Hizmet’s core teachings and the values and activism they underpin are diametrically opposed to and mutually exclusive with those associated with violent extremism; therefore the stronger one grows the weaker the other becomes. Accordingly, the goal of defeating extremism is made to ensue without being directly pursued, ensuring it avoids the pitfalls associated with being reactive, as discussed above.
Fethullah Gülen’s (and Gülen movement’s) position on violent extremism is based on a comprehensive, thorough and robust understanding and reading of the spirit and teachings of Islam’s primary sources, the Qur’an and Sunna – the same foundations on which its core teachings are based.
Gülen’s cultural outlook, furthermore, emerges from a basic Sunni orientation. While he strongly advocates tolerance, he also displays some ambivalence towards the force of Persian nationalism which is often cloaked in a Shi’ite framework. He was understandably uncomfortable with the often extremist and confrontationalist views expressed by the former Iranian president Ahmadinejad which he believed were dangerously provocative towards the West and to the overall detriment of the image of Islam.
The Hizmet movement, also known as the Gulen movement, proactively supported the EU democratization packages as well as the overall framework of reformist attitudes toward the Kurdish issue. For example, as a part of the Abant Platform initiative, Hizmet volunteers organized two major conferences on the Kurdish issue to promote liberal and reformist perspectives, even preceding the “Kurdish Opening” of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.
The development of the Gülen movement, also known as the Hizmet movement, in Kurdish-populated cities goes back to the late 1980s. The first Hizmet institutions were university exam prep centers (dershane) in Diyarbakir and Urfa in 1988. Hizmet’s educational initiatives were financed by local businessmen, who developed friendship ties through weekly tea conversations (sohbet). Hizmet’s charity activism is aimed at removing prejudices in both Turkish and Kurdish constituencies, and accordingly, building social trust in the long run.
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 or her senses and faculties are employed in the way of God, which means that the traveler can now begin to live on a spiritual level.
Just as it is not correct to ascribe the initiatives made with the name of the Hizmet movement solely to the effort of one group of people, it is equally not correct to attribute it to individual persons in a group either. Those whose contribution is most visible is nothing but a work of Divine destiny. Thus, names of individuals should never be brought to the fore when evaluating the efforts. Rather, it is necessary to…
The common characteristics of Turkish school students, as frequently stated by all the participants, are being well-bred, hard working, honest, goal oriented, self-disciplined and rational individuals who appreciate the modern way of living. As is mentioned by Weber, these characteristics seem to reflect the values of Puritanism which played an important role in the development of capitalism in the USA, because these moral values and belonging to such a group were assets in the market economy.
In addition, Fethullah Gülen is critical of the instrumentalization of religion in politics, and has no direct participation in party politics because the modern world exists in a pluralistic experience rather than within an assumed homogeneity of truth. He is against those who have created a negative image of Islam by reducing Islam to an ideology. Through words and deeds he underlines the distinction between Islam, a religion, and Islamism, a profoundly radical political ideology that seeks to replace existing states and political structures, either through revolutionary or evolutionary means.
The Civil Islam of Hizmet once more verifies the movement’s anti-Islamist stance. The politicization of Islam is a dangerous path, one that could lead to totalitarian control of the state by giving ambitious men the religious license they seek to undermine the civil society and the separation of government powers that constrains them. If Turkey is to pull back from its current drift toward Islamist autocracy, then its citizens will need to resist the instrumentalization of religion for worldly power and demonstrate the compatibility of Islam with civil democratic modernity.