Why did Fethullah Gülen stop lecturing and preaching to the masses after the 1980s?

In 1989, Fethullah Gülen was approached by the Directorate of Religious Affairs and asked to resume his duties. His license was reinstated to enable him to serve as an Emeritus Preacher with the right to preach in any mosque in Turkey. Between 1989 and 1991, he preached in Istanbul on Fridays and on alternate Sundays in Istanbul and Izmir in the largest mosques in the cities. His sermons drew crowds in the tens of thousands, numbers unprecedented in Turkish history. These sermons were videotaped and also broadcast.

At the beginning of the 1990s, the police uncovered a number of conspiracies by marginal militant Islamists and other small ideological groups to assassinate Gülen. These groups also placed agents provocateurs in the areas around the mosques where he preached with the aim of fomenting disorder when the crowds were dispersing after Gülen’s sermons. Due to Gülen’s warnings and the already established peaceful practices of the Movement, these attempts failed and the agents provocateurs were dealt with by the police.

In 1991, Fethullah Gülen once again ceased preaching to large mosque congregations. He felt that some people were trying to manipulate or exploit his presence and the presence of Movement participants at these large public gatherings. However, he continued to be active in community life, in teaching small groups and taking part in the collective action of the Movement.

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