Dani Rodrik, whose father-in-law is facing trial on the Sledgehammer Case, tweeted "My favorite defense of wife-beating, from Fethullah Gulen: if it does some good in one out of hundred women, why would Islam prohibit it?" My friend said "Hundreds of people retweeted this message in a matter of a few hours."
Egyptian feminist Mona al-Tahawy also spread the word to her followers.
Dani Rodrik also gave the link where Fethullah Gülen’s views on this issue* can be found.
Those who were surprised after receiving this tweet in "English," were welcomed by an even bigger surprise when the link revealed a page in "Turkish."
Americans would trust a tweet by a professor who teaches at a prestigious university like Harvard, and they would not bother to dig further into the matter when they realize the source is in Turkish. After Dani Rodrik’s message, Fethullah Gulen Hodjaefendi will go on record as a misogynist, even though he never said "you can beat women," rather on the contrary, Gulen narrated the Prophetic hadith in which the Prophet Muhammad had gathered his Companions for the very reason to correct their behavior against women and said "I heard you are beating your wives; from now on there will be no more beating of women."
The families of those convicted in the Sledgehammer case last month were the most disappointed; the daughter and son-in-law of Çetin Doğan, the number one suspect, included. Above all, they did all they could on their website to disprove the evidence and divert the case into another direction. They did it in Turkish, which was not enough, and then in English. They even published a book.
My friend thinks "they are now on the attack."
Published on fgulen.com, 02 November 2012, Friday
Original article [in Turkish] published on Star Daily, 02 November 2012, Friday
* Those further interested may read an article that exemplifies Fethullah Gulen's views on the issue
