Book Review: The Messenger of God

Dr. Vitaliy Sheremet*

This introduction by me as a professor of Oriental Studies might be seen as an incentive to attract attention, but I hope that the reader will welcome this book by Muhammed Fethullah Gülen from the very first pages.

Book Review: Essentials of the Islamic Faith

Jay Willoughby

The author [Fethullah Gulen], one of Turkey's most respected Islamic scholars, discusses Islam's core beliefs. After giving brief summaries of traditional arguments for God's Existence and Unity, Gülen analyzes modern theories related to nature, natural laws, and causes, as well as matter and chance. Supporting his arguments with accounts of scientific experiments, he also appeals to common sense by asking if any person or thing can be created without an author or by itself.

Hizmet movement could be powerful argument for education: Scholar

The Hizmet movement, a social movement inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen, could be a powerful argument for the theory that people need only good education to bring out the goodness in them, a U.S. scholar said Saturday.

Italian professor: Fethullah Gulen is a true lover of the Prophet

Fethullah Gulen

Professor Francesco Zannini, a prominent figure in the field of Islamic Studies in Italy, described Fethullah Gulen as a true "lover of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)." At a conference held at Torino University about Fethullah Gulen and the Gulen movement (aka Hizmet movement), Dr. Zannini explained he saw that preserving religious values did not require one to forgo any modern development, as he took into consideration the social, cultural, and historical environment where Gulen grew up..

Academics, civil society call for freer, diverse universities in new law

Participants of a meeting hosted by the Zaman daily have called on the Higher Education Board (YÖK) to grant universities broader freedoms instead of the existing centralized structure under a new YÖK Law.

Scholars: Misconceptions of Islam still abound

The subject of misconceptions of Islam dominated the debates at the international conference organized by the Foundation of Journalists and Authors (GYV) and Fatih University in Istanbul today.

Hizmet Movement: Dialogue of Civilizations

The Formosa Institute held an international conference on “The Hizmet Movement and the Thought and Teachings of Fethullah Gulen: Contributions to Multiculturalism and Global Peace” at National Taiwan University (NTU) this weekend.

Symposium: If we are not familiar with each other, we become foreigners

On September 28-29, 2012, a symposium organized by the Intercultural Dialogue Platform (IDP) (a platform within The Journalists and Writers Foundation) and institutions affiliated with the Turkish Catholic Community was held at St. Etienne Church in Yesilkoy, Istanbul.

Panel highlights need for new global economic order

Taking a break from the heavy atmosphere of political, economic and social issues at home, senior economists and market experts from the Eurasia region arrived in the calm tourism hub of Antalya on Friday, this time to chew on scenarios mainly for a proposed overhaul of the global economic order.

Hizmet movement applauded at friendship dinner in Italy

Lawmakers, ambassadors, diplomats, academics and people from different walks of life came together for a friendship dinner in Rome on Thursday where they voiced their appreciation for the Hizmet movement and the values it promotes.

Fethullah Gulen's Message to the Forum in Ethiopia

Fethullah Gülen

Fethullah Gulen's message to the "Establishing and Sustaining the Culture of Coexistence and Mutual Understanding" Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Somali students say Turkey feels like home

A group of Somali students brought to Turkey for their education by the charitable foundation Kimse Yok Mu have told Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who arrived in Turkey in his first overseas trip after being elected, that Turkey feels like home.

Cag Educational Company held a conference on the 20th anniversary of activity

Konul Kamilgizi

Cag Educational Company (Çağ Öyrətim İşlətmələri Şirkəti) held conference at the Gulustan Palace on the 20th anniversary activities, APA reports.

The meeting was attended by Minister of Education of Azerbaijan Misir Mardanov, MPs, representatives of government and the public of the country.

Hizmet [Gulen movement] wins hearts with education, charity: Taiwanese scholar

A social movement inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen differentiates itself from extremist Islamic views by winning hearts with education and charity, a Taiwanese scholar said Monday.

Hizmet [Gulen movement] bears similarities to Confucianism: Taiwanese scholar

A social movement that promotes love, tolerance, dialogue and peace inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen bears many similarities to Confucianism, a Taiwanese scholar said Monday.

Sürat Education Tools introduces touch-screen table for schools

Sürat Eğitim Araçları (Sürat Education Tools) introduced its latest product -- the ActivTable -- which has been developed in conjunction with Promethean, a company offering technological solutions to benefit education, at the 13th CeBIT Exhibition on Friday.

Conferences on Hizmet movement in Egypt attracted masses

In the three conferences held in three different cities in Egypt, the Egyptians, especially youngsters and students, flooded the conference rooms in order to understand the "Hizmet Movement" (aka Gulen movement) and Fethullah Gulen.

The Institute of Interfaith Dialog Awarded Kimse Yok Mu

The Institute of Interfaith Dialog, which operates in the Southern states of USA, has set the subject of its traditional “Annual Dialog and Friendship Dinner and Award Ceremony” for this year as “Syrian refugees in Turkey and Contributions of Kimse Yok Mu Organization”.

Lord Mitchell visited Turkish School

Wisdom School hosted Lord Mitchell
to mark the Parliament Week

Wisdom School hosted a talk from a member of the House of Lords on Friday 23rd November 2012 to encourage students to engage more with the political and parliamentary process. It was one of over 40 visits to schools that took place around the UK to mark the final day of Parliament Week, a national initiative to build greater awareness of, and engagement with, parliamentary democracy in the UK.

Taipei conference to explore Islamic social movement

An international conference to be held in Taipei next weekend aims to explore the impact of an Islamic scholar's thoughts and approaches to education, dialogue, peace and charity work, organizers said Monday.

Fethullah Gulen

The conference, slated to take place Dec. 8-9, will focus on the impact of the Hizmet (the Turkish word for "service") Movement, a civic movement initiated by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen in the late 1960s to address problems of educational system in the world.

Prominent religious figure Mustafa Sungur laid to rest amid grief, prayers

PM Erdogan, Istanbul's Governor, Mayor
and Chief of Police and Said Nursi's students
attended to the funeral along with thousands.

Mustafa Sungur, a prominent religious intellectual and a student of one of the greatest Islamic thinkers of the 20th century, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, was bid farewell in a funeral ceremony with a number of politicians and friends in attendance on Sunday.

Aid delivered to Muslims in Arakan

Kimse Yok Mu volunteers have started to distribute sacrificial meat to the Muslims in Arakan living in Cox's Bazar region at Bangladesh-Myanmar border.

Accepting People as They Are, and Love for Humankind

We do mistakes as others do. Others are imperfect, so we are. Every person has a personality and a character and different from one another emotionally, mentally, spiritually, and physically. We can be good at A, but not at B. If we see someone who is not good at A, we should not think that we are superior to him and blame him; instead we should thank God for making us good at A and help him to get better. Fethullah Gulen calls this discipline as “positive action”.

Cihan TV network celebrates 10th anniversary

The Cihan TV network, which encompasses 94 local and regional television broadcasters, marked the 10th anniversary of its establishment on Thursday night.

Fatih, Yamanlar, Samanyolu schools win medals at national science Olympiad

İstanbul's private Fatih Science High School, Ankara's private Samanyolu Science High School and İzmir's private Yamanlar Science High School picked up several medals on Wednesday in the 20th National Science Olympiad and the 17th National Mathematics Olympiad for primary and secondary schools.

Kimse Yok Mu delegation visited the President of Somalia

Kimse Yok Mu delegation and Turkish parliamentarians went to Mogadishu, the capital, within the scope of Kimse Yok Mu's sacrifice festival (Eid al-Adha) organization and visited Somali President Hasan Şeyh Mahmud, and Parliament Speaker Osman Cevari.

Somali's Future Brighter with Turkish Schools

After opening the first Turkish school, Bedir Academy, in Mogadishu, Somalia, Turkish entrepreneurs are this time opening an educational complex with a capacity of 700 students on the campus of the old Technical University. The complex will have a school building, a dormitory, faculty housing, guesthouses, and a theater. When it is completed, it will be one of the largest schools in Somalia.

17th TUSKON trade summit sees 25,000 B2B meetings

The 17th edition of the Turkey-World Trade Bridge summit, organized by the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON), saw 1,160 foreign and 1,000 Turkish businesspeople discuss partnerships in an estimated 25,000 separate meetings on Thursday.

The Problem of Hunger in the World and Searching For Ways to Solve It

The capital of Azerbaijan Baku hosted a conference on "The problem of hunger in the world and searching for ways to solve it", organized by the Dialogue Eurasia Platform (DEP) and the Institute of Economics of the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan.

Aid provided to 14,000 Syrian refugees in Turkey

Kimse Yok Mu does not slow down in providing aid to the refugees who have settled in Kilis because of the civil war in Syria.

Mali Minister of Education visits Turkish aid site

Adama Ouane, Minister of National Education of Mali, visited the 8th annual organization for the sacrifice festival (Eid al-Adha).

Burkinans change the name of their village to ‘Türkiye’ and plant a Turkish flag

People from Burkina Faso’s Transalya village reciprocated to the aid activities performed by Turkish philanthropists. The locals of the village didn’t forget the philanthropists who came from various countries of the world and provided help to them in various ways, and changed the name of their village to “Türkiye” to show their loyalty. Locals also planted a 10 meter tall pole at the entrance of their village and flew a large Turkish flag.

Discussing identity, multiculturalism and peace-building in Indonesia

İhsan Yılmaz

JAKARTA -- Scholars and activists from all over the world and from all walks of life gathered in the lovely Indonesian resort city of Bogor to share their experiences on peace and peace-building activities.

Conference on Hizmet Movement to be held in Taipei

Christie Chen

Fethullah Gulen

An international conference on the Hizmet Movement, a civic movement inspired by the Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen, will be held in Taipei to promote its teachings and practices in Taiwan, organizers said Thursday.

Kimse Yok Mu launches aid campaign for Gazans

Turkish charity foundation Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There) has launched an aid campaign for the people of the Gaza Strip, where 166 Palestinians were killed during a recent conflict between Israel and Hamas.

The Gülen movement as a global movement: Understanding history, ideology and context

Tahir Abbas*

Distinguished guests, honorable friends and respected audience members, I thank you for the opportunity to be here with you today and to share my thoughts with you on an important topic of study that has theoretical, practical and policy implications and outcomes worthy of academic consideration and evaluation.

TUSKON to gather 2,000 businessmen from all over world in İstanbul

The Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON) has organized another Turkey-World Trade Bridge summit, to be held in İstanbul starting Wednesday as nearly 2,000 businessmen from all around the world fly in to attend.

Fethullah Gülen's message to the "Ideal Human & Ideal Society Conference" in Pakistan

M. Fethullah Gülen

Honorable Chief Minister, Vice-Chancellor, academics, and dear guests,

I am very honored for your kind invitation to this conference. It is with regret and bitterness in the heart when I say I will be missing this great opportunity of visiting a sister nation and its people as dear as my own, due to my present health conditions.

Gov't needs to be more active in preventing domestic violence

The government should take a more active role in preventing domestic violence -- which is on the rise across Turkey and the world -- stated the final declaration of the conference on violence and society organized by the Journalists and Writers Foundation's (GYV) Women's Platform between Nov. 24 and 26 in İstanbul.

Social, legal sanctions needed in fight against domestic violence

Social sanctions will be necessary alongside legal measures if domestic violence is to be curbed in Turkey, according to experts from a number of fields who gathered at a conference of the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV) in İstanbul on Sunday, marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Domestic violence addressed at int'l conference of GYV Women's Platform

The reasons behind domestic violence and the role of family in the prevalence of violence in society are being discussed during an international conference organized by the Journalists and Writers Foundation's (GYV) Women's Platform in İstanbul.

Deputy PM visits Turkish schools complex in Yemen

(Photo: AA)

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc visited the International Yemen Turkish Schools as well as the Yemen office of TIKA, Turkey's international cooperation and development agency, in capital Sana'a.

Hodjaefendi Fethullah Gülen - A profile by The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre, Jordan

Fethullah Gulen

Fethullah Gülen is a preacher, thinker and educator, who has become a global phenomenon. His popularity and authority in Turkey has been the driving force of the movement that is widely thought to have brought about the social and, eventually, political changes of which politician Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been the ultimate heir—that is the enfranchisement of Muslim politics in Turkey. Despite his peaceful means of preaching and community organization, Gülen is hated by the [ultra-]secularist establishment in Turkey and has been living in the US since 1999.

Language of Deeds

A language is at the heart of our identity. It has always been central to our nature and carried within it our spirits. Developments of the past several decades and the rhetoric of globalization have heightened even more the need for better understanding of languages. So far, however, there has been little discussion about the “language of deeds.” This article will explore some of Fethullah Gulen’s thoughts on the meaning and functions of such language.

Educational Perspective of Fethullah Gulen

Gulen-inspired schools provide a unique case in this regard, by opening schools that emphasize sound education. The success of the schools inspired by Gulen’s philosophy is renowned worldwide, and has been recognized and acknowledged by scholars, journalists, intellectuals and government authorities.

Foreign Ministry: Turkish schools Ozel visited not Gulen-inspired

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has clarified that the Turkish schools the chief of General Staff visited in Saudi Arabia were operating under the Turkish embassy, implying that they are not Fethullah Gülen schools.

The Basis for Dialogue

O people, We created you all from a single man and a single woman, and made you into races and tribes so that you should get to know one another. In God’s eyes, the most honoured of you are the ones most mindful of Him: God is all knowing, all aware.
(al-Hujurat, 49:13)

Fethullah Gulen – A humanist par excellence

Hizmet Movement was launched in Turkey with the aim of serving individual, society and religion as had been the teaching of Fethullah Gulen.

This was consensus among speakers at an international conference on “Ideal Human and Ideal Society in the Thoughts of M. Fethullah Gulen,” arranged at the Punjab University (PU) Law College Auditorium on Wednesday.

Fethullah Gülen's teachings discussed at conference in Algeria

The ideas, worldview and teachings of Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish Islamic scholar known for his promotion of mutual understanding and tolerance between cultures, were discussed at a conference on Wednesday hosted by the Faculty of Islamic Sciences of the University of Algiers.

Fethullah Gulen calls on Muslims to pray for, send aid to Gaza

Fethullah Gulen

Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has expressed his deep sorrow over the killings of civilians, mostly women and children, as a result of attacks on Gaza by Israel and called on Muslims to pray for the well-being of their brothers and sisters in Palestine and send them aid to help heal their wounds.

Fethullah Gülen calls on followers to pray for Palestinians, Syrians

Islamic scholar and prominent Turkish figure Fethullah Gülen has called on his followers to pray for an end to the current tribulations in Syria and Palestine, according to Herkül.org.

‘Sacred, Secular, Twin Tolerations and the Hizmet’

İhsan Yılmaz

For me, the month of November is a month of conferences that I have to both endure but also enjoy.

From New Orleans, I flew to Lahore to present a paper at another international conference titled “Ideal Human and Ideal Society in the Thoughts of M. Fethullah Gülen.” Scholars from many parts of the world presented their papers on the topic.

Faith in Divine Destiny

“And there is not a thing but its treasures are with us but we only send down thereof in due and ascertainable measures”[1]

One of the six articles of faith in Islam is faith in the divine destiny. Muslims believe that the all-knowing God knows everything before they come in to existence and nothing occurs without His will. The concept, which is at the foremost frontier of Islamic faith, is hard to grasp with our human minds so it is mostly a matter of conscious and heart.[2] This is a very influential belief in shaping Muslims’ understanding of and reaction to what is happening in their lives. Concept of destiny especially arises in difficult times when people need to seek refuge from troubles by facing towards a higher and powerful being for assistance and comfort.

Doctors Worldwide Turkey, Kimse Yok Mu set to help Gazans

The Turkish wing of the UK aid group Doctors Worldwide and Turkish charity Kimse Yok Mu (Is Anybody There) are set to extend a helping hand to the people in Gaza, which has been experiencing Israeli attacks since Wednesday.

Conference on Fethullah Gülen’s thoughts on ideal society to be held in Pakistan

A press conference regarding the international conference “Ideal Human and Ideal Society in the Thoughts of M. Fethullah Gülen” was held at the University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan. Professor Dr. Liaqat Ali, the Acting Vice Chancellor, Assistant Professor Maria Maldonado, Director of International Linkages, Harun Köken, Chairman of Rumi Forum, and Hakan Yeşilova, Editor of The Fountain announced the program and briefed on the conference.