COMMENTARY

I have just returned from Turkey, one of the world’s most beautiful countries. What has stayed deeply in my mind, however, is not the country’s picture-perfect postcard beauty, but its people, its modern take on Islam and a host of questions for my own country.

During the visit, we _ a group of media people from Thailand _ met a number of socially engaged entrepreneurs, charity groups, news media organisations and universities whose works are inspired by Turkish spiritual leader and Islamic scholar, Fethullah Gulen.

Forgive my ignorance, but I had never heard of his name before my visit, although he was voted by the award-winning Foreign Policy magazine as one of the world’s top 100 public intellectuals in 2008. The readers, however, voted him the world’s No.1 thinker, thanks to a global network of millions of his supporters.

Is this a cult or what? That was the first question that sprang to my mind. But a cult operates in a closed, hierarchical organisation with a central leader who often boasts divine connections and an ultimate answer to save the world. Cults are dangerous.

The messages from the Gulen or Hizmet (service) movement, however, are compassion, humanism, tolerance through inter-faith dialogues, community service and the pursuit of modern education, particularly the study of science to discover God’s laws in the natural world.

An advocate of moderate Islam, Mr Gulen condemns all forms of terrorism while believing Islam is compatible with globalisation.

His supporters are the upwardly mobile entrepreneurs and professionals who embrace the social service encouraged by Mr Gulen. They insist there is no central organisation, just a network of like-minded civil society.

“The problem now is in representation of Islam, the wrong interpretations,” said one Gulen-inspired businessman, Mustafa Sasmaz.

“In Islam, you cannot kill people for religion. In today’s world, the true jihad is in education, in our giving to help others. If we help one kid to have an education, we’re helping society. We’re only temporary caretakers of God’s properties. Why hold on to it without sharing?”

Original post: