Fethullah Gülen
Gülen pursued his secular education in positive sciences, literature, history and philosophy through informal self-education. During his military service, his commander recommended a number of major thinkers for his reading. Among the writers whose work he encountered this way were Hugo, de Balzac, Kant, Shakespeare and Einstein, and French existentialist philosophers such as Sartre and Camus, as well as Marcuse’s critique of modernity and Shakespeare’s plays. With this background, he would later develop his thoughts on reconciling modernity and spirituality through Islamic values.…
Fethullah Gülen
The world into which Gülen was born in 1941 was one where, in his country of birth, the Ottoman reality with a staunchly proclaimed declaration of complete religious freedom had been succeeded by a secular republic in which religion would play absolutely no role within the administration of the state and religious practice was suppressed in the public sphere.…
Democracy, Fethullah Gülen, Gülen movement
Although there are no legal obstacles for my return to Turkey, I am concerned that certain circles are waiting for an opportunity to reverse the democratic reforms that were started in the early 1990s and accelerated in the last decade. I have to sacrifice my intense desire to return to my homeland in the interest of both Turkey and the good work of volunteers of the (Gulen) movement around the world. …
Fethullah Gülen
M. Hakan Yavuz* The question of just who Fethullah Gülen is has vexed many. According to his own declaration, he is a stranger in his own land, a political and spiritual exile in his birthplace, as well as not fully…
Fethullah Gülen, Gülen movement
The place where Gülen lives has been a heated topic among the Turkish public given recurrent news reports that appear in dailies in an attempt to cast doubt on where the Islamic scholar, who left Turkey in 1999, resides. While…
Islam
Gülen is primarily a scholar, who, while far from establishing a Sufi order, aims to revive and combine the activism of Prophet Muhammad and his companions, the asceticism of the first generation Sufis, and the Sufi terminological knowledge and consciousness of the later Sufi scholars. This approach offers a new equilibrium within the Muslim world and promotes a peaceful and tolerant understanding of Islam coexisting peacefully with the non-Islamic communities.…
Fethullah Gülen
Doğu Ergil Fethullah Gülen (b. 1938), known as Hocaefendi (pronounced as “Hodjaefendi”) to those who respect him, was born to Ramiz Efendi and Refia Hanim in Korucuk village, Pasinler town, Erzurum province, Turkey. Due to the slow pace of village life, he…
Fethullah Gülen, Gülen movement
James Harrington Political trials have run throughout the course of human history. Often ey have intertwined themselves with religious issues, especially when the powers of “church and state” have aligned in mutual interest. In Western tradition and culture, the trials…
Education, Fethullah Gülen
Mr. Gülen’s father, from whom he learned basic elements of Islam, some Arabic and Persian, was a scholar as well as an imam. Mr. Gülen remembers him as a person who enjoyed reading books and constantly read the Qur’an, meditated daily on Prophet Muhammad and his Companions and recited poetry. He instilled this love of learning and love for the Prophet and his companions in his son. …
Education, Fethullah Gülen
Fethullah Gülen envisions a “Golden Generation”, that is well-educated in the sciences and well-rounded in moral training. The prototype of the Golden Generation is the teacher of the movement who works to bring on a “Golden Age.” The Golden Generation has the defining characteristics of faith and strong ethical values, which drive them to apply science for the benefit of humankind. …
