August 31, 2010

Former US ambassador praises Fethullah Gulen at MARTI-Rockville iftar

Today's Zaman

Fethullah Gulen
Fethullah Gulen
A former US ambassador has said he wishes Turkish intellectual Fethullah Gülen’s ideas will spread to the Arab world. David Newton, former US ambassador to Iraq and Yemen, said last week at an iftar (fast-breaking dinner) hosted by Maryland Turkish-American Inhabitants (MARTI), a non-profit organization established in December 2003, that “the mother of all values is tolerance.”

“Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi is a great example of this [promoting tolerance], and he lived at a time when the world was not known for tolerance. Today, we need Fethullah Gülen’s ideas of tolerance, and I hope his ideas will spread to the Arab world,” he said about Gülen, one of the world’s most influential Islamic scholars. At the same dinner, County Executive Isiah Leggett noted that Maryland’s Montgomery county is unique in its great diversity, with students in their school district speaking 150 languages and coming from “literally all over the world.”