A Voice of Love
If Fethullah Gülen's offers to the Pope are put into effect, it will have far-reaching consequences. First of all, the dialogue between the three religions will be strengthened and, in the atmosphere of close cooperation, [the shrill voices of] fanaticism will be drowned. Second, Turkey will be a centerboard the coming together of world religions.
In particular, the offer to make Harran a base where the three religions are taught, and the scholars from each of them teach together, is marvelous and of great importance for both world peace and putting an end to the sufferings of the people of the region. This offer will be wholeheartedly supported to the end.
I regret the non-coverage of this event by the dailies of some Muslim groups. The best-selling dailies - Hurriyet, Sabah, Milliyet, Aksam, Posta - reported this meeting on their front pages and gave further coverage to it on their inside pages. However, some of the dailies published by some Muslim groups either did not attach to the event its rightful importance or preferred to ignore it altogether. This is largely because of their jealous rivalry and partly because some of them are politically oriented.
In addition to the individuals quoted, other influential columnists such as Zeynep Gogus and Cengiz Candar of Sabah and Riza Zelyut of Aksam also expressed their approval of Fehtullah Gülen's meeting with the Pope.
This meeting was discussed on a privately-run TV channel. In the panel chaired by Nevval Sevindi, an anthropologist and famous intellectual writing for Yeni Yuzyil, Professors Suat Yildirim and Nevzat Yalcintas, Taha Akyol, a sociologist and another of the most well-known intellectuals who writes for the daily Milliyet, Abdullah Aymaz, the editor of the daily Zaman, and Professor Niyazi Oktem, discussed the meeting and expressed their support for it. Also, one of the best-selling weeklies of Turkey, Aksiyon, made the meeting a cover story and published an interview with Fehtullah Gülen. A summarized excerpt from that interview follows:
Q: At a time when theories of the clash of civilizations are being discussed and NATO has declared [the] Islam[ic world] the chief enemy, you make attempts for a world-wide dialogue. What factors urge you to make such attempts?
A: The idea that the world is on the threshold of new clashes is the expectation of those whose power and continued domination depend on continuous conflicts. However, as the Quran puts it, man is a noble creature and in pursuit of good things. While searching for the good and beautiful, sometimes he may encounter undesirable things. What urges me to make attempts for a world-wide dialogue is the innate nobility and beauty of man.
Q: Do you attach importance to the relevant commandments or rules of the Qur'an or the Prophet in your initiatives?
A: The Quran urges peace, order and accord. It aims at universal peace and order, and opposes conflicts and dissensions. It is interesting that the actions acceptable to God are called in the Quran actions to bring peace and order. Our Prophet described fighting in the way of God as minor jihad. Because it is undertaken only to remove obstacles before pefecting man morally and spiritually, and to bring about peace and order in human society. The real aim is to perfect man and to bring about peace and order. When this cannot be achieved by desirable ways such as education and when you are exposed to unjust attacks, only then minor jihad can be resorted to. Therefore, the minor jihad is not a rule, it serves only as a last resort.
Q: How did the process leading to the meeting with the Pope begin and develop?
A: It is not possible to achieve something positive in an atmosphere where enmities prevail and through reactionary measures. As social, civilized beings, especially in our day when human values are given prominence even though rather verbally, men can and should solve the problems between them through dialogue. It is our belief - a belief shared by sociologists and political analysts - that religions will have greater word in the next century. Islam and Christianity are the two religions with the largest following. Buddhism and Hinduism also have considerable following. Judaism has influence of its own If we expect a universal revival toward the end of time, then this requires, as a preliminary condition, the cooperation of these great religions on the essentials common to them.
We have no doubt about the truth of our values. We urge no one to join us and I think that no one conceives of urging us toward their religion. The Quran made a universal call of dialogue to the followers of other heavenly religions. Unfortunately, however, the centuries following the call of the Qur'an witnessed conflicts and quarrels rather than dialogue and mutual understanding. Our time is the time of addressing the intellects and hearts, and this requires a peaceful atmosphere with mutual trust and respect. The conditions of the Hudaybiya Treaty seemed unacceptable to the Companions at first glance. However, the Quran described it as an opening, because, in the peaceful atmosphere following the Treaty, the doors of hearts were opened to Islamic truths. We have no intention to conquer lands or peoples, but we are resolved to contribute to world peace and a peaceful order and harmony by which our old world will find a last happiness before its final destruction.
Life, he has proven himself able to translate personal faith and high erudition into a language that is clear and comprehensible, a language which ennobles those who hear or read his words, and inspires them to the service of their fellow human beings - and that is, for the great majority of us, the best way to practice serving God. It is no exaggeration to say that his life's work as a whole illustrates the ancient maxim: 'think like a learned man but express yourself like the ordinary people'.
That is why his message has moved millions world-wide, why it can be effectively translated into different languages, why it can be put into programs of action that work in the real world. That too is why his followers have not been deviated by the success of their movement into political ambition, into engaging in or provoking divisiveness, belligerence, the kind of activism that soon degenerates into a party fanaticism, excluding more people than it includes, hurting more than it heals and, in the end, however unintentionally, doing more harm than good. The movement Fethullah Gülen helped to nurture and encourage is a movement to educate, but to educate the heart and soul as well as the mind, to revive and invigorate the whole being: a 'graduate' from this movement is not only competent in his or her job or profession in the world but also understands and is dedicated to the full meaning and purpose of achieving competence and delivering useful goods and services to others. Individuals who lack an intelligent, alert relationship with the moral and spiritual values of their tradition, are (to all intents and purposes) culturally orphaned. They are liable to self-doubt and disappointment with themselves, and they are vulnerable to those around them who are all too keen to rob them of their self-worth and their material and cultural wealth. So too a society that cuts itself off from its religious and cultural traditions is, as it were, morally beheaded, and risks blundering here and there, without sure direction or steady self-confidence.
The schools and colleges associated with the name and work of Fethullah Gülen number in their hundreds and are established in all four corners of the world; similarly, the publications and electronic media channels associated with him are translated into the major world languages. This has been achieved in a little over thirty-five years, a single generation, without the help of national or foreign government support. All the funds and resources used by this movement have been donated or generated by its own members, privately, individually, in small increments - reliable, long-term service. This quality of dedicated support has been earned and sustained by Compassion. Fethullah Gülen's faith and message are rooted in his compassion, itself rooted in his yearning to seek the pleasure of God. But how has he been able to articulate and communicate this compassion to so many?
The compassion that moves Fethullah Gülen and by which he moves so many others, is of a very unique character and importance. When we realize that there are many millions who have long been suffering thirst for intellectual and spiritual contentment and a overall peace, a believing man's compassion is bewildered. We fear the problem is too big to tackle; we either avoid the issue or seek refuge in gestures - the language of bitterness, hating the situation and unable to find any good in it; the language of vain fantasy, able to visualize the goal we wish to reach but helpless to design and take the first, second, third and other necessary steps to attain that goal. Fethullah Gülen is a man of different temper: his faith protected him from loss of hope, his conviction of the Mercy of God and the need to accept His Decree, the ease and the hardship of it, enabled him to seek, even in the situation which led to the disorientation and humiliation of those millions and other millions like them, whatever could be of positive value. Loyalty to his religious belief enabled him to recognize the shortcomings of the believers which had led them to their present pass, and the good qualities of those who had skillfully and subtly exploited the believers' weaknesses; the same loyalty enabled his compassion to remain positive and vigorous, and fed his imagination with ideas and ideals which would, from within the realities of modern civilization, re-discover the Muslims of Turkey and many more in other countries the dignity and dynamism that are ingrained in man - the noblest of God's creatures. He expelled rancor from his heart and let compassion grow in its place; he maintained his vision of the desired goal and took, and motivated others to take, one at a time, the steps that must be taken to attain that goal.
Despite the originality of his ideas and the success of his movement, Fethullah Gülen remains a modest, unassuming man. He once described celebrity as 'a poisonous honey' which reduces the spiritual vigor of the heart. Therefore, he has always steadfastly refused worldly honors, wealth, prestige and the like. Whoever has met him has come away with a clear impression of a profoundly and sincerely religious man, without affectation or pretension of any sort. He persuades by reasoned arguments based upon faith and idealism, and his mission has prospered to a degree so astonishing in so short a period that one must conclude that he has touched universal, perennially effective truths and conveys them to others with an almost irresistibly persuasive wisdom. His efforts, especially in the area of educational and social reform, have made him one of the most well-known and respected public figures of the last half century in Turkey."
AKSAM
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