A Conservative and A Revolutionary at the Same Time?
A recent conference held at Germany's Potsdam University ended with a clear conviction: Further studies need to be done on the Gülen movement and on solutions it proposes for problems faced by the modern world. Several papers presented during the conference ended with a "this can be the issue of the next conference" statement.
Though several questions were left untouched, the conference was a great success in the sense that it not only clarified certain reservations held by participants, but it also managed to reach the general public through media attention of the issue.
The conference had 32 participants, not one of whom deserves less attention. But Dr. Rainer Hermann's concise presentation came as a first among equals. Dr. Hermann has been observing the Gülen movement for more than 10 years. He was the very first Western intellectual to realize that the Gülen movement did not offer an alternative to the secular-democratic system, but to the politicization of Islam. At Potsdam, Hermann skillfully placed the Gülen movement on the social map of modern Turkey: "The Republic of Turkey is not a secular state with a separation between religion and state, but rather a laicistic state whose elites have long attempted to banish religion from society.
Indeed, the ruling Kemalist elites still believe that the moment a religion expands beyond the private domain, it must necessarily become political and impose a theocratic order upon the state and society. Fethullah Gülen deserves the credit for overturning these prejudices. Gülen has made Islam into a social force that has fuelled much of Turkey's democratization and modernization. People, and not politics, form the focus of his sermons and ideas… All this is new for Turkey, where the official discourse has never focused on the individual, but rather on the perceived need to fight the motherland's inner and outer foes to preserve national security," he told the conference. "Gülen's work has fostered a form of Islam in Turkey that lives in harmony with the West and modern ideas without sacrificing any precepts of its faith. The work of Gülen's followers in Turkey shows that Islam -- as taught by Gülen -- seeks tolerance, not conflict; it aims for a better society, not political power; and it manifests itself in prayer and concrete local action," he said.
Hermann was not the only one who expressed his appreciation of the work of the Gülen movement, and the conference was not altogether uncritical. Dr. Bekim Agai of the University of Halle, Germany, told the audience that thanks to the activities of the Gülen movement, Europe's Turkish migrants are no longer a part of the continent's problems, but rather its solvers, and not only on issues relating to the migrants themselves. On the other hand, Agai questioned Gülen's decision and that of his movement to not be the spokespersons of any collective on the face of the fact that German public opinion is searching for a Muslim actor whom it can take as an interlocutor.
Professor Wolfgang Kaschuba of Humboldt University warned that the migration issue is still a minefield in German society. "Having failed to appeal to the society with their anti-Jewish rhetoric, the neo-Nazis are showing Muslims as the enemies of German society now. They hope that the society will embrace this idea easily," he said. Professor Walter Homolk, a rabbi, observed that the conference was a timely one, referring to the imminence of this threat and the ignorance of the Western society of the work of the Gülen movement. "There are people who resemble the Gülen movement to the Jesuits. Others claim that it is the Muslim Opus Dei and yet some others claim that it is the Muslim equivalent of the Focolare Movement. It cannot be all of these. We need to study this movement more thoroughly," he said.
Professor Karel Steenbrink of Utrecht University said two of his colleagues suggested he not come to the conference on the grounds that he "will be used by THEM as a show of outsider's support." Ercan Karakoyun of the Forum for Intercultural Dialogue Berlin (FID BERLIN e.V.) said that precisely these kinds of prejudices led them to organize the conference. Professor Admiel Kosman, also an organizer of the conference, read Gülen's message at the conference and said that the findings of the conference should also be conveyed to the general public. Kosman suggested that a "joint study house" be founded in either Berlin or İstanbul where Muslim, Christian and Jewish texts and traditions can be studied and a new generation of imams, priests and rabbis educated with the kind of openness and tolerance Gülen promotes.
Professor Rita Süssmuth, a former president of the Bundestag, further dramatized the need for education of the general society about Islam by conveying her experience. "I ask German youth what they think the Quran says about Jesus. They say, [he's an] archenemy of Islam. I ask them what they think the Quran says about violence. Their answer is not from the Quran, but from the pages of the Bild newspaper," she said.
A controversial paper was presented by Swedish academic Dr. Klas Grinell. Though he accepted that the Gülen movement is not engaged in party politics and is not looking for an overtaking of the political power, Grinell claimed that the movement has a political stance. "This movement supports democracy, human rights and the EU membership of Turkey. This is a political position," he said. Grinell said that having studied Gülen textually, he regards him as a conservative leader. But on the other hand, Grinell names Gülen as a perfect match for decolonial political theory. "Gülen is looking for dignity from within and not from outside when it comes to producing knowledge," he said. This is a revolutionary position in epistemology, indeed. Grinell had no explanation for labeling Gülen both a conservative and a revolutionary, but his contribution underlined the fact that the Gülen movement should not be studied in reference to the Jesuits, Opus Dei or the Focolare Movement. If decoloniality is a part of Gülen's revolutionary epistemology, it should be studied in reference to its own dynamics only. This should be the theme of a future conference.
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