December 5, 2011

Imam in the Middle - Fethullah Gulen and the "Gulen" Movement

Ronni Mott *

Islam in the middle
In June 2007, I took a once-in-a-lifetime 12-day trip to Turkey. During our stay, our group visited multiple historic and religious sites. We visited Greco-Roman amphitheaters and the ruins of the former port city of Ephesus. We marveled at the mosque of 13th-century Islamic Sufi mystic and poet Rumi in Konya, and Byzantine Christian churches carved out of rock chimneys in Cappadocia. There, ancient murals depicting Bible stories covered every inch of the indoor surfaces. On the outside, nothing hinted at the beauty within.

What made this trip different from a typical tourist agenda was that we also visited schools, hospitals and businesses, and met with students, teachers, doctors and entrepreneurs. The Institute of Interfaith Dialog, a non-profit educational group led by Turkish Americans, planned, led and heavily subsidized the trip. I was part of a group of about 20 people from Jackson.