Love Is A Verb is an examination of a social movement of Sufi-inspired Sunni Muslims that began in Turkey in the l960s and now spans across the globe. The group is called Hizmet, the Turkish word for “service” or The Gülen Movement after its inspiration and teacher, Fethullah Gülen, a man TIME magazine named as one of the most influential leaders in the world in 2013 for “…preaching a message of tolerance.”
Turkish American community paid visit to Fethullah Gülen to greet him for the Eid al Adha, which is a major Islamic festival. Following the supplication, Gülen talked to his guest briefly and said: “Let’s pray for each other with deep iman (belief), ma’rifa (Spiritual Knowledge of God), and mahabba (love); let’s include all humanity in our prayers, starting from the people in closest circles; let’s be inclusive and embracing in our prayers.”
“What I have personally observed is that Hizmet is a movement that embraces contrasts and in which everyone can find a place for themselves. It’s a globally transformational movement. It is, on the other hand, able to combine tradition and modernity and bring them around the common values. Although I might not be necessarily exercising your values, I consider myself a part of this movement. The principles that lead the movement are what lead my life as well.” Alexander remarked.
Important literature from mainstream Muslim scholars in Pakistan (Muhammad Tahir-ul Qadri), Turkey (Fethullah Gulen), and elsewhere, which claim terrorists are not real Muslims, has yet to be translated, disseminated, or publicized more broadly in the Arab world, Somalia, Mali, or indeed Kenya. Al Qaeda’s extremists are all too ready to lampoon the majority of the world’s Muslims as infidels.
The main factor fueling Islamophobia in the West is extremist elements in the Muslim world. But non-extremist Muslims as well as religious leaders representing and interpreting Islam also have a share in the problem. Muslim religious leaders, for instance, fail to stand up against extremism as strongly as necessary. A major exception in this regard is a person from Turkey: Fethullah Gulen.
MESUT ÇEVİKALP, ANKARA Several terrorist attacks over the past weeks carried out by radical groups in different countries who claim to act with Islamic motivations are seriously damaging Islam’s image, and the best response to such groups is to show the entire world the real face of Islam, which carries the meaning of peace, analysts […]
Zeki Saritoprak is the Nursi Chair in Islamic Studies at John Carroll University and delivered an Interfaith Lecture on Gülen and his Hizmet movement. Saritoprak also gave a brief outline of Turkish history, from the start of the Ottoman Empire to the founding of the Republic of Turkey. “Muslims have to establish … not religious […]
The Philippine army chief has honored Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen with a special award for the charity activities and contributions to peace of the faith-based Hizmet movement. Philippine Chief of General Staff Gen. Leonardo B. Guerrero said during a beef-sharing ceremony that the army is grateful for the important activities of the Hizmet movement […]
Speaking at the Dialogue Symposium held in İstanbul on Friday, the spiritual leader of the Latin Catholic Community, Louis Pelatre said some states abuse religion for wars although all religions prohibit killing and war. “We have to fight against prejudices in order to prevent the use of religion in wars,” said Pelatre as he commended the interfaith dialogue efforts of Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen.
Salih Can “On condition that the national honor is not disrespected, no effort should be spared to establish peace among groups under threat of split within as Alevi-Sunni, Kurd-Turk and Laz-Circassian” Fethullah Gulen Sivan Perver’s view of Fethullah Gulen Sivan Perver’s words reflected the truth when he said “The Honorable Gulen’s opinions are pretty much well-intentioned. […]
Terrorism cannot be used to achieve any Islamic goal. No terrorist can be a Muslim, and no true Muslim can be a terrorist. Islam demands peace, and the Qur’an demands that every true Muslim be a symbol of peace and work to support the maintenance of basic human rights; any terrorist activity, no matter by whom it is carried out or for what purpose, is the greatest blow to peace, democracy, and humanity.
There has been no prophet who didn’t face lies or slanders about himself. All of them would be exposed to slanders and -God forbid a million times- accused of lying, self-seeking, fabricating the Qur’an -the revealed word of God- or being taught, insanity, sorcery, being taken over by genies (djinns), just reciting poetry or having a “genie-granted” […]
Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen has warned volunteers of Hizmet, a social movement known for its cultural and educational activities around the world, against possible plots aiming to portray the movement as a criminal network by placing illegal materials in houses and institutions affiliated with the movement.
One of the best-selling weeklies of Turkey, Aksiyon, made Fethullah Gülen’s meeting with Pope John Paul II a cover story on February 2, 1998 and published an published an interview with him. Gülen visited the Pope on February 9, 1998. A summarized excerpt from that interview follows.