From Chicago to Houston: Clues for "Renaissance" in Islamic Thought...
Houston is the fourth largest city of the United States, and the capital of oil companies. Houston is also well known as a medical center with a claim to be making the most significant progress in cancer treatment.
We have not had direct contact with the Turkish agenda for the last few days. In an age of "globalization" and thanks to the Internet and other communication media, the world has become a smaller place. We are aware of what happened in Şemdinli and we have already developed a conviction about its nature; but we are not breathing the air as in Turkey. We are at a distance.
First we were in the middle of the USA, in Chicago, and now we are in Houston, Texas. There is no Washington. There are no American politics.
Then, what? Why are we here?
First in Chicago, then in Houston, we have been following two conferences which are taking place consecutively. The first gathering in Chicago was entitled "Diverse Faiths, Shared Values," and the theme was "interfaith dialogue" and "harmony between civilizations," with the thought of Fethullah Gülen at its center. The of the conference in Houston is "Islam in the Contemporary World: The Fethullah Gülen Movement in Thought and Practice."
I have witnessed and learned from my Chicago-Houston experience that Fethullah Gülen, a person who grew up in Turkey, who emerged from Turkey, can be at the center of international academic attention and a debate of international scale, as well as establishing the theme of exhaustive papers that have been submitted by prominent Western theologians and scholars of Islam-especially from American universities-to a conference which cannot be organized in Turkey, even today.
Scholars coming from various corners of the world have discussed Fethullah Gülen for two days in different venues like the Chicago Cultural Center, one of the most glorious and historical buildings of the city, the campuses of the University of Chicago, Loyola University, and DePaul University.
Chicago leads the list of the "most colorful" cities of America, each one of which is multicultural and multifaith. Just to give an example, Chicago is the city second after Warsaw to have the largest Polish population. The opening ceremony featured almost all the leading Christian personalities of the city, including the Catholic Archbishop, together with Orthodox and Protestant clergy. Theologians and scholars of Islam from the most distinguished universities of the country (Harvard, Columbia, Georgetown etc.) participated in this conference to discuss topics like "Sufi Thought and Contemporary Issues," "The Gülen Movement and Interfaith Dialogue." "Is Fethullah Gülen a Sufi? Or Can he be considered among the Ulama?" "Where does his educationalist identity fit?" "Can he be defined as neo-platonic?" "Can he be compared with al-Ghazzali, or Rumi?"
Fazlur Rahman, the great Pakistani thinker of Islam in the twentieth century, taught at the University of Chicago for many years. Fazlur Rahman left his country and came to Chicago "in exile." His thoughts, which flourished in Chicago, influenced Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country. The most significant Islamic thinkers of Indonesia were Fazlur Rahman's students in Chicago (an interesting note: Fazlur Rahman deeply influenced Professor Mehmet Aydin, a minister of state in the present government of Tayyip Erdoğan in Turkey). What I am trying to say is that Chicago already has a tradition of "studies and discussions of Islamic thought." What about Houston?
Turkey came to know this city during the series of medical operations that Turgut Özal underwent years back. Turkish journalists landed in this city numerous times in the last twenty years. I have come twice and passed through on my way to Mexico 5 years ago. But I never thought I would come back to this city for this purpose. I never thought I would be in this city to participate in this conference entitled "Islam in the Contemporary World: The Fethullah Gülen Movement in Thought and Practice," to listen to papers with highly theoretical content presented by notable American and European scholars at Rice University, the most prestigious educational institution of the city.
The topics of the papers are indeed mind-boggling and stimulating. "Fethullah Gülen's contribution to Muslim-Christian dialogue in the context of Abrahamic cooperation" compares Fethullah Gülen with Louis Massignon, the renowned French thinker and scholar of Islam. What about this one: "Dialogue: Greek foundations and the thought of Fethullah Gülen and Jürgen Habermas." And this: "Religions, globalization and dialogue in the 21st century. Fethullah Gülen and Arnold J. Toynbee."
Let me list a few more topics: "Fethullah Gülen's neo-sufism: An inventional analysis." "From Whitman to Gülen: Visions of the future of evolving democracy." "Gülen and Al-Ghazzali on Tolerance." "Progressive Islamic thought, civil society and the Gülen movement in the national context: Parallels with Indonesia."
Until today I have not heard a name that has emerged from Turkey being placed next to the names listed above.
I have always argued that Turkey, the most developed Muslim country, as it progresses towards the European Union, should also lead the "renaissance" of Islamic thought. What I saw in Houston were indications that this may actually take place.
BUGÜN
- Created on .