According to Fethullah Gülen, those who commit transgressions against the nation or religion to which they belong are the ones who do the most damage, because they attack it from the inside. On the contrary, one is always ready to face any challenge from a known enemy.…
It is narrated in a parable that Satan once asked God Almighty, “You forgive so many people, should my punishment and suffering not be over?” God Almighty reminded him of the first test that he failed, “Go and prostrate yourself before the grave of Adam. Then I will forgive you.” However, Satan was totally seized by his jealousy and inability to stomach Adam’s merits once again that he continued his refusal and denial. Jealousy has such a compact potential for evil that Satan threw himself headfirst into disbelief.…
Question: What is bigotry? And what are the differences between being steadfast in faith and being bigoted? Fethullah Gulen: The term “taassub” (used for “bigotry” in the English language) means evaluating matters only according to one’s own understanding without considering it from different aspects and being pertinacious even in matters that contradict reason and the essence of religion.…
It is necessary to build a bridge through dialogue between Civil Islam and the society supported by the state. When we examine in depth Fethullah Gülen's approach to issues such as the state, politics and governance, we realize that he is also opening a door to a dialogue between Civil Islam and state society.…
We are an unfortunate people who have several times been exposed to the most horrible calamities in recent centuries. During this period full of disappointments, friends have usually shown disloyalty and enemies have never tired of betraying us. The spiritual roots of the society have repeatedly been attacked and the mass of people frequently subjected to assaults from both inside and outside, and the whole nation has been shaken time after time. If a helping hand had not been given to us each time we were exposed to such calamities, we would have been thrown into one of those infernal pits and completely destroyed.…
God loves them, and they love God. They are always filled with the excitement of loving and are enraptured by the feeling of being loved. With humility and tenderness, they make themselves like the soil in which roses can grow. They are respectful to others, but also protect their honor, which is more valuable to them than this temporal life. They do not let their tolerance, compassion, and gentleness be interpreted as weakness; they live according to their beliefs and do not heed the censures or praises of people. Instead, they care only that the atlas of their thoughts not loses its color; for they have resolved to be true believers.…
It is not possible for a believer to leave the circle of good manners, courtesy and decorum because his/her every behavior will be automatically attributed to Islam. If so, then a believer with his/her behavior shaped by Islamic refinement must continue without changing in a manner that becomes a Muslim even against the most faithless hearts and cruel events. …
Traditional Islamic values of piety, social commitment, tolerance, social justice and moderation in Islam find themselves overwhelmed in the current fray of international violence, war, injustice, fanaticism, and daily hardship in the Middle East – key source of anxiety to most Muslims today. This kind of toxic environment contributes to increased insecurity, desperation, intolerance and radicalism. It is precisely these dangerous trends that the Turkey-based faith movement of Fethullah Gülen today seeks to combat.…
Hizmet institutions in contemporary Turkey achieve creative commensuration of liberal and Islamic discourses and practices. This commensuration is evident on two levels: moral-theological and institutional-sociological. Ethical concepts such as “positive action” (müspet hareket), “service” (hizmet) and “piety” (taqwa), and institutional forms such as the charitable foundation/pious endowment (vakıf) each constitute moments of synthesis between liberal and Islamic discursive traditions. …
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.…