The commitment and hard work of teachers in Hizmet schools is a significant factor behind their academic success. Teachers are willing to work harder and for longer hours than their counterparts in other schools, and are not paid any more to do so. This willingness is referred to internally in the [Gülen] movement as fedakarlık (self-sacrifice), and is highly prized and encouraged.
The development of the Gulen movement, or Hizmet (service), as its followers prefer to call it, in the Netherlands reflects the evolution of the Turkish community in general. Initially this largely consisted of single men who were recruited as workers in low-wage sectors of the Dutch economy.
Graham E. Fuller The Gülen movement shows great skills in the spread of its commercial and financial institutions and in the use of modern media to reach to an ever-broader audience. Its members are generally well-versed in technology, economics or business, rather than philosophy or theology. The movement publishes an excellent commercial daily, Zaman, whose […]
Probably the lack of transparency theme is the one that might seem to garner most traction. However, given that prosecutors have twice attempted to shut down all Gülen-related entities and even seize their assets, the wisest course—for self-defense—is not to formalize an organizational structure in any sense.
Gulen argues that the main purpose of religions is to bridge, to unify humanity on the path to virtue, not to divide it. However, he realizes that each faith system has its own traditions, and interfaith dialogue should not aim to reduce this diversity into a single belief system.
Dogu Ergil Fethullah Gülen and his assistants have a long list of successes, ranging from sports to the Scientific Olympiads. The students of our schools abroad, in addition to winning the first places in the tests and contests held at the national level in their respective countries, and in many International Olympiads held at different […]
The actions and attitudes of your interlocutors affect your views and expressions. During the interfaith dialogue process of the 1990s, I had a chance to get to know practitioners of non-Muslim faiths better, and I felt a need to revise my expressions from earlier periods.
Democracy Gülen recognizes democracy as the only viable political system of governance. He denounces turning religion into a political ideology, while encouraging all citizens to take an informed and responsible part in political life of their country. He stresses the flexibilities in the Islamic principles relating to governance and their compatibility with a true democracy […]
One of the crowning achievements of Gülen in his activism was the establishment of the tripartite educator–parent–sponsor relationship. As his approach entailed serving the whole community, Gülen persuaded parents who were paying tuition and the business owners supporting the schools that the educational opportunities offered to the financially-able families needed to be extended to the economically disadvantaged.
Is the Gulen Movement an alternative to the state? Fethullah Gulen: “The state is an important institution for the nation. The worst government is better than having no government at all.” I repeated these maybe 30 times: Not accepting the state is the source of anarchy. If you want to do something positive by any means, in the end you have to lean on a state.