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Fethullah Gülen

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Fethullah Gülen

M. Fethullah Gülen is a former Islamic preacher, and the foremost leader of the "Nur" movement in Turkey. His supporters hail him as an important Islamic scholar with liberal ideas, while detractors accuse him for illegal activities aimed at undermining the secular republic and replacing it with an Islamic state. His followers are commonly referred to as Fethullahci (Supporters of Fethullah), while they choose to refer themselves as "Hizmet Insani" (Those devoted to service to others). His influence extends over much of Central Asia and Caucasus.

Biography

Born in Erzurum, in eastern Turkey, in 1938. He did not have a formal education, completed primary education at home, and instead focused on an Islamic education . In 1959 was awarded a state preacher’s license (in Edirne). In 1966 he was moved to a post in Izmir. It was here that Gülen's recurring themes began to crystallize and his audience base began to expand. He also traveled around the provinces in Anatolia and gave sermons mosques, town meetings and coffee houses among other places. From Izmir on, he placed a special emphasis on promulgating his ideas to high school and college students and recruiting them for the movement he was heading.

The range of his speeches was more versatile than that of other Islamic preachers; he talked about education, science, Darwinism, the economy and social justice. More broadly, he envisoned a society of devout Muslims who nevertheless would adopt methods and technical knowledge that led to West's superiority over the Muslim world. As such, he succedded in recruiting large sections of the society who felt alienated by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk's reforms at the founding of the Turkish Republic. His popularity was aided by the emotional intensity of his sermons; at the climax he often burst into tears and had emotional fits, an act usually associated with the mystical tradition. His sermons were taped and distributed by a network of followers at a time when Islamic activities were viewed with suspicion and proved instrumental in raising money for the movement.

In 1971 he was convicted to 3 years for his pro-Islamic activities . Gülen retired from formal preaching duties in 1981. Later, between 1988 and 1991, he gave a series of sermons in popular mosques of major cities. His long career had made him a well know figure in Islamic circles, and in particular, within the Nurcu movement, however, it was the Islamic political activism and his courtship with the center-right political parties in the 90s that made him a public figure.

Recent Controversies

Gulen became a highly controversial figure in 1997, when a number of videocassetes with his sermons were broadcast on TV. While he was always viewed with suspicion among certain secular groups, it was the accesible nature of the tapes that made the controversy reach the general public. In the tapes, allegedly distributed exclusively among his supporters, he tells those present that if revealing their commitment to the movement will jeopardise their official post then they should shun away from this. In justifying this, Gulen comments if the true of the movement is revealed before garnering sufficient support, the movement might suffer the fate of Islamists in Algeria. Gulen encourages capturing key posts in the judiciary, administrative and military institutions as stepping stones to a broader plan to further the goals the movement . Most controversially, Gulen makes deragatory remarks about the founder of the secular Turkish republic, Mustafa Kemal, such as "concerete Mustafa", an allusion to his statues in provincial towns. Shortly before the tapes surfaced, Gulen left Turkey and settled in the US, allegedly for health reasons. Within weeks, he was charged with conspiring against the republic, but he did not attend the trials. In 2003, the trial was postponed, subject to reprocessing if he is indicted with a similar crime in the following 5 years. Gulen has since been living in the US, but his popularity among his supporters has not waned.

The authenticity of the tapes are debated. Some of Gulen's supporters claim they were fabricated by montages of video segments taken out of context. Gulen himself explained that the footage in question was completely taken out of context; that the advise he was giving was to a group of official employees who felt marginalised by other groups within the state system that wanted them gone. Gulen explained that he advised them that they should not relinquish their careers out of religious fervour but that they should remain in order to do good for the people, even if this meant not practicing their religion in the open. However, critics of Gulen argue, Gulen's own writings, some of which is quoted below, are in accordance with the ideas mentioned in the tapes; he pushes to make Islam the guiding principle in society while at the same time advising his followers caution and an embracing attitude until the conditions are ripe .

Gulen's appeal to various ideological strands in Turkey differs. His supporters probably constitute the most influential Islamic movement in Turkey both for its human and financial capital. Various other shades of the Islamic movement and conservative segments of society are generally sympathetic to him. His detractors are mostly in the nationalistic wing of the secularists, critical of his alleged affinity for a theocratic society and his ties to the US. For the elites, the ranks are broken by certain liberals, who point out that Gulen's group, at least in its public representation, has proven to be most willing to evolve and most open to international influence.

Specifically worthy of mention is the ongoing tension between the Turkish army and Gulen's supporters. Due to its spearheading westernization and secularization since the late Ottoman era, and later founding the secular republic under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal, the army has always viewed Islamic movements with suspicion and since the 1980s has identified Gulen's group as the main threat to the republic. In 1986, a military court revealed Gulen's supporters had infiltrated the military academy and the group was purged. . From then on, the army has repeatedly alleged Gulen tries to infitrate its ranks and pressured politicans to take action against Gulen . In response, Gulen has praised the army publicly various times and attempted to allay its fears about the group's intentions, but the tension remains.


Works

Gülen contributes to a number of journals and magazines owned by his followers. He writes the lead article for the Fountain, Yeni Ümit, Sızıntı, and Yagmur, leading Islamic and philosophical magazines in Turkey. He has written more than forty books, hundreds of articles, and recorded thousands of audio and videocassettes. The videocasettes played a crucial role in promoting his ideas in his early years. Some of his books have been made available in English translations, such as, Muhammad: The Messenger of God, Questions and Answers about Faith, Pearls of Wisdom, Prophet Muhammad as Commander, The Essentials of the Islamic Faith, Towards the Lost Paradise, Key Concepts in the Practice of Sufism. A number have also been translated into German, Russian, Albanian, Japanese, Indonesian, and Spanish.

Critical Views of Gulen

In other works, mostly in Turkish and published before the 90s, he has promoted more controversial and fundemantalist ideas. The excerpts from these books have been published in the recent court case against him . Accordingly, "War against the infidels, Jihad is bound to continue until the Apocalypse, because no matter how tolerant we act there will always be infidels that insist on being sinners... Those engaging in jihad will either lose their lives and attain eternal happiness, or stay alive, but that's only better, as then they will attain happiness both in this world and the other." Controversy also followed when in 2004 he announced he equated a murderer to an atheist. Overall, these writings contrast starkly with the public statements by the group, and have led a number of researchers to claim Gulen's public efforts in the 1990s do not represent his real intentions .

See also


External links

Indictment of the prosecuter of the Fethullah Gulen Trial (in Turkish)

Supporters

Critical

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