Peter J. Mehl “Life is a shared bridge of “passing over” and “coming back.” It is a passing over to other cultures and faiths, not to disown one’s own heritage, but to come back to incorporate new wisdoms and insight…
Although Rumi lived about 800 years before Gülen, they both lived in cosmopolitan environments and thus both made intercultural dialogue their main tool of social innovation and conflict resolution for social inclusion, coherence and peaceful coexistence. They inspired the lives and practices of their students, sympathizers, followers, scholars, and the larger community to contribute to solutions that better the world. …
Diversity is a natural dimension of our society and geography. It would be a great mistake to claim that Anatolia is racially pure Turkish. Accepting and pronouncing this truth would be an important step toward a final solution showing that in the future diversity is not going to constitute a problem for us.…
Fethullah Gülen: Everyone can and should serve in their own way by remaining respectful to others. We do not have the right to open the door to conflicts and dissension. Once we have found what’s good for us we should not quarrel about what’s better.…
Helen R. Ebaugh A major focus of Mr. Fethullah Gülen’s teaching is the need to create bridges between the Muslim world and the West, along with the importance of synthesizing scientific and technological advances in contemporary Muslim society. He believes…
Heon Kim Gülen’s perception of humanism is at the heart of his thought, so much so that it serves as the reason for the existence and activities of the Gülen movement. My attempt here is to lay bare some constructional and…
Lester R. Kurtz Born into an Anatolian village family of considerable spiritual fervor within the Muslim tradition, Fwethullah Gülen’s parents raised him with a pervasive spiritual perspective on life. Gülen recalls that his mother “taught the Qur’an to all the…
Prof. Dr. Toktamış Ateş* Everybody draws out their own meaning from democracy. Some people claim that democracy is carrying their ideas to power by persuading others; some claim democracy means being able to express their ideas freely. When it is…
Dr. Saribay: Fethullah Gulen clearly shows that Islam can have different interpretations. In the coming days, there is going to be a settling of accounts between populist and radical Islam. I believe that the first group’s victory will enable democracy…
LEONID R. SYKIAINEN* Compatibility between Islamic and modern democratic liberal values is not more than theoretical ground to combine the both for success of political reforms in the Muslim world. It will be possible only through the dialogue of different…