Saturday, 23 July 2016

Fethullah Gülen, Islam and Pearls of Wisdom.

BEFORE JEWIPEDIA REMOVES IT!

 

Published on 30 Aug 2012
[Fethullah Gulen | Pearls of Wisdom | Man]

Each individual is equipped with sublime emotions has a natural disposition toward virtue and is fascinated with eternity. Even the most wretched-looking person has a rainbow-like atmosphere in his or her spirit comprised of the thought of eternity love of beauty and virtuous feeling. If people can develop these most basic inherent elements of their being they can rise to the highest ranks of humanity and attain eternity.

People are true human beings not in the mortal material aspect of their existence but rather in the attraction of their spirits to eternity and in their efforts to find it. For this reason those who disregard their innate spiritual aspect and concentrate only on their physical existence will never find true peace and contentment.

The happiest and most fortunate people are those who are always intoxicated with ardent desire for the worlds beyond. Those who confine themselves within the narrow and suffocating limits of their bodily existence are really in prison even though they may be living in palaces.

Our first and foremost duty is to discover ourselves and then turn toward our Lord through the illuminated prism of our nature. Those who remain unaware of their true nature and who therefore cannot establish any contact with their Most High Creator spend their lives like coolies who are ignorant of the treasure they are carrying on their backs.

All human beings are essentially helpless. However they discover an extraordinary competence by depending on the Infinitely Powerful One for this dependence transforms them from a drop into a waterfall a particle into a sun and a beggar into a king.

Our familiarity with the "book" of existence and events and our establishment of a unity between ourselves and that book causes sparks of wisdom to appear in our hearts. We begin to recognize our essential nature and obtain knowledge of God through the light of those sparks. Finally we reach God. To attain this goal however we must not set out this (mental) journeying with a mind conditioned by (biased and prejudiced toward) atheism and materialism.

Those who are truly human interact with other living beings in the consciousness of personal duty to them and within the limits of need. Those who abandon themselves to bodily desire and pleasure go beyond what is allowed and therefore cannot maintain the proper distance or balance between duty and desire.

More videos on Fethullah Gulen & Gulen Movement:
http://gulen-videos.blogspot.com

Latest news, academic excerpts, commentary, book reviews and interviews on the Hizmet Movement (aka The Gulen Movement) and Fethullah Gulen:
http://hizmetmovement.blogspot.com

 

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 FRÉMAUX SOORMALLY



FRÉMAUX SOORMALLY1 second ago
DEAR KEVIN I have listened to Fethullah Gülen's audio recordings since 1998 or so and to this very day.  It is all about Islam and wisdom, which I find very interesting.  I know next to nothing about his political activities except that he was one of the foremost personalities to keep Islam alive in Atheist (Secular and Zionist) Turkey, and in the USA.  So, I know him as a godly man and an old man.  It is news to me to hear that he is a Zionist!  Thanks for that information, Kevin.  I will surely look into it, but my impression is that NOBODY should spend time on him unless they have CLEAR EVIDENCE that he is implicated.  I hate political gossiping! ThanksBasheer



FRÉMAUX SOORMALLY
FRÉMAUX SOORMALLY2 minutes ago (edited)
Antonius I have to point out MOST RESPECTFULLY to you that this Islamic "RENAISSANCE" or REVIVAL can never happen when ISLAM IS NOT DEAD (although in practice it is!) AND CAN NEVER BE KILLED unless we manage to destroy all the entirety of the Qur'ân, and murder all those who have learned the Holy Book by heart and they are hundreds of millions around the globe, very young, young, old and very old alike. The Western understanding of a renaissance is more like a corruption from the original, a kind of reformation (the type proposed by Dr Tariq Ramadan), which cannot apply to Islam.   We can easily see "renaissance" in Western literature, art, music, and even in politics like we can easily see "enlightenment", which as a matter of fact is BOGUS.  I MAY BE WRONG! As far as I can understand it there can never be any RENAISSANCE of Islam, but only of MUSLIMS who have been dead for quite a long time and zombified.  I am not playing on the word, but the English borrowed that term RE-BORN (RE NAISSANCE) from French and Latin!  And, without MILITARY MIGHT, Muslims might as well be dead or stay dead!  Regards Basheer P.S. Sheikh Hamza Yusuf is a very prominent figure in promoting Islam in the English speaking world! And the Saudis and the "Salafists" hate him!




FRÉMAUX SOORMALLY
FRÉMAUX SOORMALLY16 minutes ago
Gordon Duff was in favour of "removing Ghaddafi", the BLOODY BASTARD! No wonder he ALMOST always ignored my comments and questions! BAFS




FRÉMAUX SOORMALLY
FRÉMAUX SOORMALLY19 minutes ago
Before Jim Fetzer got "KICKED OUT"? I still do not understand! Basheer




FRÉMAUX SOORMALLY
FRÉMAUX SOORMALLY21 minutes ago
"I will always speak truth to power", that's FUNDAMENTALLY, RADICALLY ISLAMIC! Oy veh!




FRÉMAUX SOORMALLY
FRÉMAUX SOORMALLY41 minutes ago (edited)
The Green Parties in Europe are ALL JEWISH LED! One very prominent self confessed Jewish pedoiphile of the Green Party is/was Daniel Cohn Bendit! BAFS




FRÉMAUX SOORMALLY
FRÉMAUX SOORMALLY39 minutes ago
The NEO CONS ARE THE NEW COHENS!

Monday 25th of July 2016


Pr Antonius James Hall: "Thanks. Any ideas of a short term to describe the significance of Kevin's integration of Islam into his progressive American worldview?"

Dear Anthony
I read your question yesterday and did not understand what you meant.  I read it again now and I did understand, I think.  Probably I had baby in my arm or was distracted. 
A short term to describe the significance of Kevin's integration of Islam into his progressive American worldview?

I in fact do the same thing as Kevin, but we have each one our own perspective.  He has FAITH like most Muslims, but I rely only on my understanding.  Yet, Ancient Wisdom says:

During his last prayer time, Field McConnell quoted:

Proverbs 3:5-6 New International Version (NIV)

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,  and he will make your paths straight.[a]
I would like to trust in God (I despise that word Lord and even the word God is not very appropriate for the One and Only "God" as we have Gods and Goddesses by the tons!), but I managed to see what He has done to us throughout the Ages, if Such a God exists, and I am not happy about it. So, I went against Ancient Wisdom and always lean on my understanding although in all my ways I do submit to Him because He always embodies concepts as Freedom, Truth, Justice and a Moral Way of Life that we find in most religions, and I saw these concepts perfectly explained and at a universal level mostly in Islam.

I am sure Kevin like Field McConnell trust in God with all their heart and are people of great faith, but faith alone does not and did not satisfy me.  Yet, I still try to understand what constitutes a progressive worldview, American or other.  I am a scientific minded person, but I despise scientists because they are owned by money power and are not honest, most of them, and Western science is not meant for the betterment of human kind.  It is impossible to use Western terminology to define something Islamic.  I cannot see progress as an Islamic concept.  The West claims it has a monopoly on everything including those barbaric terms as enlightenment, progress, liberalism, democracy, human rights, freedom (US Americans always make the mistake of talking of freedom AND of liberty while both terms mean the same thing!) because they have never been for the betterment of humankind, but only for their enslavement and the enrichment of a few perverts and monsters.

There can be progress for the better or for the worse.  The haves have definitely progressed in having more and more while the have-nots too have progressed in having less and less.  SO, progress in itself is meaningless to me.

Many delved into religions or Marxist literature to find solutions for the betterment of humankind, but they all failed because there is a power much greater than the will of the people, that of monsters and degenerates, maybe an alien presence or a different species amongst us, and this is why we cannot improve our lot no matter what.  So, Kevin and many others find their strength in faith.  My faith is what I believe to be true and just no matter where we find it written, said or even in ourselves.

Integrating Islam into his "progressive" American worldview, Kevin has found the best way forward because Christianity is almost dead and modern Christians (very little to do with Christ!) have for the most part joined the forces of evil.  Zionist Christians, what a farce!  Secular Christians?  Liberal Christians?  Tolerant and loving Christians who have even admitted homosexual "marriages"!  They started by accepting prostitution as a "necessary evil", then drugs (alcohol, smoking, etc.), gambling, "just wars", etc.  This is not my opinion, but a fact!   So, only Islam is left uncorrupted and can provide solutions to a world so sick that it brings so many to commit suicide by all ways imaginable, including joining armies of aggression, pillage and mass slaughter.

The military might of the USA is so tremendous that only Muslims, if they return to Islam, can halt its progress and devastation.  Did the USA not claim that Communism was a threat to their hegemony?  Now, they claim Islam is that very threat!  In both cases it is a lie!  People have the right to be Communist, but the USA decided they cannot!  People have a right to be Muslims, but the USA says not because they (their Judeo-Freemasons) will lose a lot of money because Muslims do not smoke (some do!), they cannot practice usury (most do!), they do not drink alcohol, they do not gamble, they do not use prostitutes, they do not waste (many do!), they do not wage wars because they have no armies and no weapons, and therefore they are a serious obstacle to Capitalism!  Therefore, the warmongers and the God haters must vilify Islam and Muslims in order to weaken them by dividing their lands, oppressing their people, and keeping them as second class citizens in "Western" lands.      
  
I am unable to come up with any such short term or word, maybe because there is none!
Regards
Basheer
 

Fethullah Gulen: Turkey coup 'could have been staged' - BBC News

BBC News

Fethullah Gulen - The Rights of Parents

HizmetVolunteer

Fethullah Gülen

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fethullah Gülen
Fethullah Gülen cropped (cropped).jpg
Fethullah Gülen, in 1998
Born Muhammed Fethullah Gülen
27 April 1941 (age 75)[1]
Pasinler, Erzurum, Turkey
Residence Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, United States
Religion Non-denominational Muslim[2]

Era Modern era
School Hanafi[3]
Main interests
 Orthodox Islamic thought, Islamic conservatism, education, interfaith dialogue among the People of the Book, Sufism
Notable ideas
 Gülen movement
Muhammed Fethullah Gülen (born 27 April 1941) is a Turkish preacher,[5] former imam,[5][6] writer,[7] and political figure.[8] He is the founder of the Gülen movement (known as Hizmet meaning service in Turkish), and the inspiration figure for its largest organization, the Alliance for Shared Values. He currently lives in self-imposed exile in the United States, residing in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania.[9][10][11]
Gülen teaches a Hanafi version of Islam, deriving from Sunni Muslim scholar Said Nursî's teachings. Gülen has stated that he believes in science, interfaith dialogue among the People of the Book, and multi-party democracy.[12] He has initiated such dialogue with the Vatican[13] and some Jewish organizations.[14]
Gülen is actively involved in the societal debate concerning the future of the Turkish state, and Islam in the modern world. He has been described in the English-language media as an imam "who promotes a tolerant Islam which emphasises altruism, hard work and education" and as "one of the world's most important Muslim figures."[15][12]
Gülen was an ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan before 2013. The alliance was destroyed after the 2013 corruption investigations in Turkey.[16][17][18][19][20] Erdogan accused Gülen of being behind the corruption investigations.[21] He is currently on Turkey's most-wanted-terrorist list and is accused of leading what the current Turkish officials call the Gulenist Terror Organisation (FETÖ).[22][23] A Turkish criminal court issued an arrest warrant for Gülen.[24][25] Turkey is demanding the extradition of Gülen from the United States.[17][26][27] However, US figures in general do not believe he is associated with any terrorist activity.[28][29][30]

Contents

Biography

Gülen was born in the village of Korucuk, near Erzurum.[31] His father, Ramiz Gülen, was an imam.[6] His mother taught the Qur'an in their village despite religious instruction being banned by the Kemalist government.[32] Gülen started primary education at his home village, but did not continue after his family moved. He took part in Islamic education in some Erzurum madrasas[33] and he gave his first sermon when he was 14.[34] Gülen was influenced by the ideas of Said Nursî.[35]
Comparing Gülen to followers of the Nursî-inspired Risale-i Nur or "Nur movement," Hakan Yavuz said, "Gülen is more Turkish nationalist in his thinking. Also, he is somewhat more state-oriented, and is more concerned with market economics and neo-liberal economic policies."[36]
His pro-business stance has led some outsiders[who?] to dub his theology an Islamic version of Calvinism.[37] Oxford Analytica says:
"Gülen put Nursi's ideas into practice when he was transferred to a mosque in Izmir in 1966. Izmir is a city where political Islam never took root. However, the business and professional middle class came to resent the constraints of a state bureaucracy under whose wings it had grown, and supported market-friendly policies, while preserving at least some elements of a conservative lifestyle. Such businessmen were largely pro-Western, because it was Western (mainly U.S.) influence, which had persuaded the government to allow free elections for the first time in 1950 [sic] and U.S. aid, which had primed the pump of economic growth."[38]
Gülen retired from formal preaching duties in 1981. From 1988 to 1991 he gave a series of sermons in popular mosques of major cities. In 1994, he participated in the founding of "Journalists and Writers Foundation"[39] and was given the title "Honorary President" by the foundation.[40] He did not make any comment regarding the closures of the Welfare Party in 1998[41] or the Virtue Party in 2001.[42] He has met some politicians like Tansu Çiller and Bülent Ecevit, but he avoids meeting with the leaders of Islamic political parties.[42]
In 1999, Gülen emigrated to the United States, claiming the trip for medical treatment,[43] although arguably it was in anticipation of being tried over remarks (aired after his emigration to U.S.) which seemed to favor an Islamic state.[44] In June 1999, after Gülen had left Turkey, videotapes were sent to some Turkish television stations with recordings of Gülen saying,
"The existing system is still in power. Our friends who have positions in legislative and administrative bodies should learn its details and be vigilant all the time so that they can transform it and be more fruitful on behalf of Islam in order to carry out a nationwide restoration. However, they should wait until the conditions become more favorable. In other words, they should not come out too early."[45]
Gülen complained that the remarks were taken out of context,[46] and his supporters raised questions about the authenticity of the tape,[47] which he claimed had been "manipulated." Gülen was tried in absentia in 2000, and acquitted in 2008 under the new Justice and Development Party (AKP) government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.[43][48]
Gülen procured a green card in 2001.[49]
On 19 December 2014, a Turkish court issued an arrest warrant for Gülen after over 20 journalists working for media outlets thought to be sympathetic to the Gülen movement were arrested. Gülen was accused of establishing and running an "armed terrorist group."[50]

Theology

Gülen does not advocate a new theology but refers to classical authorities of theology, taking up their line of argument.[51] His understanding of Islam tends to be moderate and mainstream.[52][53] Though he has never been a member of a Sufi tarekat and does not see tarekat membership as a necessity for Muslims, he teaches that "Sufism is the inner dimension of Islam" and "the inner and outer dimensions must never be separated."[54]
His teachings differ in emphasis from those of other mainstream Islamic scholars in two respects, both based on his interpretations of particular verses of the Quran. He teaches that the Muslim community has a duty of service (Turkish: hizmet)[55] to the "common good" of the community and the nation[56] and to Muslims and non-Muslims all over the world;[57] and that the Muslim community is obliged to conduct dialogue with not just the "People of the Book" (Jews and Christians), and people of other religions, but also with agnostics and atheists.

Activities

Main articles: Gülen Movement, Gülen Movement Schools, and Alliance for Shared Values
The Gülen movement is a transnational Islamic civic society movement inspired by Gülen's teachings. His teachings about hizmet (altruistic service to the "common good") have attracted a large number of supporters in Turkey, Central Asia, and increasingly in other parts of the world.[58]

Education

In his sermons, Gülen has reportedly stated: "Studying physics, mathematics, and chemistry is worshipping God."[43] Gülen's followers have built over 1,000 schools around the world.[59] In Turkey, Gülen's schools are considered among the best: expensive modern facilities and English language is taught from the first grade.[43] However, former teachers from outside the Gülen community have called into question the treatment of women and girls in Gülen schools, reporting that female teachers were excluded from administrative responsibilities, allowed little autonomy, and—along with girls from the sixth grade and up—segregated from male colleagues and pupils during break and lunch periods.[60]

Interfaith and intercultural dialogue


Gülen with Pope John Paul II in 1998.
Further information: Interfaith dialogue and Galip Hassan Kuscuoglu
Contrary to claims by some scholars[who?], Gülen has positive views towards Jews, and Christians, and condemns anti-semitism. During the 1990s, he began to advocate interreligious tolerance and dialogue.[14] He has personally met with leaders of other religions, including Pope John Paul II,[13] the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomeos, and Israeli Sephardic Head Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron.[61]
Gülen has said that he favors cooperation between followers of different religions as well as religious and secular elements within society. Among his strongest supporters and collaborators has been for years the famous Greek Orthodox Turcologist, professor at the University of Ottawa, Dimitri Kitsikis.
Gülen has shown sympathy towards certain demands of Turkey's Alevi minority, such as recognising their cemevis as official places of worship and supporting better Sunni-Alevi relations; stating Alevis "definitely enrich Turkish culture."[62][63][64]

Views on contemporary issues

Secularism

Gülen has criticized secularism in Turkey as "reductionist materialism". However, he has in the past said that a secular approach that is "not anti-religious" and "allows for freedom of religion and belief, is compatible with Islam."[65]
According to one Gülen press release, in democratic-secular countries, 95% of Islamic principles are permissible and practically feasible, and there is no problem with them. The remaining 5% "are not worth fighting for."[66]

Turkey bid to join the EU

Gülen has supported Turkey's bid to join the European Union and has said that neither Turkey nor the EU have anything to fear, but have much to gain, from a future of full Turkish membership in the EU.[65]

Women's roles

According to Aras and Caha, Gülen's views on women are "progressive".[41] Gülen says the coming of Islam saved women, who "were absolutely not confined to their home and ... never oppressed" in the early years of the religion. He feels that extreme feminism, however, is "doomed to imbalance like all other reactionary movements" and eventually "being full of hatred towards men."[67]

Terrorism

Gülen has condemned terrorism.[68] He warns against the phenomenon of arbitrary violence and aggression against civilians and said that it "has no place in Islam". He wrote a condemnation article in the Washington Post on September 12, 2001, one day after the September 11 attacks, and stated that "A Muslim can not be a terrorist, nor can a terrorist be a true Muslim."[69][70] Gülen lamented the "hijacking of Islam" by terrorists.[14]

Gaza flotilla

Gülen criticized the Turkish-led Gaza flotilla for trying to deliver aid without Israel's consent. He spoke of watching the news coverage of the deadly confrontation between Israeli commandos and multinational aid group members as its flotilla approached Israel's sea blockade of Gaza. He said, "What I saw was not pretty, it was ugly." He has since continued his criticism, saying later that the organizers' failure to seek accord with Israel before attempting to deliver aid was "a sign of defying authority, and will not lead to fruitful matters."[71]

Syrian Civil War

Gülen is strongly against Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War.[72] While rejecting the Turkish government's desire to topple the Syrian government of President al-Assad, Gülen supports the military intervention against ISIS.[73][74]

Influence in Turkish society and politics

Main article: Gülen movement
The Gülen movement, also known as Hizmet or Jamaat, has millions of followers in Turkey, as well as many more abroad. Beyond the schools established by Gülen's followers, it is believed that many Gülenists hold positions of power in Turkey's police forces and judiciary.[75][76] Turkish and foreign analysts believe Gülen also has sympathizers in the Turkish parliament and that his movement controls the widely-read Islamic conservative Zaman newspaper, the private Bank Asya bank, the Samanyolu TV television station, and many other media and business organizations, including the Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists (TUSKON).[77] In March 2011, the Turkish government arrested the investigative journalist Ahmet Şık and seized and banned his book The Imam's Army, the culmination of Şık's investigation into Gülen and the Gülen movement.[78]
In 2005, a man affiliated with the Gülen movement approached U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Eric S. Edelman during a party in Istanbul and handed him an envelope containing a document supposedly detailing plans for an imminent coup against the government by the Turkish military. However, the documents were soon found to be forgeries.[76] Gülen affiliates claim the movement is "civic" in nature and that it does not have political aspirations.[77]

Split with Erdoğan

Main article: 2013 corruption scandal in Turkey
Despite Gülen's and his followers' claims that the organization is non-political in nature, analysts believed that a number of corruption-related arrests made against allies of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reflect a growing political power struggle between Gülen and Erdoğan.[75][79] These arrests led to the 2013 corruption scandal in Turkey, which the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)'s supporters (along with Erdoğan himself) and the opposition parties alike have said was choreographed by Gülen after Erdoğan's government came to the decision early in December 2013 to shut down many of his movement's private pre-university schools in Turkey.[80]
The Erdoğan government has said that the corruption investigation and comments by Gülen are the long term political agenda of Gülen's movement to infiltrate security, intelligence, and justice institutions of the Turkish state, a charge almost identical to the charges against Gülen by the Chief Prosecutor of Turkey in his trial in 2000 before Erdoğan's party had come into power.[77] Gülen had previously been tried in absentia in 2000, and acquitted of these charges in 2008 under Erdoğan's AKP government.[43][48]
In emailed comments to the Wall Street Journal in January 2014, Gülen said that "Turkish people ... are upset that in the last two years democratic progress is now being reversed", but he denied being part of a plot to unseat the government.[49] Later, in January 2014 in an interview with BBC World, Gülen said "If I were to say anything to people I may say people should vote for those who are respectful to democracy, rule of law, who get on well with people. Telling or encouraging people to vote for a party would be an insult to peoples' intellect. Everybody very clearly sees what is going on."[81]
According to some commentators, Gülen is to Erdogan what Trotsky was to Stalin.[82] Ben Cohen wrote: "Rather like Leon Trotsky, the founder of the Soviet Red Army who was hounded and chased out of the USSR by Joseph Stalin, Gulen has become an all-encompassing explanation for the existential threats, as Erdogan perceives them, that are currently plaguing Turkey. Stalin saw the influence of “Trotskyite counter-revolutionaries” everywhere, and brutally purged every element of the Soviet apparatus. Erdogan is now doing much the same with the “Gulenist terrorists.”[83]

Turkish coup attempt 2016

Main article: 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt
According to Turkish government the coup attempt of July 15, 2016 was being organized by Gülen.[84]

Publications

Gülen's official website[85] lists 44 publications by him; these are, however, more akin to essays and collections of sermons than books on specific subjects with a specific thesis. He is also said to have authored many articles on a variety of topics: social, political and religious issues, art, science and sports, and recorded thousands of audio and video cassettes. He writes the lead article for the The Fountain, Yeni Ümit, Sızıntı, and Yağmur Islamic philosophical magazines. Several of his books have been translated into English.[86]
  • The Messenger of God: Muhammad[87]
  • Reflections on the Qur'an: Commentaries on Selected Verses[88]
  • Toward Global Civilization Love and Tolerance[89]
  • From Seed to Cedar: Nurturing the Spiritual Needs in Children[90]
  • Terror and Suicide Attacks: An Islamic Perspective[91]
  • Journey to Noble Ideals: Droplets of Wisdom from the Heart (Broken Jug)[92]
  • Speech and Power of Expression[93]
  • Selected Prayers of Prophet Muhammad[94]

Reception

Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel at Morehouse College awarded its 2015 Gandhi King Ikeda Peace Award to Gülen in recognition of his lifelong dedication to promoting peace and human rights.[95][96][97]
Gülen topped the 2008 Top 100 Public Intellectuals Poll and came out as the most influential thinker.[98]
Gülen was named as one of TIME magazine's World's 100 Most Influential People in 2013.[99]
In 2015, Oklahoma City Thunder basketball player Enes Kanter claimed that he was excluded from the Turkish national basketball team for his public support of Gülen.[100]
Gülen was listed as one of the 500 most influential Muslims by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in Amman, Jordan.[101][102]

Rise Up (Colors of Peace) album


Cover of album Rise Up (Colors of Peace)
Rise Up full title Rise Up (Colors of Peace) was a musical project to turn Gülen poems and writings in Turkish language into songs. A selective collection had already been published as English language translations under the title Broken Plectrum. A total of 50 poems were sent to various Muslim and non-Muslim artists coming from various countries with the artists given freedom to pick, and then compose and vocalize the poem chosen, record it in their own country studios and send it back for inclusion in planned album. Reportedly, no restrictions were put on the artists in using of instrumentation, despite reservations by stricter Muslim interpretations about music and use of musical instruments. The album titled Rise Up (Colors of Peace) turned into a veritable international album of world music encompassing various genres like jazz, pop, flamenco, rai, Indian music amongst others.[103] The project took more than two years to realize and the album was released in 2013 by Nil Production and Universal Music.

References

Specific citations:




  • Robert A. Hunt, Yuksel A. Aslandogan, Muslim Citizens of the Globalized World: Contributions of the Gulen Movement, p 85. ISBN 1597840734

  • Duderija, Adis (2014). Maqasid al-Shari’a and Contemporary Reformist Muslim Thought: An Examination. Still, Gulen repeatedly states that he propagates neither tajdīd, nor ijtihād, nor reform and that he is just a follower of Islam, simply a Muslim. He is very careful about divorcing himself from any reformist, political, or Islamist discourse. Gulen's conscious dislike of using Islam as a discursive political instrument, which was a distinct trait in Nursi as well, indicates an ethicalized approach to Islam from a spiritual perspective.

  • Erol Nazim Gulay, The Theological thought of Fethullah Gulen: Reconciling Science and Islam (St. Antony's College Oxford University May 2007). p. 57

  • Erol Nazim Gulay (May 2007). "The Theological thought of Fethullah Gulen: Reconciling Science and Islam" (PDF). St. Antony's College Oxford University. p. 56.

  • "Fethullah Gülen's Official Web Site - Fethullah Gülen in Short". En.fgulen.com. 2009-09-30. Retrieved 2014-08-24.

  • Helen Rose Fuchs Ebaugh, The Gülen Movement: A Sociological Analysis of a Civic Movement Rooted in Moderate Islam, p 26. ISBN 1402098944

  • "Fethullah Gülen's Official Web Site - Gülen's Works". En.fgulen.com. Retrieved 2014-08-24.

  • Bilefsky, Dan; Arsu, Sebnem (2012-04-24). "Turkey Feels Sway of Fethullah Gulen, a Reclusive Cleric". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-03-08.

  • "Photos: Muslim retreat center in Saylorsburg".

  • Los Angeles Times (20 January 2014). "From his Pa. compound, Fethullah Gulen shakes up Turkey". latimes.com.

  • Adam Taylor (18 December 2013). "Fethullah Gulen's Pennsylvania Home - Business Insider". Business Insider.

  • "How far they have travelled". The Economist. 6 March 2008. Retrieved 2 May 2012.

  • Helen Rose Fuchs Ebaugh, The Gülen Movement: A Sociological Analysis of a Civic Movement Rooted in Moderate Islam, p 38. ISBN 1402098944

  • Fethullah Gulen (Author) (2010-03-16). "Toward a Global Civilization of Love and Tolerance". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2014-08-24.

  • "Profile: Fethullah Gulen's Hizmet movement". BBC News.

  • "Turkey challenged by terror in 2015". TRT World (in Turkish). Retrieved 2016-01-28.

  • "Gulen faces life in prison on coup attempt charges". TRT World (in Turkish). Retrieved 2016-01-29.

  • "Turkey: Erdogan faces new protests over corruption scandal". Digital Journal. 28 December 2013. Retrieved 31 December 2013.

  • "İstanbul'da yolsuzluk ve rüşvet operasyonu". 17 December 2013.

  • "Profile: Fethullah Gulen's Hizmet movement". BBC News. 18 December 2013. Retrieved 31 December 2013.

  • "The Gulen movement: a self-exiled imam challenges Turkey's Erdoğan". The Christian Science Monitor. 29 December 2013. Retrieved 31 December 2013.

  • "Turkey issues list of most 'wanted' terrorists". Anadolu Agency. Retrieved 2016-01-29.

  • "Turkey puts Fethullah Gulen on most-wanted terrorist list". International Business Times UK. Retrieved 2016-01-29.

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  • [2] Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine.

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  • In Lester Kurtz's (of University of Texas, Austin) words, "One of the most striking operationalizations of Gulen's fusion of commitment and tolerance is the nature of the Gulen movement, as it is often called, which has established hundreds of schools in many countries as a consequence of his belief in the importance of knowledge, and example in the building of a better world. The schools are a form of service to humanity designed to promote learning in a broader sense and to avoid explicit Islamic propaganda." Kurtz also cites in the same work the comments of Thomas Michel, General Secretary of the Vatican Secretariat for Inter-religious Dialogue, after a visit to a school in Mindanao, Philippines, where the local people suffered from a civil war, as follows: "In a region where kidnapping is a frequent occurrence, along with guerrilla warfare, summary raids, arrests, disappearances and killings by military and para-military forces, the school is offering Muslim and Christian Filipino children, along with an educational standard of high quality, a more positive way of living and relating to each other." Kurtz adds: "The purpose of the schools movement, therefore, is to lay the foundations for a more humane, tolerant citizenry of the world where people are expected to cultivate their own faith perspectives and also promote the well being of others... It is significant to note that the movement has been so successful in offering high quality education in its schools, which recruit the children of elites and government officials, that it is beginning to lay the groundwork for high-level allies, especially in Central Asia, where they have focused much of their effort." See, Lester R. Kurtz, "Gulen's Paradox: Combining Commitment and Tolerance," Muslim World, Vol. 95, July 2005; 379–381.

  • Helen Rose Fuchs Ebaugh, The Gülen Movement: A Sociological Analysis of a Civic Movement Rooted in Moderate Islam, p 4. ISBN 1402098944

  • Spiegelman, Margaret. "What Scares Turkey's Women?". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 28 November 2012.

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  • Greg Barton; Paul Weller; Ihsan Yilmaz (18 Dec 2014). The Muslim World and Politics in Transition: Creative Contributions of the Gulen Movement. A&C Black. p. 119. ISBN 9781441158734.

  • skyron.co.uk. "European Muslims, Civility and Public Life Perspectives On and From the Gülen Movement". Continuumbooks.com. Retrieved 2014-08-24.

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  • Lauria, Joe. "Reclusive Turkish Imam Criticizes Gaza Flotilla". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved June 4, 2010.

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  • Arango, Tim (26 February 2014). "Turkish Leader Disowns Trials That Helped Him Tame Military". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 February 2014. In 2005, years before the trials, a man affiliated with the Gulen movement approached Eric S. Edelman, then the American ambassador, at a party in Istanbul and handed him an envelope containing a handwritten document that supposedly laid out a plan for an imminent coup. But as Mr. Edelman recounted, he gave the documents to his colleagues and they were determined to be forgeries.

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  • Arango, Tim (26 February 2014). "Turkish Leader Disowns Trials That Helped Him Tame Military". The New York Times. Retrieved 27 February 2014. Whether the corruption charges are justified or not — there has been plenty of leaked evidence, especially wiretapped conversations, that appears incriminating — the corruption probe has laid bare the influence of the Gulen movement within the Turkish state, which had largely been suspected but hard to prove.

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    1. Fethullah Gülen. "Fethullah Gülen's Official Web Site - Islamic scholar Gülen's poems turned into songs for international album".
    General references:

    External links

    Media related to Fethullah Gülen at Wikimedia Commons



    Muslim cleric Fetullah Gulen (right) receives a vase from Israel's Chief Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi Doron during a meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, in 1998. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday accused Gulen of involvement in a coup attempt, a charge Gulen denied.

    Why Is A Cleric In The Poconos Accused Of Fomenting Turkey’s Coup Attempt?


    As Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan began re-establishing control Saturday, he immediately pointed the finger of blame for the failed coup attempt against him.
    So who does he consider most responsible? A rogue general?
    Nope. Erdogan directed his outrage at an elderly, reclusive Muslim cleric living in Pennsylvania’s Pocanos: Fethullah Gulen.
    “I have a message for Pennsylvania: You have engaged in enough treason against this nation. If you dare, come back to your country,” Erdogan said Saturday in reference to Gulen, not the entire Keystone State.
    Erdogan and Gulen used to be buddies. Both were considered moderate Islamists. Gulen encouraged his many followers to support Erdogan, who in turn helped raise the profile of Gulen, who runs a vast network of Islamic schools worldwide, including more than 100 charter schools in the United States.
    Both men benefited from the relationship. But they had a falling out in 2013 over a corruption investigation that targeted Erdogan and some of his closest allies. Erdogan apparently believed Gulen’s allies in the judiciary were responsible for the inquiry, and responded by dismissing many in the judicial system considered close to Gulen, a powerful political force in his own right.
    Gulen, who’s in his mid-70s, denounced the coup attempt and said he had no role in it.
    “As someone who suffered under multiple military coups during the past five decades, it is especially insulting to be accused of having any link to such an attempt,” Gulen said in a statement. “I categorically deny such accusations.”
    A Worldwide Following
    He has many Sunni Muslim followers, estimated at anywhere from 1 million to 8 million worldwide, and his religious views are generally considered mainstream, though some in secular Turkey are suspicious of him.
    Since 1999, Gulen has lived at the Golden Generation Worship and Retreat Center, a compound in Saylorsburg, Pa., which serves as the headquarters for his Alliance of Shared Values.
    He rarely gives interviews, but spoke to The Atlantic in 2013. He was asked why he remained in Pennsylvania rather than return to Turkey, and gave this intriguing response:
    “I am concerned that certain circles are waiting for an opportunity to reverse the democratic reforms that were started in the early 1990s and accelerated in the last decade. I am concerned that these elements will try to take advantage of my return by putting the government in a difficult position. … Additionally, while in Turkey, I would seek corrections and possible legal actions against libel and slander. Here, I am away from such harassment, and I am less affected by them. I find this place more tranquil.”
    Gulen was already facing legal problems in his homeland before Friday’s attempted coup.
    An Istanbul court last October issued an arrest warrant for him following an indictment that charged him with “attempting to overthrow the government of the Republic of Turkey or obstructing it from conducting its duties by force,” according to the Anadolu, the Turkish news agency.
    Meanwhile, Secretary of State John Kerry said Saturday the U.S. would consider an extradition request for Gulen, but stressed that Turkey would have to present evidence of wrongdoing on his part, the Associated Press reported.
    Kerry, who was in Luxembourg, noted that Turkey hasn’t made such a request, though he anticipated that Turkey would raise the issue.
    Copyright 2016 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.
    View the original story on NPR.org


    • London • UK • October 2007 • www.GulenConference.org.uk •
    Abstracts & Biographies
    32
    Phnom Penh’s Fethullah Gülen School as an
    Alternative to Prevalent Forms of Education for
    Cambodia’s Muslim Minority
    by Philipp Bruckmayr
    Following the end of Khmer Rouge rule (1975–79), the Cham Muslim minority of
    Cambodia began to rebuild community structures and religious infrastructure. It was
    only after 1993 that they became recipients of international Islamic aid, mostly for
    the establishment of mosques, schools and orphanages. Now Cambodia boasts several
    Muslim schools, financed and/or run by Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti NGOs as well as
    by private enterprise from the Gulf region, most of which rely on a purely religious
    curriculum. However, Cambodian Muslim leaders are urging attendance of public Khmer schools and seeking to establish alternatives in the form of Islamic secondary schoolswith a mixed curriculum, modelled after similar schools in Malaysia. The generally harmonious relations between Chams and Khmers have been affected by the importation of new interpretations of Islam through international Islamic welfare organisations, and the long arm of international terrorism.
    The only Cambodian non-religious and non-discriminatory educational facility 
    operated from a Muslim country is Phnom Penh’s Zaman International School. It was
    founded in 1997 and is associated with the Fethullah Gülen movement. Classes are
    taught in both Khmer and English. Its kindergarten, primary and high schools are at-
    tended by Khmers, resident foreigners and a few Chams. For them, apart from the high
    standard provided by the school, its explicit agenda of instruction on an inter-racial and
    inter-religious basis, coupled with its prestige as an institution operated from Muslim
    lands, serves to make the school a valuable alternative to both secular private schools
    and Islamic schools.
    This paper raises and discusses the interesting question of the applicability of Gülen’s
    thought on education and inter-faith relations to the periphery of Southeast Asian
     Islam. 
    Philipp Bruckmayr: MA in Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Vienna
    (2007) on ‘The Islamization of Champa’; now preparing PhD dissertation ‘Half a Mil-
    lenium of Muslim Diaspora in Khmer Lands: The Chams of Cambodia.’ In recent years
    he has done fieldwork on Arab immigration to the Caribbean in Colombia, Venezuela
    and Curacão, and on the Chams in Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand. He has published
    articles and book reviews in theAmerican Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, ISIM
    Review, Der Konak andDAVO Nachrichten, as well as presented papers at international conferences in Austria, Germany and Turkey.
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