FETHULLAH GULEN April 27, 1941-October 20, 2024
The great Sufi mystic Rumi said the day he passes from this world will be his “wedding night” for he will be with the one his heart yearned for. Fethullah Gulen, proclaimed to be a modern Rumi, who passed away this week, said something similar some time ago as he lived a celibate life.
Just like Rumi, Gulen lived a spiritual, ascetic and altruistic life. A role model and inspiration to millions, he encouraged people to be informed, concerned and active change agents for the betterment of society. He encouraged the establishment of schools and education institutions, charities and philanthropic organisations to help the needy and dialogue organisations to be a medium for connecting people from different walks of life.
Like Rumi, Gulen was a mystic who nevertheless had an enormous social influence in improving people’s lives and providing an attractive spiritual alternative to extreme forms of Islam prominent in the 1970s. His schools and universities helped defuse the influence of Wahhabism in Turkiye and surrounding regions.
Growing up in the fledgling republic of Turkiye, where the secularists were determined to minimise religious appearance and practice in public space, Gulen was taught the essentials of his faith by his family. What made him successful was that he was able to bring into life the meaning and the spirit of the religious texts and apply them in the modern era. He encouraged practising Muslims to connect with their faith in their current setting without calling for a retreat or resorting to outdated practices. He was progressive without compromising on the essence of the faith. A young generation heeded the call to walk on this path with him and urge them to be active in society through their service.
Growing up in the 1960s and 1970s during the Cold War era, he saw a generation settle their differences with fists and bullets. The political instability led to social turbulence, which made Gulen committed to an education system where students should respect differences and see this tension as a point of growth using the art of persuasion. This idea manifested in schools sprawling in Turkiye from the early 1990s and abroad from central Asia to the Balkans and then in many nations across the world, including Australia. He believed a good education was the starting point for agency and improved social mobility.
Gulen did not receive formal tertiary education but was widely read. To complement his vast knowledge on all matters of Islam, he also read Western philosophy and was well acquainted with the sciences. An advocate for interfaith and intercultural dialogue, his meetings with the late Pope John Paul II, Greek Orthodox Church Patriarch Bartholomew and Chief Rabbi Bakshi-Doron during the 1990s was a precursor to the broad dialogue from the year 2000 onwards. How timely considering the tragedy of 9/11, which Gulen was one of the first to condemn wholeheartedly. “A Muslim cannot be a terrorist, and a terrorist cannot be a Muslim,” he heralded, pointing to the true nature of what Islam is about.
Gulen moved to the US in the late 1990s for health reasons but opted to stay there – and just as well he did. The Hizmet movement gained sympathy from many Turks who valued education, and graduates from the schools and everyday folks who entered the private and public space were applying their trade diligently. When Recep Tayyib Erdogan’s AKP got into power, the president benefitted from this support base who were in prominent positions in the workforce. The Hizmet (Turkish for “service”) movement advocated for EU membership, more freedoms for minority groups to be a truly inclusive society, more investment in education in under-developed regions of Turkiye. When the AKP was moving the nation forward upon these promises, it received wide support from the movement.
Fethullah Gulen: inspired people from all walks of life.
When revelations of large-scale corruption associated with Erdogan’s ministers and his family broke in December 2013, the movement withdrew its support. Erdogan turned it around by purging members of the police and judiciary who had led investigations into allegations corruption, many of whom were graduates of Hizmet schools and universities. These people were sent to prison. His government then appropriated the assets of the institutions established by the movement – media outlets, hospitals and other social support centres – and arrested those who he could whereas others were blacklisted, making it difficult for them to find a job. Those who could flee left for abroad.
