Thursday, December 13, 2012

Hizmet movement could be powerful argument for education: scholar

Conference on Hizmet [Gulen] Movement in Taiwan
Taipei, Dec. 11 (CNA) The Hizmet movement, a social movement inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen, could be a powerful argument for the theory that people need only good education to bring out the goodness in them, a U.S. scholar said Saturday.

Mark Owen Webb, chairman of the Department of Philosophy at Texas Tech University, said schoolchildren in southeastern Turkey told him during a visit he made in 2008 that they would have become extremist had it not been for the schools built by supporters of the movement and their teachers.

The Hizmet (Turkish world for "service") movement began as a faith-inspired initiative in the 1970s to improve education in Turkey and grew into a civic movement around the world that encourages interfaith and intercultural dialogue.

The movement has inspired the building of schools and other educational institutes in some 140 countries, and the establishment of charities and hospitals, as well as media such as Zaman newspaper, Turkey's largest circulating daily.

Scholars from Taiwan and abroad gathered at a two-day international conference in Taiwan that kicked off Saturday to discuss the teachings and practices of Gulen, a scholar, educator and author who has millions of followers worldwide.

Parents of the children believe the spirit of Hizmet "makes schools that produce well-trained citizens of strong moral character," Webb said.

He said schools affiliated with the Hizmet movement emphasize science, math and language education. Religious subjects are not taught, but teachers are expected to model good moral character, he added.

The schools are financed by sponsors and businessmen and offer the same curricula as public schools, he said.

If the changes in southeast Turkey can be attributed, even in part, to the Hizmet movement, it is a powerful argument for the educational theory that people have the resources to live together in peace and need only the support of good education to realize their basic goodness, Webb said.

It also provides an example of one way to reform damaged societies, he said.

Gulen, 71, is known for making the remark "a terrorist cannot be a Muslim, nor can a true Muslim be a terrorist," after the Sept. 11 Muslim terrorist attacks on the U.S. in 2001.

Meanwhile, Lin Mei-rong, a professor at Taiwan's Tzu Chi University, said people often think that the religious field is conservative.

She said, however, that both the Hizmet movement and the Buddhist Tzu Chi movement initiated by Buddhist nun Cheng Yen, which stresses charity, medicine, education and culture, are innovative religious movements that correspond to calls for change.

Ahmet Gurhanli, chairman of the Taipei-based Formosa Institute, which organized the conference, said his institute has been organizing lectures and academic conferences to promote mutual understanding and social harmony.

He said the Hizmet movement is "often misunderstood" and expressed belief that the movement "could be a good cure for Islamic phobia."

Published on Focus Taiwan, December 11, 2012

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Friday, December 7, 2012

Hizmet movement wins hearts with education, charity: scholar

Conference on Hizmet Movement in Taiwan
Taipei, Dec. 6 (CNA) A social movement inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen differentiates itself from extremist Islamic views by winning hearts with education and charity, a Taiwanese scholar said Monday.

Some think that Muslims are belligerent toward those with different religious views, but Gulen believes in influencing people with one's heart instead of force, Lin Chin-ming, assistant professor in Asian Studies at Tamkang University, told CNA.

Fethullah Gulen, a scholar, educator and author, has millions of followers worldwide. He is known for making the remark: "A terrorist cannot be a Muslim, nor can a true Muslim be a terrorist," after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks by Muslim extremists in the U.S. in 2001.

The Hizmet (the Turkish word for "service") movement, inspired by Gulen, began in the late 1960s as an initiative to build dormitories for university students and later expanded into the fields of education, charity and cultural interactions.

Its supporters build schools, charity organizations and encourage interfaith and intercultural dialogue around the world, according to the Taipei-based Formosa Institute, which follows the teachings of Gulen.

Wang Ding-shu, a Russian studies professor at National Chengchi University who has been studying Turkey, said the Hizmet movement is more progressive and more in line with the world trend compared with more conservative Islamic thought.

He touted the movement's advocacy of tolerance, love and dialogue as a "correct direction" and said he believes the movement will be well-accepted in Taiwan.

Osman Cubuk, vice chairman of the institute, said the Hizmet movement aims to facilitate mutual understanding and respect between different cultures and stresses the importance of education.

"Our purpose is not to promote Islamic culture but to resolve our common problems, including clashes between civilizations, war, poverty and environmental pollution," Cubuk said, adding that cultural interaction is needed to address those problems.

He said his institute hopes to cooperate with more groups in Taiwan to address these common problems.

Scholars from Taiwan and abroad are expected to attend an international conference on the movement in Taipei Dec. 8-9.


Published on Focus Taiwan, December 6, 2012
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Monday, December 3, 2012

Taipei conference to explore Islamic social movement

Fethullah Gulen
Taipei, Dec. 3 (CNA) An international conference to be held in Taipei next weekend aims to explore the impact of an Islamic scholar's thoughts and approaches to education, dialogue, peace and charity work, organizers said Monday.

The conference, slated to take place Dec. 8-9, will focus on the impact of the Hizmet (the Turkish word for "service") Movement, a civic movement initiated by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen in the late 1960s to address problems of educational system in the world.

Scholars from Taiwan and abroad will also discuss the movement's contribution to democracy, religious peace and interfaith and intercultural dialogue, and compare the thoughts of Gulen with Chinese Confucian thinking.

Gulen, a scholar, educator and author, has millions of followers, mostly Turkish, around the world, said the Formosa Institute, which is co-organizing the conference with the Taiwan Association of Islamic Studies.

The Hizmet (Gulen) Movement involved a few university students and small-business owners when it was first initiated. Its first project was to build dormitories for students studying away from their hometowns and to fund their tuition and living expenses, the institute said.

From 1983, volunteers of the movement began building schools in Turkey and other countries and so far, over 1,000 schools have been built in some 140 countries, said the institute, which follows the teachings of Gulen.

The movement expanded into the ex-Soviet republics in Central Asia with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1994, and from 1997, began advocating inter-religious and intercultural dialogue, as well as humanitarian aid, it said.

Charities such as "Helping Hands" and "Kimse Yok Mu" (Is Anybody There) were established to bring aid to needy people around the world, it said.

Kimse Yok Mu, for example, has raised funds and has built some 20 schools for victims of the 2004 tsunami in Southeast Asia, flooding in Bangladesh and earthquakes in Pakistan, Peru and Haiti, it added.

Gulen's thoughts also inspired the founding of Zaman newspaper, the largest circulating daily in Turkey, the weekly magazine Aksiyon and Turkey's Cihan News Agency, which is active in more than 50 countries, the institute said.

The conference, held under the banner "Hizmet Movement and the Thoughts and Teachings of Fethullah Gulen: Contributions to Multiculturalism and Global Peace," will take


Published on Focus Taiwan, December 3, 2012
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Conference on Hizmet Movement to be held in Taipei

Hizmet Movement and the Thought and Teachings of Fethullah Gulen: Contributions to Multiculturalism and Global Peace


Taipei, Nov. 29 (CNA) An international conference on the Hizmet Movement, a civic movement inspired by the Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gulen, will be held in Taipei to promote its teachings and practices in Taiwan, organizers said Thursday.

The conference, held under the banner "Hizmet Movement and the Thought and Teachings of Fethullah Gulen: Contributions to Multiculturalism and Global Peace," is slated to take place Dec. 8-9 at National Taiwan University's College of Social Sciences.

Scholars from Taiwan, Turkey, the United States and Japan will discuss issues ranging from faith-inspired social movements and the structure, development and finance of the movement to Gulen's contributions to democracy, modern Islamic theology, science, education and charity, said the Taipei-based Formosa Institute, which is co-organizing the event with the Taiwan Association of Islamic Studies.

They will also discuss the philosophy of Hizmet (the Turkish word for "service"), compare Gulen's philosophy with Confucian thinking, and discuss the movement's stance on gender issues, the institute said.

Similar conferences have been held in countries including the U.S. and Britain, said the institute, an organization inspired by the teachings of Gulen and other intellectual and spiritual leaders.

Fethullah Gulen, a scholar, educator and author who advocates a moderate brand of Islam, has millions of followers around the world. He is known for making the remark "a terrorist cannot be a Muslim, nor can a true Muslim be a terrorist," after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the U.S. in 2001.

In July 2008, the 71-year-old Islamic scholar, who now lives in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, was voted by readers of the U.S.' Foreign Policy magazine and Britain's Prospect magazine as the world's top public intellectual in a poll.

Fethullah Gulen has inspired the founding of hundreds of schools, hospitals and businesses around the world, including schools in 140 countries.

His teachings advocate tolerance, peace and intercultural and interfaith dialogue, as well as mutual understanding among different religious and ethnic groups.

Work done by Gulen followers focus on issues ranging from democracy, multiculturalism and globalization to civil society and intercultural dialogue, the institute said.

Published on Focus Taiwan on November 29, 2012
(By Christie Chen)

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Fethullah Gulen – a humanist par excellence

Fethullah Gulen

This was consensus among speakers at an international conference on “Ideal human and ideal society in the thoughts of M Fethullah Gulen,” arranged at the Punjab University Law College Auditorium on Wednesday.

Fethullah Gulen is a key figure in Turkey and abroad. He is known as the founder of the Hizmet movement.

Senior faculty members and researchers from universities of Pakistan, Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Egypt, Turkey, Northern Ireland and USA spoke at the conference and presented their papers.

They included Linkages Director (External) Dr Maria Maldonado, Member of Turkish Parliament Dr Muhammad Cetin, Turkey’s Kaynak Holdings Chairman Nasi Tosun, The Fountain magazine editor Hakan Yesilova, Rumi Forum Pakistan Chairman Haron Koken, Lahore chapter Director Mesut Kacamz and Gallop Survey of Pakistan Chairman Dr Ijaz Shafi Gillani.

PU Acting Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Liaquat Ali said in his inaugural address that all-out efforts had been made for the successful organisation of the conference and it was hoped that the moot would achieve its goals.

Presiding over the first session of the conference, Islamia University Bahawalpur Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Muhammad Mukhtar said he was personally impressed by the thoughts of Fethullah Gulen whose clear message was globalisation.

“We should try to find out how we can transform our society into an ideal one in the light of Gulen’s thoughts,” he added.

Other speakers said Fethullah Gulen respected all religions and stressed in his teachings that a state that was neutral to religion was an ideal state. They said that Hizmet movement, which started in the late 1960’s, was a social movement and did not challenge or represent any government.

They said Hizmat Movement acted upon core Islamic principles and Gulen emphasised character building of individuals by making them part of the collective. The movement’s democratic component was collective decision making and implementing Islam’s Shoora principle. Fethullah Gulen believed in freedom of faith for all and provision of human rights to all.

In his message for the conference, Mr Gulen said raising a generation of ideal humans was not only a civic duty we had to shoulder; it was an indispensable one-way road for those of us who hold high hopes for the common future of humanity.

In the first session, Prof Dr Abida Ejaz, Dr Ihsan Yilmaz, Dr Alper Dede and Dr Johnston McMaster presented their research papers on different topics covering the theme of “Secularism, Democracy and Faith-based Activism”.

In the second session that was chaired by University of Management and Technology Rector Dr Hasan Sohaib Murad, Dr Maria Isabel Maldonado, Dr Aalia Sohail Khan, Ijaz Shafi Gillani, Dr Seema Arif and Dr Salih Yucel presented research papers on topics covering the theme of “Gulen’s philosophy on life, meaning and language.”

In the third session, chaired by University of Education Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Faizul Hasan, Dr Radhi al-Mabuk, Dr Ali Unsal, Dr Hafeezur Rehman, Dr Raazia Hassan Naqvi and Ibrar Mohmand, Dr Nabi Bux Jumani and Abdul Jabbar Bhatti presented research papers on topics covering the title of “Hizmet perspectives on education”.

Isra University Hyderabad Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Asadullah Qazi presided over the concluding session in which Dr Abdul Basit Mujahid, Dr Umbreen Javed, Muhammad Nawab and Muhammad Osman and Dr Bassem K Khafagy presented papers on “Case studies on Hizmet”.

Published on Dawn.com, November 21, 2012

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