Last Updated on Friday, 23 June 2006 13:41 by Bill Sherman Saturday, 06 August 2005 05:00
| Turkish students in a school associated with the Gulen movement, which emphasizes a moderate Islam and reform through education, are eager to try out their English on an American visiting the school.Bill Sherman / Tulsa World |
URFA, Turkey -- In a spacious three-story house visible for miles among green fields near here, a group of 15 Americans sat down to eat with a Kurdish tribal chieftain and his extended family.
The meal was sumptuous, course after course of fresh fruit and vegetables, lamb, chicken, beef, soup, pita bread, baklava, tea.
It was served on a marble floor in a room about 12 by 24 feet long, as guests reclined on carpets and cushions.
For three hours, they ate and talked about Islam, its relationship to Christianity, and other subjects.
The Americans were professors, religious leaders and journalists from Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Mississippi.
Their hosts were followers of Fethullah Gulen, a popular Turkish educator and spiritual leader who teaches a moderate Islam that emphasizes love and respect for people of all faiths and reform through education.
It was a scene repeated in several cities across Turkey as the Americans traveled. Between sightseeing, eating at fine restaurants and shopping, they met with Turkish businessmen who were their hosts and financed the trip.
In every city they visited some of the hundreds of schools the movement supports in Turkey.
On the playground of a school here, bright-eyed, smiling and respectful students in uniforms formed small groups around the visitors, eager to practice their English.
"Hello. How are you? I'm fine thank you," and moving to weightier topics: "I like the Detroit Pistons."
The trip was organized by the Institute of Interfaith Dialog, a new Houston-based organization associated with the Gulen movement.
"After the 9/11 terrorists attacks, some people came to us and said we need to hear the voice of toleration," said IID president and founder, Muhammed Cetin. Gulen was among Muslim leaders who strongly condemned the terrorist attacks.
Cetin and several other Turkish residents of the Houston area formed the nonprofit organization to promote tolerance and understanding between diverse religious groups.
Since then, they have sponsored dinners, conferences and cultural events in the United States, in addition to taking Americans to Turkey several times, including Tulsans Lutheran Bishop Floyd Schoenhals and Muslim spokesman Sheryl Siddiqui, and Barbara Boyd, of the University of Oklahoma religious studies program, who said she plans to take OU students to Turkey this year.
Cetin described the Gulen movement as a loose-knit community of Muslims who are inspired by the Gulen teachings, and give their time and money to further the cause of understanding and peace, without expecting anything in return. There is no centralized organizational structure.
He estimated that millions of people back the movement on one level or another, many of them well-to-do businessmen.
They do it because charitable giving of 2.5 percent of income is a requirement of Islam, and because they believe peace is attainable through education and mutual respect, the 42-year-old doctoral student said.
"We don't believe a clash of civilizations is inevitable," he said. "As a member of the human family, I have to do this."
Cetin said he got involved in the Gulen movement in the late 1970s and early 1980s when Turkish society was hyper-politicized between the left and the right, and Turks were killing each other.
Gulen came to his town and preached, saying "This is not the way."
Millions of young people gave up their violence because of his influence, Cetin said.
They turned from immorality to focusing on hard work, charity and altruism.
"If you work for your own day, your children in the end will curse you," he said. "If you work for their day, they will bless you."
"We believe in collective social altruism."
The centerpiece of the Gulen plan is to change society through education.
Their school buildings are high quality and well-equipped. There is a strong emphasis on science. Their schools consistently rank high nationally, both academically and athletically.
Recep Ali Yalgin, vice principal of the Yamanlar school in Izmir, Turkey, said that among his 450 students have been gold medalists in the International Science Olympics, and a European champion wrestler. He knew little about the Gulen movement when he took the job at the school.
"I really found a different world," he said, where teachers worked extra hours, in and out of the school, to help students. "It affected me deeply," he said.
Another vice principal, Huseyin Dasan, agreed.
"These young people will be the future of our country," he said.
Gulen schools are required to follow the state curriculum used in public schools. Islam cannot be taught in the schools, but general principles of morality can be. Smoking is banned in the schools, and few students smoke, although it is common in society.
By law, girls are not allowed to wear the Hijab head covering in school.
"We wear it up to the gate, and then take it off," one girl said. Some Turkish girls choose to continue their higher education in the United States, where they are free to wear a head scarf.
Even though Turkey is 98 percent Muslim, following World War I, Kemal Ataturk, father of the Republic of Turkey, banned all expressions of religion in public facilities as part of sweeping reforms that including banning Islamic law, the Arabic alphabet, and even the fez, a popular men's hat.
As his influence grew, Gulen has from time to time found himself in trouble with Turkey's secular, military-influenced government, Cetin said. Gulen has been arrested and acquitted of inciting people against secular values. He is now in ill health and living in the United States.
Gulen and his followers are Sufi Muslims, a discipline that strives for personal spiritual development through overcoming negative influences of Satan, the ego and self.
World Religion Writer, Tulsa World
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