Fethullah Gulen and the Gulen Movement

… perhaps the most important way that the Gulen movement has succeeded and I think it has in many cases,  is that it is it has succeeded not only in being up to its own standards its own principles but indeed it has done so through tolerance and awakening in others the willingness to be tolerant. That’s not an always an easy thing to accomplish, and the Gulen movement as much as there any I am aware of, does this… I knew relatively little about the Gulen movement before I encountered Mehmet Bey, a colleague from the United States who is a Turk and who has organized the Maryland dialog group initiative (Rumi Forum Maryland). I have been for some years involved in the comparative study of religions including Islam with an emphasis on new religious movements, new religiosity. So when this opportunity came up I certainly was struck by it is being particularly timely not only for me but it is a timely issue where in a sense the Gulen movement almost goes against the stream of what is all to come in our era, namely intolerance, fundamentalisms, extremisms, radicalisms of a very mean spirited sort… I think I am equally impressed and interested in the idealism of the people as well as their behavior.  I think that it is important anywhere in the world actually that ideally at least the walk should correspond to the talk, that is, it is very important to judge people as individuals as participants in movements not only in terms of what their ideals are and what they would like to accomplish but how effective and steadfast they are in attempting this. Along this line, I think that one of the rather interesting aspects of the Gulen movement is that it emphasizes practices as well as theories for theory that informs the practice but with full acknowledgement that even the highest of the ideals if not followed up by consistent conscientious  behavior is lacking.

… I had not been aware of the Gulen (Inspired) Movement Schools other than just in passing so I was quite impressed with the schools that we did see, both the university as well as the some of the high schools including the original high school in southwestern Turkey. I think those schools are a, do a commendable job, better than that they do an excellent job at the risk of striking some as being elitist which they almost certainly are, but it is kind of an elitism that it seems to me we can well afford and probably should insist upon, namely not elitism by description by family background and wealth but rather the elitism that stems from excellence and merit and performance. Nicely Turkey has been able to make use of this kind of schools and benefit from them. I am not sure that there is anything that really corresponds to this in the United States, might be one here and there, but nothing so systematic or as impressive or as effective. Where do these kids go? I think these are the leaders of Turkey in the future, just like schools everywhere that are excellent produce the leaders of next generation…

Let me say that I find it very difficult to understand, but I certainly very much appreciate, how this individual (Fethullah Gulen) has been able by sheer force of personality, of will, and of intelligence, to be this inspirer of this a rather remarkable movement.  Here is a man in his late sixties who from the time of his young adulthood grabbed on to an idea and followed it through. That’s not all that exceptional; a lot of people do this. The rather exceptional thing is not only the worthwhileness of his claims and his encouragement on his own, but how he has been able to reach people. He has a quite kind of charisma, charisma of his words but also his deeds that have reached the minds of them, my understanding, the hearts of many of his countrymen and increasingly those elsewhere in the world. It is an extraordinary thing. People like this come along relatively seldom in any era, probably countable in the dozens may be at most in a whole century. So we are fortunate to have him as the example to his coreligionists and others, and I am fortunate as an anthropologist to live during his time, and ideally I can follow this trip up with the further study of him, his movement and perhaps at some time ideally to meet him...

As to the last part of your question, I am optimistic as I suspect so are many members of his movement probably all in principle and Mr. Gulen himself. His advocacy of tolerance in the face of growing and increasingly virulent forms of the fundamentalisms, in this case in Islam, but also elsewhere, he certainly has been noted. I think that there are relatively few or all too few within Islam who so consistently and effectively champion the cause of moderation and tolerance of others not just simply to avoid being mean but more positively to appreciate the diversity of cultural and religious, that is part of our human heritage.

… I really don’t know. I certainly would hope that Turkey continues its wise course in permitting Gulen movement. I realize that there are some voices of criticism and dissent. We all know too well the political fortunes of countries of peoples can change very quickly and that is to willingness to allow and to benefit from the Gulen movement could turn in the other direction, but it doesn’t look like that it will happen that way. So I suspect that what will happen is that Turkey has benefited by the or from the Gulen movement in a sense saving the baby that was formally thrown out to bath water if I can use a somewhat tired metaphor. In the early secular radicalism and extremism indeed, it seems that a lot of the genuine virtues of the traditional system were thrown away along with a lot of things that are arguably deserved to be toast. Now we see that Turkey through this movement importantly is able to reclaim the virtues of the past and to make them part of a rather important future, and that future for Turkey will be as a kind of role-model to others demonstrating that yes it can happen that tolerance and the respect for indeed searching out of diversity in fact is a strength and not a weakness of civilization…