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| Fethullah Gulen |
September 17, 2011
Fethullah Gülen and His Global Contribution to Peace Building
Zeki Sarıtoprak
Fethullah Gülen is one of the most influential scholars and thinkers in the contemporary Islamic world, particularly in Turkey. Although recent studies have put forward Gülen's ideas on various topics, Gülen's approach to peace building is one of the less studied. Given the contemporary reality of wars and ethnic/religious strife, this is a neglect that needs to be corrected. Fethullah Gülen stands up for peace and for the prevention of any clash of civilisations, not only through his speeches and writing, but through his actions as well. This paper examines the concept of peace building through Gülen's writings and activities with reference to the main sources of Islam and Gülen's commentary on them. In focusing on Gülen's activities, the paper emphasises certain American institutions, notably the Washington D.C. based Rumi Forum for Interfaith Dialogue (of which Gülen is the honorary president), and its contribution to peace-building through interfaith activities.
September 16, 2011
The Gülen Movement in the Public Sphere
Etga Uğur
Religion is an important source of social capital in many modern societies.
Religion as a body of beliefs, values and norms motivates believers to volunteer in community affairs to provide social services such as health care, soup kitchens, education and helping the poor. Religion also provides a source of common identity to its followers and creates bonds between them. Obviously, religion is only one source of social capital or civic engagement, albeit an important one.
Religion is an important source of social capital in many modern societies.
Religion as a body of beliefs, values and norms motivates believers to volunteer in community affairs to provide social services such as health care, soup kitchens, education and helping the poor. Religion also provides a source of common identity to its followers and creates bonds between them. Obviously, religion is only one source of social capital or civic engagement, albeit an important one.
September 15, 2011
Establishing a Culture of Coexistence and Mutual Understanding
Despite widespread globalization in every aspect of life, we witness that local traditions, cultures, religions, and national values – all preserve their existence and maintain their respective qualities and nuances. The dilemma of globalization is that while many seek to value these differences, these differences are also manipulated as catalysts for violence, bloodshed, and social trauma around the world. These contradictory phenomena are undeniable and frame the central challenge of coexistence in an increasingly globalized and fragile world.
September 14, 2011
The intra-Turkish debate on the Mavi Marmara
Mustafa Akyol *
If there is any “national” opinion in Turkey today, it is that Israel should have apologized for killing nine civilian Turks on the Mavi Marmara. From Islamists to secularists, or nationalists to liberals, I have heard nobody who thinks that the Israeli soldiers were justified in what they did on that Gaza-bound civilian ship. Nor has anybody, to my knowledge, applauded the “no apology” decision of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But this does not mean that all Turks think the same way about the Turkish activists on the Mavi Marmara, and the particular course of action some of them took. In fact, an interesting debate has just begun – and within a very interesting place: the Islamic camp.
If there is any “national” opinion in Turkey today, it is that Israel should have apologized for killing nine civilian Turks on the Mavi Marmara. From Islamists to secularists, or nationalists to liberals, I have heard nobody who thinks that the Israeli soldiers were justified in what they did on that Gaza-bound civilian ship. Nor has anybody, to my knowledge, applauded the “no apology” decision of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But this does not mean that all Turks think the same way about the Turkish activists on the Mavi Marmara, and the particular course of action some of them took. In fact, an interesting debate has just begun – and within a very interesting place: the Islamic camp.
September 13, 2011
New Islamic movements and amodern networks
Gokhan Bacik * and Umit Kurt **
Abstract
The revival in Islamic studies of interest in explaining social transformation in Muslim societies has stimulated a need for new methodological inquiries. The deployment of informal institutions within daily life is also a rediscovery of the traditional Islamic networks, patterns, values and cognitive forms. The rise of daily life as the major unit of operation for the new Islamic movements directs them to a completely different position vis-a-vis modernity: to create an alternative Islamic civil society, that is indifferent to the existing modern one. The Gulen Movement, with its success at creating trans-national networks, is the perspicuous case for illustrating the amodern world view of new Islamic movements. Study of the Gulen Movement on the basis of its amodernity is a methodology that contributes also to the study of how Islam is reproduced in daily life despite modern challenges. Such a study makes a necessity, in any research agenda, of the acknowledgement of the amodern in the sociology of religion. The major contribution of this paper is to display how Islamic movements develop an irregular position towards modernity. Therefore, the validity of traditional binaries, such as ‘Islamic movements vs. modernity’, or ‘Islamic movements as products of modernity’, has to be questioned. Being indifferent to the state and operating through daily life, new Islamic movements gain the ability to connect with historical Islam, the roots of which had fixed well before those of modernity.
Keywords: Islam; amodernity; the Gulen movement; informalism
Abstract
The revival in Islamic studies of interest in explaining social transformation in Muslim societies has stimulated a need for new methodological inquiries. The deployment of informal institutions within daily life is also a rediscovery of the traditional Islamic networks, patterns, values and cognitive forms. The rise of daily life as the major unit of operation for the new Islamic movements directs them to a completely different position vis-a-vis modernity: to create an alternative Islamic civil society, that is indifferent to the existing modern one. The Gulen Movement, with its success at creating trans-national networks, is the perspicuous case for illustrating the amodern world view of new Islamic movements. Study of the Gulen Movement on the basis of its amodernity is a methodology that contributes also to the study of how Islam is reproduced in daily life despite modern challenges. Such a study makes a necessity, in any research agenda, of the acknowledgement of the amodern in the sociology of religion. The major contribution of this paper is to display how Islamic movements develop an irregular position towards modernity. Therefore, the validity of traditional binaries, such as ‘Islamic movements vs. modernity’, or ‘Islamic movements as products of modernity’, has to be questioned. Being indifferent to the state and operating through daily life, new Islamic movements gain the ability to connect with historical Islam, the roots of which had fixed well before those of modernity.
Keywords: Islam; amodernity; the Gulen movement; informalism
September 12, 2011
The Atlas Foundation
Larry Michaud *
Our host for the Turkey excursion is The Atlas Foundation of Baton Rouge, a member of the Fethullah Gulen movement. The foundation has hosted similar trips for Baton Rouge religious and academic groups as part of their cultural exchange mission to bring disparate cultures together.
Our host for the Turkey excursion is The Atlas Foundation of Baton Rouge, a member of the Fethullah Gulen movement. The foundation has hosted similar trips for Baton Rouge religious and academic groups as part of their cultural exchange mission to bring disparate cultures together.
September 11, 2011
Importance of Gulen Movement in the Post 9/11 Era: Co-existence
Halit Kara
A lot has already been said and appears to continue about the long term impacts of 9/11 tragedy for the years to follow. The days immediately following this horrific incident, all scholarly critics, and politicians and as well as renowned public figures simultaneously voiced their concerns citing that “nothing ever will be the same after this.” Extensive coverage both in printed and visual media, focusing not so much on political and economic motivation, but much about religious identity of those who committed this outrageous crime against mankind.
“Love the love, and hate all hostility”
Fethullah Gulen
Fethullah Gulen
A lot has already been said and appears to continue about the long term impacts of 9/11 tragedy for the years to follow. The days immediately following this horrific incident, all scholarly critics, and politicians and as well as renowned public figures simultaneously voiced their concerns citing that “nothing ever will be the same after this.” Extensive coverage both in printed and visual media, focusing not so much on political and economic motivation, but much about religious identity of those who committed this outrageous crime against mankind.
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