Gülen-inspired schools, their Curricula and Financing

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What does spirituality include in the Gülen Movement? How do the schools convey spirituality and moral values?

For Fethullah Gülen, ‘spirituality’ includes directly religious teachings, and also ethics, logic, psychological health, and affective openness: compassion and tolerance are key terms. Fethullah Gülen believes that ‘non-quantifiable’ qualities need to be instilled in students alongside training in the ‘exact’ disciplines.

This kind of teaching program is more related to identity and daily life than ‘political action’, and it will yield a new spiritual search and moral commitment to a better and more human social life. Those dimensions of education can only be conveyed through example in the teachers’ manners, disposition and behavior, not through preaching or direct instruction.

Does the Gülen Movement dictate the curriculum in the educational institutions?

The Gülen Movement does not dictate the curriculum in the schools, universities, and study halls its participants sponsor and manage.

The schools have no hidden agenda or targets. The institutions follow national and international curricula and any regulations which apply in the locale where they are established and run. Students are encouraged to use external sources of information, such as the Internet and universities’ information services.

How are the Gülen-inspired schools financed?

Probably because of its transnational growth since the 1990s, the financing of the Gülen Movement is occasionally queried.

Some allege that it is impossible for the movement to have accomplished so much and achieved such rapid expansion without “other financial resources” or some kind of covert funding. However, all academic research on this issue so far has found that each institution and project network in the movement is legitimate and transparent in its book-keeping and accounting, and that all financial management is done at the local level and is subject to local inspection. A number of studies of how projects are financed could remove any suspicion of backing by vested political interests.

On this topic insider perspectives also need to be taken into account. Firstly, attitudes to donating time and money to charity vary across cultural traditions. In Islamic and therefore Turkish tradition it is often considered more blessed to give donations anonymously. Onlookers need to be aware of people's sensitivities about such matters. Secondly, in attempting to account for the scale of the movement's activities in relation to funds available, it is essential to take note of how much of the movement’s resources consist of voluntary, unpaid work, rather than money.