Known by his simple and austere life style, Fethullah Gülen, affectionately called Hodjaefendi by his admirers, is a scholar of extraordinary proportions. This man for all seasons was born in Erzurum, Eastern Turkey, in 1938. Upon graduation from Divinity School he obtained his license to preach and teach.He has taken great pains in communicating to the society the importance of human understanding and tolerance. His efforts since 1960s for social reforms, have made him one of the most well-known and respected public figures in Turkey. He has millions of followers throughout the world. He has devoted his life to find solutions to society’s ills and spiritual needs.

Though simple in outward appearance, he is considerably original in many of his ideas and in his way of activity. He embraces all humanity, is deeply averse to unbelief, injustice and deviations. He is as profound in belief and feelings as he is wise and rational in his ideas and approach to problems. In a manner that may seem to some paradoxical, to the same extent that he is an example of love, ardor and feeling, he is extraordinarily balanced in his thoughts and acts and in his treatment of matters.

The intellectuals and scholars of present Turkey who know him, tacitly or explicitly acknowledge Fethullah Gülen as one of the most serious and important thinkers and writers, and among the wisest activists of twentieth-century Turkey or even of the Muslim world. Despite this and his leadership of a new revival in the intellectual, social and spiritual dimensions of Islam, a revival with a potential to embrace at least a considerable part of the world, he is never proud and remains a humble servant of God Almighty and a most modest friend among human beings.

Desire for fame is the same as show and ostentation and it is a poisonous honey extinguishing the spiritual liveliness of the heart,

is one of the golden rules he follows.

During his whole life-time, Fethullah Gülen has tried to voice the cries and laments of all Muslim peoples in particular and the whole of mankind in general, as well as their belief, hopes and aspirations. He is of the character that he can bear his own sorrows, but the sorrows arising from the calamities visiting people crush him. He feels each blow delivered at humanity to be delivered first at his own heart. He feels himself so deeply and inwardly connected to the whole creation that once he said:

Whenever I see a leaf fall from its branch in autumn, I feel as much pain as if my arm was amputated.

That is why he always suffers inwardly