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Fethullah Gülen is
well-known for his ardent endeavors to strengthen bonds among all peoples of the world. He
maintains that the bonds among the people of not only an individual country but the whole
world are much more than those separating them. So, there should be established a sincere,
strong dialogue and tolerance among them. To this end, he pioneered in the establishment
of a foundation called The Foundation of Journalists and Writers, the activities of which
to promote dialogue and tolerance among all strata of the society receive warm welcome
from almost all walks of life. Again to this end, Fethullah Gülen visits and receives
especially leading figures not only from the Turkish people, but from all over the world.
In Turkey, the Vatican Ambassador to Turkey, the Patriarch of the Turkish Orthodox people,
the Patriarch of the Turkish Armenian community, the Chief Rabbi of the Turkish Jewish
community and many others including leading journalists, columnists, TV and movie stars
and thinkers of varying views, are among those with whom he meets.
Fethullah
Gülen unequivocally believes and asserts that If you wish to keep masses under control
simply starve them for knowledge. Only way to get out from under tyranny is through the
attainment of knowledge. Totally dedicated to solving the society’s problems, he
believes the road to justice for all is paved with an adequate universal education. Only
then would there be sufficient understanding and tolerance in the society to show respect
for the rights of others. To this end, he has over the years, encouraged society’s
elite and the community leaders, industrialists and business leaders in his community to
support quality education for the needy.
Fethullah Gülen and some of the
renowned figures of present Turkey, awarded for their contribution to the promotion of
tolerance and dialogue in Turkey by the Foundation of Journalists and Writers. From left
to right: Professor Mehmet Aydin, Recep T. Erdogan, the Mayor of Istanbul, Fethullah
Gülen, Professor Toktamis Ates, Cengiz Candar, journalist, Perihan Savas, movie actress,
Munire Acim, and Hayrettin Karaca, head of the Turkish Ecology Foundation. |
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His tireless efforts in
this area have begun to bear fruit for the society, as the students graduating from the
private schools in Turkey and Central Asia established by entirely private donations,
fostered through his inspirations, and run as trusts, have taken top honors in university
placement tests and consistently finished at the top in International Knowledge. Olympics,
producing a number of world champions, especially in sciences, such as math, physics,
chemistry, and biology.
Fethullah
Gülen maintains, If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization,
it expects what never was and never will be. In the area of education he has inspired the |
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use of mass media,
notably television, to inform the public, especially those unable to attain a formal
education, of the pressing matters in the society. |
As a political and governing system, democracy is, at present, the only
alternative left in the world, he maintains. In spite of its many shortcomings, according
to Fethullah Gülen, mankind has not yet designed a better governing system than
Democracy. We must, therefore, make it work. People shall always demand their freedom of
choice in the way they run their affairs and especially in their expression of spiritual
and religious values.
Do not despair in the face of adversity and do not yield to anarchists,
he emphasizes time and again, and he warns constantly to guard against giving up hope. To
him hopelessness is a quicksand that buries in it human progress and kills the will to
succeed; it is a noose that chokes and drowns man. |
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With his acute
perception, Fethullah Gülen feels the positive change in the spiritual climate in the
world. He envisions a 21st century in which we shall witness the sprouting of a
spiritual dynamics that will dust off the moral values dormant for so long. He envisions
the birth of the age of tolerance and understanding leading to the cooperation of
civilizations and ultimately to the fusion of the two into one body. Human spirit shall
triumph in the way to intercivilizational dialogue and sharing of values. |
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Fethullah Gülen and Esq. and Patriarch
Bartholomew, the religious leader of the Orthodox Community.
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Fethullah Gülen
attempts and successfully manages to bridge the past with his image of the future. His
deep desire to find a solution for the dilemma society is faced today presents, in his
writings, itself as a row of sentences set one after another like priceless pearls on a
string. In his inimitable style and choice of vocabulary, which he exhibits so richly, he
offers a formula for a way out of "material quicksand" in which humanity find
itself today.Today’s man is in search of his Creator and the
purpose of his creation, Fethullah Gülen contends. To questions, why was I born, what is
the purpose of my living, what is the meaning of death and what does it demand from me, he
gives very practical yet singularly convincing answers. In his speeches and writings one
encounters statements like man has come to a crossroads, one leads to despair, the other
to salvation; may God give us the wisdom to make the right choice. He hints in his work
methods in search of the truth.
He does not believe, there exists any material shortage in the world and
sees no justification for the death of millions of starvation. Inequitably distributed
wealth should be channeled through private charities to the needy. He has spearheaded the
establishment of many charitable organizations to handle the welfare of the
underprivileged and the most direct method to accomplish this task. |
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Fethullah Gülen in Manhattan, visiting Cardinal John O'Connor, Archbishop of New York,
the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York. |
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A unique social reformer, Fethullah Gülen has brilliantly
synthesized the positive sciences with divinity, reconciling those "apparent"
differences between the two. In his writings and oral presentations, he admirably brings
closer the ideology and philosophies of East and West.
As for getting others accept your ways, Fethullah Gülen tells us, the days of getting
things done by brute force are over. |
In today’s enlightened world, the only way to get others accept your ideas is by
persuasion through convincing arguments. Those who resort to brute force to reach their
goal are intellectually bankrupt souls, he quips.
In his daily life, man must maintain that delicate balance between
material and spiritual values, he emphasizes. Only then could man enjoy serenity and true
happiness. Man must guard against unbridled greed.
A true leader, who leads by example, he lives as he preaches and in
himself presents to humanity an ideal model to emulate. As a student of hadith, tafsir,
fiqh, and tasawwuf and philosophy he occupies his rightful place among his contemporaries
in Islamic sciences. |
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Fethullah Gülen and David Aseo, Esq. and Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Community in Turkey. |
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Fethullah Gülen and Süleyman Demirel, the President of Turkey, at private Fatih
University |
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