Draft:Fethullah Gülen

Fethullah Gülen
Name	Fethullah Gülen
Other Names	{{{other_names}}}
Personal Details
Birth Place	Turkey
Brith Date	1941 CE
Death Place	America
Death Date	2024 CE
Religion	Islam

Mohammad Fethullah Gülen was the leader of the Gülen movement. He was a preacher, writer, and claimant of expertise in moral sciences and theology. He was from Turkey, but lived in the United States. Fethullah Gülen's thoughts and ideas, as well as his life and actions, have been a subject of discussion for media and educational institutions for several years, and the value of institutions affiliated with him is worth billions of dollars. Schools established in his name are active in 150 countries worldwide. A movement known as Hizmet (Service) presents his thoughts and ideas in an organized framework and is responsible for guiding and organizing financial, cultural, and educational institutions. In 2012 CE, Time magazine included his name among the 100 most influential people in the world.

Biography

Mohammad Fethullah Gülen, preacher, writer, and instructor of moral sciences and theology in Turkey, was born in 1941, or according to some accounts 1938, in the village of "Korucuk" in Pasinler, Erzurum Province, Turkey. His father, Ramiz Efendi, was a mosque imam, and his mother, Mrs. Rafia, was a homemaker.

Gülen completed his elementary education from 1946 to 1950 and secondary education from 1950 to 1958 at Korşunlu School in Erzurum and other schools there. In 1956, through Mulla Mohammad Kirkinci, he became familiar with the Nur Movement and its students. He completed his jurisprudence education, which he had begun in 1956 (corrected from 1856) with Mulla Osman Bektash, in late 1958, and in 1958 received preaching permission from the Presidency of Religious Affairs.

Founding of Associations

In 1969, Gülen established the "Bidayah" (Awakening) and "Aydinlar" (Intellectuals) associations and expanded his activities. Zaman newspaper began publishing Gülen's articles and poems from October 1991, publishing his articles weekly in a separate section titled "Academy". During his education in religious schools, Gülen became familiar with Nursi's thoughts and as an active member of the community of his followers, remained with this community until the 1980s, after which he decided to create an independent organization for himself. After nurturing his intellectual foundations with sciences, rituals, and Nursi's works, to answer the questions of the modern world and communicate correctly with it, following his master Bediüzzaman, he turned to learning modern sciences such as philosophy, literature, history, physics, chemistry, biology, and astronomy. Completion of Gülen's religious education under prominent masters of the Sufi school caused him to be appointed as the imam of the mosque in Edirne city in northwestern Turkey near the Greek border in 1959 by the Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) of Turkey, and in 1966, as the preacher of Izmir city, the third largest city in Turkey, to continue his religious activities. In 1963, Gülen also began a series of lessons on Rumi's works in Erzurum, and concurrently with participating in anti-communist gatherings and attracting university students, he aroused the anger of secular authoritarians. These actions caused him to be imprisoned for 7 months after the 1970 military coup and released from prison with a commitment not to speak again. He realized that due to the non-religious policies of the government, young people were emptied of religion. Therefore, in 1975, he launched summer camps titled "Nur Camps" for low-income youth and taught religious texts and Nursi teachings. He continued cooperation with the Presidency of Religious Affairs of Turkey (Diyanet) until 1980, when he finally resigned. His speeches in the 1980s, held with the presence of hundreds of people, and their cassette tapes distributed throughout Turkey, focused on abstaining from violence, anarchism, and terrorism, and thus continued even after the September 12, 1980 coup, which led to the overthrow of the Islamist Erbakan government. A fundamental transformation in Gülen regarding religion occurred in the 1990s and after his travel to the United States in 1991 and meeting with Turkish-American academic figures there.

Travel to the United States

Gülen traveled to the United States for the first time in 1992 and stayed there for 35 days; he visited 25 states and met with Turks residing in the United States and students who were engaged in learning sciences there. Previously, he considered the United States bad and evil, but after this trip, he gradually came under the influence of the West, especially the United States. Since 1999, he has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania, United States; his residence is a 60-hectare farm said to have been purchased for $250,000 by a Turkish institution based in the United States.

Travel to Europe

In 1977, he traveled to Northern Europe and became acquainted with Turkish immigrants and invited them to the movement to preserve their religious-cultural identity through it. This trip was a turning point in Gülen's life because he succeeded in attracting Turkish immigrants in Europe to himself, and these were the ones who later formed the main members of his movement.

Thought and Viewpoint

Gülen speaks of social Islam in contrast to political Islam, and some believe he is the Turkish Martin Luther. The Islam he advocates is a mystical yet liberal interpretation of Islam, which, due to benefiting from indigenous elements of Turkish culture, is known as "Turkish Islam". His opponents describe him as a puppet, traitor, and terrorist, and Turkish state media describe him as a plutocrat who does not take orders from the West; however, his supporters describe him as a clergyman and preacher who is devout yet modern and secular.

Gülen's Line of Thought

1. Preservation and perpetuation of Islam in the new world;
2. Synthesis of Islam and Turkish nationalism (Turkish Islam or Anatolian Islam);
3. Priority of ethics and education over politics;
4. Islamized pragmatism.

Works

Some of Gülen's most important works include: From Quran to Perception (2 volumes), The Pearl Generations, Broken Plectrum, Collection of Poems, Criteria or Lights Above the Path, From Season to Season, and Emerald Hills of the Heart. His new book, which is a collection of articles and his speeches regarding war and terrorism, was compiled by his students and published under the title Muslims and Their Responsibility in Confronting Violence.

Gülen has strong feelings about his national heritage and is proud of being Turkish, constantly referring to his Turkish roots, the Ottoman history of Turkey, and the world beyond Turkey. Therefore, the Ottoman-Islamic heritage shapes Gülen's identity. Gülen's nationalism is inclusive and is not based on blood and race, but rather relies on shared historical experiences and political realities. Gülen believes that Islam is the religion of the nation and should not be reduced to having the identity of a party.

According to Gülen, Islam is not a political project to be implemented, but rather a treasury of knowledge and practice for the development of a just and moral society. Gülen is a proponent of Sufism, and in his view, Sufism is a path for the continuous evolution of the human spirit.

Gülen's goal is the Islamicization of Turkish nationalist ideology and the Turkification of Islam, simultaneously. He has declared himself a supporter of peace and civil tranquility and offers two important proposals for establishing them: tolerance and dialogue. Three principles: equality, justice, and consultation, are counted among the principles and values of Gülen's Islamic theory.

Hizmet Movement

This movement is a transnational movement that has formed under the influence of Fethullah Gülen's thoughts and currently has many supporters in Turkey, Central Asia, and other points of the world. This movement is the largest popular movement in Turkey that defends the priority of ethics over politics and emphasizes the role of education in raising a golden generation endowed with the attributes of the Prophet (peace be upon him). This community in Turkey has 3,500 educational halls, 3,864 dormitories, and more than 65,000 teachers and professors at its disposal in the educational sector. It also operates in more than 140 countries worldwide in the form of schools, pre-university preparatory classes, and universities, which have become the focus of attention for elite students and children of leaders.

In addition to Turkey, it has more than 2,600 schools and universities worldwide. This group possesses an international media network, Zaman newspaper, a global satellite channel (STV), and an international magazine.

The Hizmet Community and Gülen consider their educational and cultural activities to have three important and major goals: 1. Expanding Muslim self-awareness 2. Re-examining or reviewing the relationship between science and religion by criticizing and rejecting common discourses such as materialism and positivism 3. Reconstructing collective memory with an emphasis on the common element of society, which is Islam.

Death

Fethullah Gülen, the leader of the Gülen movement, who had lived in the United States for years, passed away on Sunday evening, 20 October 2024 CE, local time, due to a heart condition.