This article discusses the ongoing developments and transformations of the Gülen-Movement (hizmet) due to deviating factors in Turkey and Germany. Florian Volm (2015): Die Gülen-Bewegung im (trans)nationalen Spannungsfeld. Perspektiven... more
This article discusses the ongoing developments and transformations of the Gülen-Movement (hizmet) due to deviating factors in Turkey and Germany.
Florian Volm (2015): Die Gülen-Bewegung im (trans)nationalen Spannungsfeld. Perspektiven auf lokale Anpassungsprozesse in Deutschland, in: Friedman Eißler (Hg.): Die Gülen-Bewegung (Hizmet). Herkunft, Strukturen, Ziele, Erfahrungen. EZW-Texte 238, Berlin, p. 95-106.
This volume covers the origins, historical development, and ideas of one of the largest and most influential Islamic movements in the world, the Gulen Hizmet Movement. Founded during the Cold War under the inspiration of M. Fethullah... more
This volume covers the origins, historical development, and ideas of one of the largest and most influential Islamic movements in the world, the Gulen Hizmet Movement. Founded during the Cold War under the inspiration of M. Fethullah Gulen, the GHM expanded to over 130 countries by the first decade of the twenty first century. The movement's circumspect activism sheltered it from illiberal secular practices in Turkey and has guided it through the anxious post-Cold War process of globalization. This edited volume covers various characteristics of the movement from Gulen's unconventional oratory to his educational philosophy. Also, the book covers Gulen's ideas on Islam and democracy and the GHM's indirect political engagement compared to the direct engagement of the Muslim Brotherhood. Other chapters in the book cover the role of women in the movement, the GHM's creation of an alternative public sphere for pious Muslims, and the tension this creation instills in light of Secularism Theory, which is analyzed comparatively with American religious pluralism. The last two chapters question the effectiveness of interfaith dialogue activities promoted by the movement's adherents. A concluding section seeks to synthesize this interdisciplinary scholarship in order to assess the GHM's overall gestalt as a social movement.
Prospect (UK) and Foreign Policy (USA) conducted a global poll 2008 to determine the hundred most important public intellectuals. The top ten turned out to be Muslims. Identity politics notwithstanding, they offer us a cross-section of... more
Prospect (UK) and Foreign Policy (USA) conducted a global poll 2008 to determine the hundred most important public intellectuals. The top ten turned out to be Muslims. Identity politics notwithstanding, they offer us a cross-section of diverse views that influence the world of contemporary Islam. The course, allowing us to eavesdrop in the conversation that Muslims are having among themselves, is in a series on alterity i.e. we need to know the ‘other’ to know ourselves.
Lecture 1: African Perspective: Mahmood Mamdani Lecture 2: South Asian Perspective: Aitzaz Ahsan, Muhammad Yunus Lecture 3: Egyptian Perspective: Amr Khaled, Yusuf al-Qaradawi Lecture 4: Iranian Perspective: Shirin Ebadi, Abdolkarim Soroush Lecture 5: Turkish Perspective: Orhan Pamuk, Fethullah Gulen Lecture 6: European Perspective: Tariq Ramadan
In the wake of the July 2016 putsch and the subsequent purge of followers of the outlawed Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen in every sphere of Turkish life under the ruling AKP government's state of emergency, the Gülen movement (GM) is in... more
In the wake of the July 2016 putsch and the subsequent purge of followers of the outlawed Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen in every sphere of Turkish life under the ruling AKP government's state of emergency, the Gülen movement (GM) is in disarray and crisis. A fruitful way to bring some analytical order to this issue is through the frame of diaspora, which we contend provides some useful analytical purchase on understanding the movement historically and in transition. The GM as it stood prior to 2016 is, we contend, best conceived as a transnational parapolitical network—a 'diaspora by design'—dedicated principally to the service, not of humanity, but of power. Based on interviews with over 70 key members of the movement conducted between 2012 and 2018, we show how, from the late 1990s Gülen and his supporters crafted a complex transnational structure that has combined extensive financial operations with a distinctive organizational morphology. We map out the contours of this structure and show how it emerged over time via instrumentalization of Gülen's parapolitical ideology and the steady accretion of politically directed, corporate projects outside Turkey. Finally, drawing again on the notion of diaspora, we offer a framework for thinking about how the movement may evolve in future as it transitions to a fragmented community in transnational in political exile.
