History of the Gülen movement

Is Hizmet a Paramodern Example of Islamic Spirituality?

Is Hizmet a Paramodern Example of Islamic Spirituality?

What Hizmet also illustrates is the resilience of a truly paramodern spiritual movement. Despite sustained attacks over a number of decades the movement still exists. The Turkish government may be successful in closing down visible symbols of Hizmet like schools and media outlines, but as previous governments found with Nursi, destroying an idea and mindset is not so easy.…

The Gülen Movement’s Initiatives in Britain

The Gülen Movement’s Initiatives in Britain

The history of the Gülen Movement in the United Kingdom is fairly short compared to other Turkish faith-based communities or movements, such as Suleymanci, Sheikh Nazim and other Naqshibendiyya communities. Indeed, this fact could be deducted when the facilities and other services of respective communities are observed. …

Camps in the Hizmet-Gulen Movement Tradition

Camps in the Hizmet-Gulen Movement Tradition

The Gülen community, despite its relative youth, has developed a rich array of symbolic self-understandings and representations. This development of shared symbols and memories creates a sense of unity and collective identification beyond the interests and experiences of individual members.…

Expansion of Gülen Movement Organizations Westwards

Expansion of Gülen Movement Organizations Westwards

Taking the Gülen movement as a case study, this paper demonstrates how an Islamic movement engages with the West strategically and rationally, adopting a non-violent action repertoire, embracing modernity and operating predominantly within the cultural arena. Rather than adopting violence as a means to an end, the Gülen movement has turned its rejection of violence in all forms into a core feature of Gülen’s “Turkish Islam”, which is depicted as modern, peaceful, undogmatic and moderate.…

Gulen Movement Practice in the Netherlands

Gulen Movement Practice in the Netherlands

The development of the Gulen movement, or Hizmet (service), as its followers prefer to call it, in the Netherlands reflects the evolution of the Turkish community in general. Initially this largely consisted of single men who were recruited as workers in low-wage sectors of the Dutch economy.…

What is the historical context in which the Gulen movement emerged?

What is the historical context in which the Gulen movement emerged?

As the Gulen movement flourished in the 80s it is necessary to study the 1980 military coup in detail in order. The military coup of 1980 brought a military government first and called for elections in 1983. The Motherland Party (MP) under the leadership of Turgut Ozal who emphasized open market economy, democratic values, freedom of religious education and morality as a force against socialism. Ozal embraced Islam as a source of morality but rejected political Islam. …

History of the Educational Projects of the Gülen Movement

History of the Educational Projects of the Gülen Movement

Helen Rose Ebaugh Establishing the First Educational Projects Mr. Gülen, together with administrators of the Kestanepazari institution and with the support of local businessmen organized summer camps for middle and high school students, as well as university students. These camps…

Fethullah Gülen and Said Nursi

Fethullah Gülen and Said Nursi

Greg Barton Gülen is generally seen to draw directly on the intellectual heritage of the influential and greatly loved Sufi scholar and writer Bediuzzaman Said Nursi. And indeed, an examination of Gülen’s writing reveals it to be substantially built upon…