: English - fethullah gulen: Books

Fethullah Gulen inspired dialogue