This book is not a comprehensive study of Rumi and Gülen, but it seeks to explore the places where the thought of the one is echoed in the thinking of the other, either overtly or indirectly —and to note ways in which the opposite is true: that Gülen diverges from Rumi. The book is also seeking to suggest some of the larger contexts in which the thinking of both resides. Given the wide-ranging aspects of their respective writings, it should not be surprising if, minimally, we can find important foundation stones in both philosophy and theology in the edifices that they each construct.
Showing posts with label ori soltes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ori soltes. Show all posts
Friday, May 3, 2013
NEW BOOK: Embracing the World: Fethullah Gulen's Thought and Its Relationship with Jelaluddin Rumi and Others by Dr Ori Soltes
This book is not a comprehensive study of Rumi and Gülen, but it seeks to explore the places where the thought of the one is echoed in the thinking of the other, either overtly or indirectly —and to note ways in which the opposite is true: that Gülen diverges from Rumi. The book is also seeking to suggest some of the larger contexts in which the thinking of both resides. Given the wide-ranging aspects of their respective writings, it should not be surprising if, minimally, we can find important foundation stones in both philosophy and theology in the edifices that they each construct.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Ori Soltes speaks on Historic Ottoman Exhibition - The Art of Living Together"
Summary
Come see how the Ottomans were able to cohesively and harmoniously live and provide sanctity to their minorities. In a first for Washington DC, Rumi Forum has organized re-prints of Ottoman Decrees regarding their Armenian, Jewish and Greek minorities dating back 550 years, also including documents and letters outlining the transatlantic relations between North America and the Ottoman state.A total of 25 documents are present in this exhibition. All re-prints of original documents from the Ottoman archives with both English and Turkish translation.
WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW
Come see how the Ottomans were able to cohesively and harmoniously live and provide sanctity to their minorities. In a first for Washington DC, Rumi Forum has organized re-prints of Ottoman Decrees regarding their Armenian, Jewish and Greek minorities dating back 550 years, also including documents and letters outlining the transatlantic relations between North America and the Ottoman state.A total of 25 documents are present in this exhibition. All re-prints of original documents from the Ottoman archives with both English and Turkish translation.
WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW
Sunday, January 16, 2011
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 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.
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.
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
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”.”
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
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
READ FULL ARTICLE AND REFERENCES:
http://www.fethullah-gulen.org/op-ed/gulen-going-green.html
RECOMMENDED WEB SITES
http://rumiforum.blogspot.com/2010/09/rumi-forum-suggested-links-has-been.html
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.”6Dr. 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
RECOMMENDED WEB SITES
http://rumiforum.blogspot.com/2010/09/rumi-forum-suggested-links-has-been.html
Saturday, December 4, 2010
VIDEOS - talks from the 2010 Peace and Dialogue Awards
The Rumi Forum was again honored in hosting numerous friends and guests as the 4th Annual Peace and Dialogue Awards reached each of the awardees. Details of the awards at these links.
TELEVISION NEWS ; NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ; PHOTOS
Below you will find the talks presented by various awardees and their introductions and some introductory and concluding remarks - each set of remarks reflects the importance of the individuals and their contribution to a more peaceful and inclusive society, and this is at foundation of all of Rumi Forum's work.
TELEVISION NEWS ; NEWSPAPER ARTICLE ; PHOTOS
Below you will find the talks presented by various awardees and their introductions and some introductory and concluding remarks - each set of remarks reflects the importance of the individuals and their contribution to a more peaceful and inclusive society, and this is at foundation of all of Rumi Forum's work.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Full Video of our 2010 Rumi Peace and Dialogue Awards ready for viewing
The Rumi Forum presented its 2010 RUMI Peace and Dialogue Awards at the dinner and ceremony held in the National Press Club. At the ceremony, extraordinary individuals and organizations who have greatly contributed their time, energy, leadership and dedication to the cause of dialogue, peace, community service and understanding were
awarded.
awarded.
Tuesday, 26th October 2010
at 6:30 p.m.
National Press Club
Washington, DC
Washington, DC
Thursday, October 28, 2010
National Press Club - Rumi Forum bestows Peace and Dialogue Awards
The Rumi Forum held its 4th Annual PEACE AND DIALOGUE AWARDS at the National Press Club yesterday evening in Washington DC. Below is an article describing the event and some notable words from the numerous guests and awardees.
Photos from the evening will soon be posted on our Rumi Forum Picasa site - STAY TUNED !
Rumi Forum bestows Peace and Dialogue Awards
Photos from the evening will soon be posted on our Rumi Forum Picasa site - STAY TUNED !
Rumi Forum bestows Peace and Dialogue Awards
The Rumi Forum, a think tank established by Turks living in Washington, D.C., to foster intercultural dialogue, has presented its traditional Peace and Dialogue Awards.
Ken Bedell receiving the awards on behalf of Secretary of Education - Arne Duncan
The 2010 Rumi Peace and Dialogue Awards ceremony was held on Tuesday at the National Press Club's Ballroom in Washington, D.C. The think thank gave awards to extraordinary individuals and organizations who have contributed much of their time, energy, leadership and dedication to the causes of dialogue, understanding, peace and community service.
The think tank honored US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan with the Extraordinary Commitment to Education Award. Ken Bedell, a senior adviser of the US Department of Education's Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnership Center, received the award on Duncan's behalf and read out an acceptance message in which Duncan said: “I'm humbled. We still have a long way to go to ensure that our schools are not only safe but also centers of peace. The Rumi Forum is an important partner in our shared work of creating a safe environment by promoting interfaith dialogue where we can all come to a better understanding of each other.”
Bedell also delivered a speech while receiving the award. “At the Department of Education we don't deal with the really big issues of world peace. We deal with the really big issues of making our schools a place at which American children are not only safe but learn to grow academically, learn to grow with each other. [Honorary chairman of the forum and an Islamic scholar] Fethullah Gülen put it extremely well when he said: ‘In schools good manners should be considered just as important as other subjects. If they are not, how can children grow up with sound character? Education is different from teaching.' That's what we believe at the Department of Education. Good manners are different from teaching,” he said.
The Rumi Forum awarded Eleanor Holmes Norton, congresswoman for the District of Columbia, with the Congressional Service Award. “Your mission of improving interfaith and intercultural dialogue makes me want to bring you to the Congress of the United States. I regard the award you've been kind enough to give me as one I can accept only as an inspiration to take back the spirit of [13th century poet and Islamic scholar Mevlana Jelaluddin] Rumi to the House, where I serve,” Norton said in her speech.
Image via Wikipedia
Professor Ori Soltes from Georgetown University also delivered a speech during the award ceremony in which he made references to philosophy. “Gülen is both a student of Socrates and Plato and a student of Rumi, someone who spent a lifetime trying to negotiate a territory of genuine dialogue of listening, not just speaking, and working together across denominational lines, be they religious, ethnic, national or racial -- all kinds of lines into which we humans tend to carve ourselves up, both really and artificially. Gülen is very much a child of the idea of speaking across lines. The idea that underlies the Gülen movement is an idea not only about talking but action. The Gülen movement is hizmet [service]. It's about action,” he said.
The Rumi Forum was founded in 1999 with the mission to foster interfaith and intercultural dialogue, stimulate thinking and the exchange of opinions on supporting and fostering democracy and peace the world over, and to provide a common platform for education and information exchange. The Rumi Forum endeavors to foster the noble ideals of Rumi, bringing people and ideas together for a more peaceful coexistence.
Image via Wikipedia
28 October 2010, Thursday
ALİ H. ASLAN WASHINGTON, D.C.
FULL ARTICLE:Rumi Forum bestows Peace and Dialogue Awards
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)