Today we live in a world of intolerance. Our societies seem to become more bigoted by the day, more and more groups of people adapt a discourse that is either partially or wholly xenophobe. All of this only stresses the need for a voice of wisdom and sanity to remind us that we’re all human beings and can live together despite our differences. A voice that will pull us out of our “sterile” worlds which are shaped by our prejudices and show that “others” deserve the same chances we want for ourselves. That of Fethullah Gulen’s is such a voice according to Paul Weller.
Fethullah Gülen has been robust and unequivocal in his condemnation of terror attacks conducted in the name of Islam. But his commitment to dialogue is not reactive to these. Rather, it is based upon the deep wells of authentic Islamic tradition rooted in the Quran and teaching and example of the Prophet Muhammad. Precisely because of this, Gülen’s teaching and the initiatives inspired by it offer a robust challenge to the terrorist appropriation of Islam. In the words of the title of a publication by the Dialogue Society in London, they offer the possibility of “Deradicalisation by Default: The ‘Dialogue’ Approach to Rooting out Violent Extremism” (Dialogue Society, London, 2009).
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In his teaching and his writing, Gülen emphasizes the importance of a shared humanity in striving for peace and the common good. He argues that we are human beings first of all, and only then Muslims, Christians, secularists or others. While to some this may seem unexceptional, it is important to understand that Gülen articulates this from an Islamic perspective.
