Review of Fethullah Gulen’s article “Faithfulness”

Part II

It is the second part of my review about Fethullah Gulen’s article on faithfulness and in previous one I had elaborated about the concept in general. And here in this part I would like to write about some real examples – the people who have demonstrated exemplar degree of faithfulness and fidelity by their actions and who are known around the world for their dedication and service to humanity.

One of the examples is Hizmet movement, which is a civil society movement that found its inspiration in ideas and teachings of the prominent scholar Fethullah Gulen. Those who involved in activities of Hizmet movement due to their actions based on altruism, compassion, high degree of faithfulness and fidelity have not only able be able to provide high-quality service to society in their field of expertise, but also succeeded to display tolerance, good ethics, moral values and strong spiritually. Because of abovementioned qualities, volunteers of Hizmet movement could establish hundreds of schools in more than 120 countries providing high-quality education to people around the world, affordable medical facilities that cure less fortunate people in various countries, effective charity organizations that provide aid to hundreds of thousand people worldwide and much more.

Fethullah Gulen and Hizmet Movement

One of the most important organizations established by followers of Hizmet movement is charity organization - “Kimse Yok Mu”, which is an international non-profit aid organization headquartered in Turkey and operating in about 113 countries of the world with more than 180,000 volunteers. The organization provides both short-term and long-term assistance to people in need. Kimse Yok Mu provides aid in education, medical services, disaster relief, housing as well as collects and distributes food, financial assistance and other basic necessities to needy people. There are so many examples of the assistance provided by Kimse Yok Mu that it would take thousands of pages to list them. Just to provide several, Kimse Yok Mu established medical facilities worth of million dollars in African countries alone. Another concrete example is that the organization’s long-term campaign on curing cataract sufferers in Africa has so far helped 30,180 people as of September 2014. These are impressive examples considering the fact that most people working for Kimse Yok Mu are volunteers who work only to serve the humanity.

Fethullah Gulen and His Inspiration to the Movement

In the last several years, Hizmet Movement came across with immense difficulties and obstacles on their way to serving the humanity. Ruling government of Turkey launched smear campaign against Hizmet movement by labeling it as ‘enemy of the state’. Many Hizmet schools established in Turkey and even abroad by volunteers and professionals inspired by the movement were unlawfully targeted by the politically intolerant single-party Turkish government due to its political ambitions and obsessive need to be in control of everything. Similarly non-political charity organization ‘Kimse Yok Mu’ suffered serious illegal political pressure in Turkey. Despite of many difficulties caused by Turkish AKP (Justice and Development Party), followers of Hizmet movement have never given up and still continue their work to serve the humanity. Members of “ Kimse yok mu” organization dedicated their time, knowledge and strength due to strong belief in necessity of extending helping hands to those in need, giving hope to the hopeless ones and basically doing good for the sake of God Almighty while asking nothing in return from the people they help. Therefore, on the path of their noble quest they regard any difficulties as the test of their faithfulness and belief.

If there were more people dedicated to bring good and promote peace, the world would be a better and safer place to live in. For the benefit of future generations and humanity, it is very important to develop and nourish the qualities of faithfulness and fidelity in our hearts and souls. I would like to conclude by quote from Mr. Fethullah Gulen “With the hope that our generation, who are thirsty for faithfulness, will preserve the feeling of fidelity…”