Fethullah Gülen and Sufism
The meeting I attended at Houston was for some reason mainly concerned with Fethullah Gülen's work pertaining to Sufism.
In my address entitled, "The Last Reformer of the Ulema Tradition," I drew attention to the multiple sided work of Fethullah Gülen, then I emphasized on two of his aspects: his being a representative of civil Islam and his profile as an intellectual-ulema.
Undoubtedly, Gülen's interest in Sufism cannot be overlooked. Nevertheless, the Sufi tradition is one of the main channels of the Islamic heritage of thought and learning. If we consider humans as a being constituted of the three dimensions, reason/mind, soul/interior and practical/social then we should say a human's first dimension concerns the articles of faith, catechism/Gülen's, "Emerald Hills of the Heart: Key Concepts in the Practice of Sufism," (Kalbin Zümrüt Tepeleri) has already acquired the value of a classic and will without exaggeration be the most important work of the Sufi literature. Notwithstanding this, Gülen is not a Sufi. He looks neither like a sheikh of a Sufi order nor like a dervish (adept).
Said Nursi is one of the main sources Gülen draws on. A high level of contemplative activity is present in Said Nursi but, the Sufi paradigm is not as evidently marked. On the contrary, Said Nursi is of the opinion that what the present era demands are not Sufi orders. As far as I can understand, one motive behind Fethullah Gülen's preoccupation with the Sufi tradition is to confer a spiritual depth to the movement he represents; for one of the most blatant defects of the modern Islamic movements is their settling with an arid rationalistic and politic discourse. The other motive is the wish to open an inner and transcendent window in the world outlook of the modern men and women. Both, motives are important and can be realized through the means provided by the Sufi tradition.
It is clear Gülen's followers do not have the organizational structure of a Sufi order. They are not organized along the lines of an orderly hierarchy, nor do they have rigid rituals. They attach importance to worship, moral life, solidarity and brotherhood but they do not follow these in an orderly decorum and they do not held regular ziqr communions (communions in which Allah's names are chanted). Their principal motto is "hizmet" (service). In Sufi orders the motto is rather "salvation and maturity." Gülen's interest in the Sufi tradition remains at a theoretical level; there is however complete loyalty to the Quran and the Sunnah. He may have thought using the means provided by the Sufi tradition would make the task of reaching the Western public more fitting and easier.
However, we should be careful on one point: sometimes the demand determines the supply, and the demand cannot always be said to be decent, good and right. In introducing Gülen to the West we should take into account that the West will be inclined to reduce Gülen and generally Islam to their relative, privatized and marginalized understanding of the religion. Most Westerners can accept Islam only within this framework. The Sufi tradition presents a ground suitable for such a reduction. The West is often inclined to perceive religious figures as metaphysical creatures and gurus with special powers of the sort we see in Eastern religions, rather than as scholars, guides (murshid), educators and reformers (muctehit) as the Islamic tradition does. If the general framework and the dose of the recourse to the Sufi tradition are not well adjusted, we may one day find Gülen as a guru from Turkey in the eyes of the Westerners; yet we consider him above such attributes.
In the meetings in the US, some place emphasis exclusively on the Sufi tradition as they search an answer for the question "What is true Islam?" There are even strange and illegitimate groups which regard themselves as "non-Muslim Sufis" and "non-Muslim Nakshis." Gülen's multi-faceted personality and the comprehensive emphasis he puts on Islam in his life and intellectual production will forestall such absurd tendencies. What needs to be done is to place everything in the right place and to avoid going from one extreme to the other. During our visit, I communicated these fears of mine to Gülen. I asked some other things as well. If Allah avails, I plan to write about these on Wednesday.
ZAMAN
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