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

Response to CBS's 60 Minutes



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

CHURCHES TOGETHER IN ENGLAND: The Gülen Movement: pioneers of interfaith dialogue

The most populous Muslim presence in the UK has its roots in the Indian subcontinent, and the nature of Islam in Pakistan, especially, has coloured British understanding of and approaches to Islam. This is to ignore the diversity of Islam, not only theological, but also cultural and geographical.

Fethullah Gülen: An Islamic sign of hope for an inclusive Europe by Paul Weller

As Europe heads deeper into economic recession, political crises and loss of social equilibrium, an increasingly diverse continent faces potentially serious challenges to cohesion, justice and equity.

The Europe of history, rather than of ideology, has always been a context for religious and cultural diversity, with a longstanding and substantial presence of Jews and Muslims, as well as Christians. But there have also always been ideological attempts to deny and/or destroy that diversity. This began when pre-Christian pagan traditions were replaced with Christianity --often (though not always) by means of force. It continued when the flowering of Christian, Jewish and Muslim culture in the Iberian Peninsula was rolled back by the advance of a militant Catholicism that could not countenance the peaceful coexistence in a single geographical space of the three “Peoples of the Book.” Within living memory there was industrialized genocide and the attempted liquidation of the Jews in Europe under the aegis of Nazi Germany and its collaborators, while in the 20th century there were the attempts at “ethnic cleansing” of Muslims in the Balkans. Finally, among those claiming to act in the name of Islam against the actions (Afghanistan and Iraq) and inactions (Palestine) of “the West,” there have been the bombings in Madrid (2004) and in London (2005). Living with diversity Against this background, and bearing in mind that social crises can all too easily follow from economic and political ones, it is critically important for the Europe of the coming decades to find a way to live at ease with its diversity. In particular, this means overcoming the worrying developments of Islamophobic scapegoating that can be observed in some countries and that will end only in suffering for Muslim minorities and a cultural impoverishment for all. Muslims form the largest religious minority in Europe. A substantial proportion of these are of Turkish ethnic background, and Turkey is a majority Muslim state that is in a “special relationship” with the European Union. Because of these factors, and in the context outlined above, an important sign of hope for the future of an inclusive Europe comes from the teaching of the Turkish Muslim scholar Fethullah Gulen, who is currently resident in the US, as well as from the civil society initiatives found across Europe that have been inspired by his teaching. Akbar Ahmed, the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at the American University in Washington, D.C., and former Pakistani high commissioner in the UK, identified Gülen as a key “role model” for contemporary Muslims. In Ahmed’s book “Journey Into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization” (Brookings Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 2007), which was written on the basis of anthropological fieldwork and questionnaire results, Gülen is identified as one of the most influential Turkish Islamic figures of his generation. Gülen’s influence among Muslims comes first and foremost from the fact that his teaching is thoroughly Islamic, being rooted in a deep and profound engagement with classical Islamic scholarship. He is therefore not a “reformist” in any sense that might make traditionalist Muslims suspicious that he is selling out the distinctiveness of Islam. Knowledge in a contemporary context While “traditional,” Gülen is himself not “traditionalist.” For example, in his native Turkey he recommended the building of more schools before the building of any more mosques. In doing so he was taking the traditional Islamic theme of the importance of knowledge, or ilm, and translating it into the contemporary context, resulting in over a thousand schools being founded throughout the world by those inspired by his teaching. As well as being properly traditional, Gülen’s teaching is also informed by a Sufi Muslim heritage that, while rooted in the distinctiveness of Islam, is ready to identify goodness wherever it is found. This is the approach of the 13th century Muslim mystic Jalal al-Din Rumi, reflected in his famous saying that “one of my feet is in the center and the other is in 72 realms [i.e. in the realm of all nations] like a compass.” Of this, in his important book “Towards a Global Civilization of Love and Tolerance” (The Light, 2004), Gülen said of Rumi that “he drew a broad circle that encompassed all believers.” Thus many of the organizations inspired by Gülen’s teaching are committed to the promotion of dialogue with Christians, Jews and people of other religious faiths. As an example of this, it should be noted that the Gülen-inspired popular magazine called The Fountain has opened its pages to Christian authors to, among other things, provide an exposition of key texts in the Christian scriptures. This openness towards providing a platform for voices from other religions within a magazine that is primarily read by faithful Muslims is indicative also of an even wider spirit of inclusivity that stretches to embrace not only those of other religious faiths, but also those of no faith. For example, the Dialogue Society in London, which is inspired by Gülen’s teaching, has more atheist and agnostic members of its Advisory Board than it has Muslims. Importantly, Gülen’s Islamic teaching and practice was developed in the forge of Turkey’s 20th century project to create a secular state, as initiated by the Turkish nationalist revolution of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. That project became an ideologically “secularist” one, locked in symbiotic conflict with an “Islamist” reaction. So, arising from that context, Gülen has criticized a politics rooted in a philosophically reductionist materialism. But he has also argued that Islam and democracy are compatible and he encourages greater democracy within Turkey. He also argues that a secular approach that is not anti-religious and allows for freedom of religion and belief is compatible with Islam. While especially within Turkey there are those who argue that the movement inspired by Gülen’s teaching harbors secretive aims to take over the state and to impose Islamic rule, Gülen himself has criticized the instrumentalization of Islam for political ends. In this, he insists Islam does not need an Islamic state to flourish and that the politicization of Islam will only damage the state, society and also Islam itself. Gülen has been robust and unequivocal in his condemnation of terror attacks conducted in the name of Islam. But his commitment to dialogue is not reactive to these. Rather, it is based upon the deep wells of authentic Islamic tradition rooted in the Quran and teaching and example of the Prophet Muhammad. Precisely because of this, Gülen’s teaching and the initiatives inspired by it offer a robust challenge to the terrorist appropriation of Islam. In the words of the title of a publication by the Dialogue Society in London, they offer the possibility of “Deradicalisation by Default: The ‘Dialogue’ Approach to Rooting out Violent Extremism” (Dialogue Society, London, 2009). Striving for peace and the common good In his teaching and his writing, Gülen emphasizes the importance of a shared humanity in striving for peace and the common good. He argues that we are human beings first of all, and only then Muslims, Christians, secularists or others. While to some this may seem unexceptional, it is important to understand that Gülen articulates this from an Islamic perspective. Of course, the process of translating ideals into the kind of choices that need to be made in the context of ambiguities of history is a challenging one, fraught with dangers and difficulties, and is one in which outcomes cannot at the moment be known. But how these initiatives continue to develop is likely to be of considerable importance for the future of Islam, the future of Europe and the potential geopolitical role of Turkey as a bridge between historic civilizational zones. Among the practical examples that could be cited are the Journalist and Writers’ Foundation, the Intercultural Dialogue Platform and the Dialogue Eurasia Platform -- each of which have brought people of religious and secular perspectives into dialogue together around matters of common concern. Thus Gülen and the initiatives inspired by his teaching challenge the tendency found among some Muslims groups to separatist withdrawal from the wider non-Muslim society. By contrast, they offer a basis for Muslim engagement with the wider society based upon a confident and richly textured Islamic vision. That vision also draws upon the historical wealth of a multicultural civilizational history to argue that neither Turkey nor the European Union have anything to fear, but have much to gain, from a future of full Turkish membership in the EU. In the meantime, Fethullah Gülen’s teaching and the initiatives inspired by it offer an important Islamic sign of hope for an inclusive Europe. *Paul Weller is professor of inter-religious relations at the University of Derby in the UK, and, along with İhsan Yılmaz, the editor of the forthcoming (January, 2012) book “European Muslims, Civility and Public Life: Perspectives on and From the Gülen Movement.” http://www.continuumbooks.com/books/detail.aspx?BookId=157777&SearchType=Basic

NEW BOOK - European Muslims, Civility and Public Life - Paul Weller + Ihsan Yilmaz

European Muslims, Civility and Public Life-  Perspectives On and From the Gülen Movement
edited by Paul Weller & Ihsan Yilmaz

Assessment of the influence and impact of the Islamic scholar and activist Fethullah Gülen, and those who are inspired by him, on contemporary Islam.



Description

This edited collection deals with the challenges and opportunities faced by Muslims and the wider society in Europe following the Madrid train bombings of 2003 and the London Transport attacks of 2007. The contributors explore the challenges to the concept and practice of civility in public life within a European context, and demonstrates the contributions that can be made in this regard by the thought and practice of the global movement associated with the Turkish Muslim scholar Fethullah Gülen. The importance and distinctiveness of teaching of Gülen 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 Europe while being fully rooted in the teachings of the Qu’ran and the Sunnah of the Prophet.
This volume is an important contribution to the study of the movement, which advocates the freedom of religion while making an Islamic contribution to the wider society based on a commitment to service of others.


Table of Contents

1. A Gülen Movement Overview Paul Weller & Ihsan Yilmaz \ Part I: Perspectives on Gülen on Muslim Identity and Public Life \ 2. Dialogue and Transformative Resources: Perspectives from Fethullah Gülen on Religion and Public Life Paul Weller \ 3. Modern Ideals and Muslim Identity: Harmony or Contradiction? - A Text Linguistic Analysis of the Gülen Teaching and Movement Gurkan Celik, Kate Kirk & Yusuf Alan \ 4. Turkish Muslims And Islamic Turkey: Perspectives For A New European Islamic Identity? Shanthikumar Hettiarachchi \ Part II: Civility and Integration \ 5. Civility in Islamic Activism: Towards a Better Understanding of Shared Values for Civil Society Development Wanda Krause \ 6. Reflections on European Multiculturalism, Islam and Peaceful Coexistence: Tariq Ramadan and Fethullah Gülen Erkan Toguslu \ 7. Integration of Muslims in Europe and the Gülen Movement Araxs Pashayan \ Part III: Contexts \ 8. From “New Man” to “World Citizen”: The Replication of Gülen's Renewal Vision in the Dutch Context Tineke Peppinck \ 9. The Emergence of a Neo-Communitarian Movement in the Turkish Diaspora in Europe: the Strategies of Settlement and Competition in the Gülen Movement in France and Germany Emre Demir \ 10. Gülen Movement as an Integration Mechanism for Europe’s Turkish and Muslim Community Fatih Tedik \ 11. Reflecting on the Gülen Movement’s Interfaith Dialogue Work through the Activities of NITECA, a Gülen-Inspired Society Based in Northern Ireland  Jonathan Lacey \ Part IV: Combatting Terrorism \ 12. Robustness and Civility: Themes from Fethullah Gülen as Resource and Challenge for Government, Muslims and Civil Society in the United Kingdom Paul Weller \ 13. A Suni Muslim Scholar’s Humanitarian and Religious Rejection of Violence Against Civilians Y. Alp Aslandogan & Bekir Cinar \ 14. The Work of Fethullah Gülen and The Role of Non-violence in a Time of Terror Steve Wright \ 15. Combatting Terrorism in Britain: Gülen’s Ideas Asaf Hussain \ 16. Conclusion Paul Weller & Ihsan Yilmaz \ Bibliography \ Index


Author(s)

Paul Weller is Professor of Inter-Religious Relations at the University of Derby and Visiting Fellow in the Oxford Centre for Christianity and Culture at Regent’s Park College, University of Oxford, UK.

Ihsan Yilmaz is Professor of Comparative Law, Legal Sociology, Islamic Law and Turkish Politics at the University of London, UK, and Fatih University, Istanbul, Turkey.


* ISBN: 9781441102072

272 Pages, paperback      * Also available in: hardcover

FULL DETAILS:
European Muslims, Civility and Public Life - Continuum

SEE ALSO:
http://rumiforum.blogspot.com/2010/09/rumi-forum-suggested-links-has-been.html

BOOKS ON or BY FETHULLAH GULN: