Saturday, July 04, 2009
   
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Believers Do Not Fall... No Matter How Shaken They May Be The situation before our eyes is as horrific as it could be, but with faith, hope, and turning to God it is not impossible to rise above it. Walking towards the sun, a person's shadow falls behind them, but if one turns one's back to the sun, one will look only into the darkness of one's own shadow.
A Universal Islamic Phenomenon in Turkish Religious Practice: The Gülen Case Fethullah Gülen started his professional career as a traditional imam, trained and certificated by the governmental authorities in Ankara. His innovative ideas of educational and social reform have made him a household name in modern Turkey and increasingly around the world for several decades now.
Self-Confidence What is the believers' version of the concept of self-confidence or self-esteem? Can we strike a balance between being an ordinary person and cherishing high goals? Self-confidence, or self-esteem, is usually defined as a person's believing and trusting in himself, relying on his personal abilities and opportunities, living in peace with his own person and environment, and being content with himself in general.
Melbourne Conference A new conference entitled "From Dialogue to Collaboration: The Vision of Fethullah Gulen and Muslim-Christian Relations" will be held on 15-16 July 2009 at Australian Catholic University in Melbourne. The conference aims to explore, through the prism of Fethullah Gülen's personal and theological profile, his worldwide contribution to Islamic studies, education, philanthropy, and interreligious dialogue.
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The Statue of Our Souls

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The World in the Womb

In the recent past, the Islamic world as a whole has lived through its most depressed periods, whether considered from the point of view of faith, morality, modes of thought, education, industry, customs, traditions, or practices.

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The Inheritors of the Earth

The world is floating away as it spins into its real orbit… but are the rightful "inheritors of the Earth" ready to retake and restore the inheritance that has been snatched from their hands? The initial rights were granted as a gift and, as such, are different from the rights acquired by effort and...

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On How to Find Our Path

Since the day we were deprived of the inheritance of the Earth, the Islamic world has been in a heart-breaking plight, trapped between the weaknesses of the Muslims and the ruthless assaults of its enemies. Wrong, injustice, and oppression may be the signs of the aggressors, but the weaknesses of the...

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Toward Tomorrow

For centuries now the Islamic world has squirmed in the vicious grasp of error and has remained unable to turn for succor in any way to its own spirit and essence. Whenever it has broken free and succeeded in taking two steps forward, it has immediately taken several steps back and lost itself in the...

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Analysis of the Gülen Movement

Gülen was born in 1941 into a traditional family of five boys and two girls in the Pasinler district of Erzurum. His father, Ramiz Efendi, was a government-employed imam who performed his duties in various regions. Erzurum lies in the northeast of Turkey, and it is socio-culturally very conservative. It is a town that has, for long centuries, reflected the basic religious and national values in its social make-up.

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Analyzing the internal dynamics of a movement is important for two reasons. First, it allows others to perceive the structure by which the movement is organized. Second, it prevents others from falling into the trap of overlooking the totality of the movement, as they focus on partial analyses. I use dynamics here to mean the key concepts of the movement. Intellectual and social attitudes of a movement are shaped by the movement's dynamics.

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Because modern states are built upon urbanized societies, problems pertaining to humanity, society, and democratic values are complex and differentiated. All of our acts—be they political, economic, social, or cultural—work toward getting our share of the cake. Our minds cannot fathom acting without expecting recompense, of giving without taking. We are at the threshold of an age where "service to humanity" is facing extinction.

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Tolerance and dialogue are among the most basic and broad dynamics of the Gülen movement. These two concepts, first developed on a small scale, have turned into a search for a culture of reconciliation on a world scale. Today, the idea of different groups peacefully living together is a philosophical issue that modern states are trying to formulate. The international relations of past empires were founded on conflict and war.

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Even though the essential dynamics of the Gülen movement look similar to those of the classical Islamic tradition of spiritual orders in certain aspects, its organization is different with regard to producing civil initiatives and its way of acculturation. Max Weber's concept of "worldly asceticism" can help analyze the Gülen movement only to a certain degree. Instead, it is a movement that has been organized by civil dynamics.

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The Gülen movement did not rise upon the values of a past movement or period of crisis. The movement has produced its own appearance, structure, social and moral values, and institutions. No school of thought has had a dominant influence on the structural and religious-spiritual dynamics of this movement.

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  • President of Mali Praises Success of Turkish Schools Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure has praised the quality of education offered at Turkish schools in Mali, saying the schools allow Malian children to be successful.
  • Melbourne Conference A new conference entitled "From Dialogue to Collaboration: The Vision of Fethullah Gulen and Muslim-Christian Relations" will be held on 15-16 July 2009 at Australian Catholic University in Melbourne....
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