An Icon of Universal Peace
Men, like Fethullah Gülen, are born once in centuries, who light the candle of hope and optimism in the abysmal darkness of religious deviation, political turmoil, social disintegration and cultural disharmony in order to take entire humanity on the right track towards universal peace.
Fethullah Gülen, who is known by his pious and austere lifestyle, is a scholar of astonishing proportions. This man for all seasons was born in Erzurum, eastern Turkey, in 1941. He did his graduation from a private divinity school in Erzurum, obtained his licence and started to preach religious tolerance and harmony. His educational and social reform endeavors have made him one of Turkey's most eminent and esteemed public figures since the 1960's.
Gülen has emerged as one of the most persuasive and influential voices in the Muslim community calling for dialogue as a step towards universal peace. His clarion call first attracted thousands of young generation in Turkey and later spread its wings over the entire world.
An important dimension of peace, distinguished by Gülen, is universal or global. He emphasized the importance of the indispensability of religion and intercultural dialogue for the world peace through his efforts to meet with other religious and community leaders within his native country and abroad. Besides the rules that guarantee peace and security, there are several references in the Quran related to attitudes that should be taken against criminals and people who are directly or indirectly responsible for creating an atmosphere of anarchy and terror; for such people there are legal sanctions, chastisement and retaliations.
Gülen reiterated in his speeches and sermons that peace, justice and stability are of the utmost significance to Islam; fighting and war are only secondary options which are bound to specific reasons and conditions. He opposes the use of violence to achieve vested political interests and teaches his followers that it is sinful to get aims by using unfair means. "In today's enlightened world, the only way to get others to accept your ideas and ways is by persuasion and the use of convincing argument."
It is only through mutual understanding, inter-religious and intercultural dialogue, and a process of mutual respect that communities can coexist in harmony and agreement. The reverse of it could be a religious catastrophe, political strife and cultural cacophony.
Gülen evinces the yearning for a time of peace and prosperity for all. Even though the consideration of the world as a village becomes firmer and more prevalent over the course of time, different beliefs, races, customs and traditions will continue to cohabit in this village. Gülen powerfully argues that the peace of this global village lies in respecting all the differences, considering the differences to be part of nature and in ensuring that people welcome and share them.
A major concept related to Gülen's teaching on peace is his understanding of the word 'nation'. Although this concept refers particularly to the Muslim world and the Turkish nation in the context of their roles in shaping human history, as major players and representatives of global peace, there is certainly more to it than just the concept of one particular nation, especially when we look with Gülen's vision and his idealism of dialogue and universal peace.
Realistically speaking, Gülen was one of the first Muslim leaders who, within 24 hours, vehemently denounced the 9/11 incident in a press release. He regarded the atrocities as a great blow to the world peace that unfairly tarnished the credit of believers. He remarked: "Terror can never be used in the name of Islam or for the sake of any Islamic ends. A terrorist cannot be a Muslim and a Muslim cannot be a terrorist. A Muslim can only be the representative and symbol of peace, welfare and prosperity."
He further defines a Muslim as a person of love and affection, who avoids every kind of terrorist activity and who has no malice or hatred for anyone or anything. To him, true Muslims can only be the most trustworthy representatives of universal peace. He suggests that education is the only method to understand global peace and progress in the real perspective. The educational initiatives inspired by him from the perspective of peaceful coexistence paved the way for building Universal Peace.
Gülen is convinced that a better and peaceful future for humanity can be established only through universal and inter-cultural education. An education of the heart and soul as well as of the mind and character, aimed at reviving and invigorating the whole being to achieve competence and providing goods and services useful to others. Education is the most important element in the Gülen movement and it is also an effective tool for the durability of the movement. The Gülen movement opened hundreds of schools all around the world. In these schools, children from different ethnic and cultural backgrounds are educated by mainly Turkish graduates from renowned Turkish universities.
These schools seem to do justice to their name by employing an equal number of Christians, Muslims and teachers from the local community, by educating Muslim and Christian children and by promoting cooperation with Christian institutions in the area. An overwhelming majority of the people hailing from different strata of society emphasized that the process of education for harvesting peace is a lifelong process and it extends from early childhood to adulthood as modes and levels of education.
Gülen's educational understanding for building peace encourages learners to draw lessons and inspirations from the role models provided by innumerable human beings respected for practicing values, virtues and conduct that transcend greed, animosities and lust for power.
Besides, Gülen has a strong conviction that the unswerving and true path to peace and justice for humanity depends on the provision of an adequate education that amalgamate scientific knowledge with spiritual and ethical values. Many of his group believe that educational practices, media activities and dialogue projects inspired by him to build a culture of peace promote key values in various faith and spiritual traditions. These traditions have been recognized through interfaith and intercultural dialogue as a body of common and shared values for guiding peaceful conduct and relations among peoples, communities and nations.
The movement's schools form 'white islands' on the earth, what Gülen calls "islands of peace." The schools form, "peace islands" where cultures and civilizations meet and reach a consensus. His volunteer movement is a framework of emphasizing and gathering around universal humane virtues and a framework of respect for the position of those having different perceptions, beliefs and thoughts.
Peace building through education is a sustainable reconciliation in divided societies. Gülen's educational vision involves not only schools, but also families, communities and the media, both electronic and print. Gülen claims a holistic education requiring a learning circle that consists of family, school, friends, neighbors, faith and cultural organizations and workplaces. This allows children from an early age to learn that they are members of communities (local or global) who need to live together in harmony and peace.
From tolerance and dialogue, Gülen understands embracing people regardless of differences of opinion, world-view, ideology, ethnicity or belief. There is a need to recognize that differences do exist and the objective is not to "correct" but to hear and listen to the other side.
In practical terms, we can say that a dialoguer needs to create a new, local or universal paradigm so as to facilitate peaceful interpretation of the actual reality. We, as different adherents of different faiths, ideologies and religions, need to speak to each other in a way to heal the paradigm, to reverse vicious circles of misunderstandings and prejudices. The end product of this healing of the paradigm is not only peace, but existence. This is the main point of the dialogical philosophy for the sake of peaceful coexistence.
In today's global village, borders have blurred and several cultures come into contact more often and more intensively with each other. The interethnic and inter-religious climate throughout the world has undergone a dramatic change in recent years. Social mediation and peaceful coexistence within the context of cultural, ethnic and religious divisions, hierarchies, rivalries and conflicts that are grounded in socio-economic and political realities have become necessities of our time in order to maintain social harmony and universal peace.
Gülen has developed a peaceful approach to religion and science as two aspects of the same reality complementing one another. He inspired civic-cum-educational movement to build a peaceful world based on dialogue, tolerance, respect and compassion, and to raise individuals who use their intellect, zeal and lust lawfully and in moderation. History has proved that such movements that are logically based on strong moral and ethical values never cease.
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