How did he impart his understanding of the service ethic to the wider public?
Fethullah Gülen started to talk to people from all walks of life in Turkey.
He visited individuals, groups, cafes, small villages, towns and metropolitan cities. From street peddlers to industrialists and exporters, from secondary school students to postgraduates and faculty, from the common people to leading figures and elites, he imparted the same message to all: sound education and institutionalization, and to achieve that, altruistic contribution and services. He appealed to values that are present in all traditions and religions: duty, moral obligation, disinterested contribution, voluntary philanthropism and altruistic services.
His listeners set up student hostels, primary, secondary and high schools, universities, study centers, college-preparatory courses, press and media organs, publishing houses, student bursaries and research scholarships. The Gülen Movement participants played a modernizing role in the educational field. Their behavior towards the outside world translated into institutional support or an advanced form of cooperative social enterprise.
Fethullah Gülen genuinely believes in and encourages free enterprise. According to him, believers both in Turkey and abroad must be wealthy. He emphasizes education hand in hand with development, and economic and cultural togetherness. He recommends the knowledge against ignorance, work against poverty, and solidarity and cohesion against disunity and schism.
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