In the bustling streets of Abuja, Nigeria, students from different religious and ethnic backgrounds study side by side at Nigerian Tulip International Colleges. In Mindanao, the Philippines, dialogue centers bring together Christian and Muslim communities that have historically been divided by conflict. In Bosnia-Herzegovina, educational institutions serve as bridges between Croats, Serbs, and Bosniaks still healing from the wounds of war.

These initiatives stem from the Hizmet Movement—a global civil society network inspired by Turkish Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen that emphasizes education, dialogue, and service to humanity. Operating through grassroots volunteers rather than centralized control, Hizmet has established schools, dialogue centers, and humanitarian organizations worldwide since the 1990s.

What connects these seemingly diverse initiatives across the globe? They all exemplify what the Hizmet Movement calls “peace islands”—spaces where cooperation flourishes despite historical tensions. But there’s something even more remarkable: these peace-building efforts embody sophisticated scientific principles that mathematicians have been studying for decades through a field called game theory—principles that become strikingly clear when we examine how cooperation actually works in practice.

The mathematics of cooperation

Game theory might sound abstract, but it addresses one of humanity’s most pressing questions: Why do people sometimes cooperate for mutual benefit, while other times they compete destructively? Despite the term “game,” this field analyzes the most serious of human interactions. The field emerged in the 1940s when mathematician John von Neumann began studying strategic interactions, particularly during the tense early years of the nuclear age when miscalculated decisions could have catastrophic consequences.

The most famous illustration of this challenge is the “Prisoner’s Dilemma.” Imagine two prisoners held in separate cells, unable to communicate, each facing a choice: cooperate by staying silent, or defect by confessing and hoping for leniency. If both stay silent, both receive light sentences. If both confess, both face harsh punishment. But if one confesses while the other stays silent, the confessor goes free while the silent partner suffers the worst outcome.

The dilemma captures a fundamental tension: while mutual cooperation yields the best collective result, each individual faces a tempting incentive to defect. This same dynamic appears everywhere—from arms races between nations to environmental agreements, from business negotiations to community conflicts.

The breakthrough came in the 1980s when political scientist Robert Axelrod organized computer tournaments to discover which strategies work best in repeated interactions. The winning approach was surprisingly simple: “Tit-for-Tat,” submitted by mathematician Anatol Rapoport —a strategy where you cooperate on the first move, then simply copy whatever your opponent did in the previous round. This strategy had four key characteristics that Axelrod identified as crucial for sustained cooperation:

• Nice: Start by cooperating and never attack first.
• Forgiving: Return to cooperation when the other party cooperates.
• Retaliatory: Respond proportionally when others defect.
• Clear: Maintain predictable patterns that others can understand.

These scientific insights about cooperation aren’t merely academic curiosities. They provide a powerful lens for understanding why some peace-building efforts succeed while others fail.

Islamic values and cooperation principles

Given the fact that Hizmet Movement emerged in a Muslim context and inspired by an Islamic scholar, it is important to see how Islamic values naturally align with Hizmet’s approach and these scientifically validated cooperation principles. The movement draws inspiration from concepts deeply rooted in Islamic tradition:

• Sulh (reconciliation) emphasizes voluntary agreement, dialogue, and mutual acceptance. It reflects the “nice” principle by avoiding hostility and prioritizing harmony in human relationships. Islamic tradition consistently highlights the value of resolving tensions through patience and negotiation, encouraging communities to seek understanding and peaceful settlement rather than confrontation.
• Islah (reform and reconciliation) focuses on repairing relationships through constructive engagement, embodying both forgiveness and the long-term thinking essential for sustained cooperation.
• Hikmah (wisdom) involves selecting the right response at the right time—a nuanced, context-sensitive approach that outperforms rigid strategies.
• Qisas (retaliation in kind) underlines justice through proportional response, ensuring that the consequence matches the offense without excess.
• Afw (forgiveness) highlights the moral choice to pardon rather than retaliate, reflecting Islam’s encouragement of mercy as a higher virtue. Qur’anic guidance praises those who forgive, framing forgiveness as a path to inner strength and social harmony.

The Qur’anic principle “Let them pardon and overlook. Would you not love for God to forgive you? God is Forgiving and Merciful.” (Qur’an 24:22) perfectly balances proportional response with a preference for forgiveness – remarkably similar to the “generous Tit-for-Tat” strategies that game theorists discovered work best in environments where misunderstandings occur.

“Peace islands” in action

The “peace islands” concept translates these theoretical insights into practical reality. In Nigeria, for instance, the UFUK Dialogue Initiative annually honors contributions to peace with awards recognizing prominent religious leaders who understand that dialogue transcends sectarian boundaries.

International events, such as “Countering Violent Extremism through Love and Tolerance” organized by UFUK and Nigeria’s Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution demonstrate how peace islands function as structured environments that reduce the risks of defection while increasing incentives for cooperation.

The movement’s approach embodies game theory’s key findings about scaling cooperation:

• Repeated interactions: Educational institutions provide ongoing contact that builds trust over time, rather than one-off events that rarely create lasting change.
• Multi-level engagement: Peace islands simultaneously engage grassroots communities, civil society organizations, and opinion leaders, creating reinforcing networks that raise the cost of defection.
• Clear norms: Structured activities and shared values establish predictable frameworks for interaction.
• Local adaptation: Each peace island adapts to its cultural context while maintaining core cooperative principles.

The network effect

Perhaps most remarkably, the Hizmet Movement shows how local cooperation can expand into a global network. Game theorists have found that many social systems exhibit “small-world” properties: tightly knit local communities that are nonetheless connected through short pathways, allowing cooperation and information to spread quickly. This is the same principle illustrated by the famous “six degrees of separation” idea, which shows how surprisingly few intermediaries can link distant individuals.

Hizmet’s model (locally organized volunteer groups connected loosely across continents) fits this pattern. With a presence in over 150 countries, its decentralized structure closely reflects this optimal small-world architecture.

Local dialogue centers maintain deep community roots while sharing resources and lessons through transnational networks. This combination allows trust-building mechanisms to remain intact while enabling cross-context learning.

In the Philippines, Hizmet-inspired schools are recognized for their world-standard science and mathematics education, creating spaces where dialogue emerges naturally from shared academic achievement. Ambassador David Shinn’s comprehensive study Hizmet in Africa documents similar patterns across the continent, where educational networks of ninety-five schools combine with social, humanitarian, and interfaith activities to create sustainable cooperation infrastructure.

When science meets spirituality

The convergence between game theory and Islamic peace-building values offers profound insights for contemporary challenges. While purely secular approaches to cooperation may struggle when short-term incentives favor defection, values-based motivation provides the ethical anchor necessary for sustained commitment.

Game theory shows us that cooperation isn’t just morally desirable—it’s often strategically optimal. But Islamic teachings add crucial depth by embedding cooperation within a framework of ultimate meaning.

This integration addresses a fundamental challenge in peace-building: how to maintain cooperative behavior when immediate benefits aren’t apparent. Religious commitment provides what game theorists call “shadow of the future”—concern for long-term consequences that enables short-term sacrifice for greater good.

Lessons for our time

The scientific validation of Hizmet’s peace-building approach offers hope in an era often characterized by polarization and conflict. The evidence shows that small-scale initiatives, when strategically designed and ethically grounded, can generate ripple effects leading to broader transformation.

Game theory reveals that successful cooperation requires more than good intentions—it demands strategic sophistication. The most effective approaches combine niceness with firmness, forgiveness with accountability, and clarity with adaptability. These aren’t contradictory requirements but complementary elements of robust cooperation systems.

For individuals seeking to contribute to peace, the research suggests several practical principles:

• Begin with cooperative gestures, but maintain clear boundaries
• Respond to cooperation with increased trust, but address defection proportionally
• Make your commitments predictable and your values transparent
• Think in terms of repeated interactions rather than single encounters
• Connect local initiatives to broader networks for sustainable impact

Perhaps most importantly, the convergence of game theory and Islamic values demonstrates that science and spirituality need not conflict in addressing humanity’s challenges. Instead, they can reinforce each other in powerful ways—scientific insights providing strategic clarity while spiritual foundations supplying motivational depth.

The path forward

As we face complex global challenges requiring unprecedented cooperation—from ethnic and religious tensions to territorial disputes to ideological conflicts—the lessons from peace islands become increasingly relevant. The Hizmet Movement’s experience demonstrates that civil society actors, guided by both strategic wisdom and ethical values, can build cooperation infrastructure capable of addressing large-scale problems.

The mathematical elegance of game theory and the spiritual depth of Islamic peace-building traditions point toward the same conclusion: sustainable peace requires patient cultivation of trust, strategic thinking about cooperation, and unwavering commitment to human dignity.

In a world where “strongmen” often dominate headlines, the quiet work of building bridges may seem insignificant. But science tells us otherwise. Like the butterfly effect in complex systems, small acts of strategic cooperation can generate transformative change across vast networks.

The peace islands scattered across more than 150 countries offer more than hope—they provide a scientifically grounded, spiritually anchored model for human cooperation. In understanding their success, we glimpse possibilities for addressing even our most intractable conflicts.

As the Qur’an reminds us, “O mankind! We created you from a male and a female and made you into nations and tribes that you may know each other” (49:13). Game theory shows us how to make that knowing not just possible, but strategically beneficial for all. In that convergence lies a path toward the peace our world desperately needs. The science is clear: peace is not just an ideal—it’s a strategic necessity that benefits everyone.

References

• Axelrod, R. (1984). The Evolution of Cooperation. Basic Books.
• Gülen, M. F. (2004). Toward a global civilization of love and tolerance. The Light.
• Michel, T. (2013). Peace islands and positive action. In G. Barton, P. Weller, & I. Yilmaz (Eds.), The Muslim world and politics in transition (pp. 45-58). Bloomsbury Academic.
• Nowak, M., & Sigmund, K. (1993). A strategy of win-stay, lose-shift that outperforms tit-for-tat in the prisoner’s dilemma game. Nature, 364(6432), 56-58.
• The Qur’an (M. A. S. Abdel Haleem, Trans.). (2004). Oxford University Press.
• Rapoport, A., & Chammah, A. M. (1965). Prisoner’s dilemma: A study in conflict and cooperation. University of Michigan Press.
• Shinn, D. (2015). Hizmet in Africa: The Activities and Significance of the Gülen Movement. Blue Dome Press.
• (2023, December 23). This game theory problem will change the way you see the world [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mScpHTIi-kM

The origins of a seemingly nameless civic-social movement which later became popularly known as the “Gülen Movement” or “Hizmet Movement” date back to the early 1970s in Turkey.  The Movement’s goal is to produce “social good” throughout the world, which are manifested around peaceful activities like promoting dialogue among communities, human rights, love, tolerance, ethics, education, women’s issues, and eradication of poverty. It derives inspiration from the ideas and thoughts of Fethullah Gülen, a Muslim cleric who is known as “Hojaefendi.” The Movement has successfully nurtured a generation to establish a global network of socio-cultural institutions including schools, coaching centers, universities, media outlets, publishing houses, hospitals, dialogue centers, and relief organizations.

At its core, the Movement is a faith based social movement that takes inspiration from Islamic ideals to reinforce the civic, moral, and ethical goals of Islam. The goal is to transform individuals and society in such a way to produce a “golden generation,” which in turn provides leadership to all walks of human life.

The Movement has espoused a purely civic social aspect of Islam – as opposed to discourses of “Islam and modernity” – to universalize the message of the Movement which has ultimately paved the way for it to become transnational.

“The movement encapsulates a faith-inspired peace-invoking service. It promotes universal values, superiority of the law and human rights along with freedom of belief, freedom of religion and freedom of expression.” [1]

As the movement’s chief source of inspiration, Fethullah Gülen dwells upon the universal values of humanity as an integral part of Islam’s fundamental doctrine and values. His approach to faith bends on Sufism and this has always made him a propounder of the human-centric discourse of Islam. The goal of this discourse is to promote a civic and ethical transformation of an individual and society at large, based upon the prophetic model of insan al-kamil (perfect human being). Gülen maintains that “Morality is the essence of religion and a most fundamental portion of the divine message. The Prophet, who is the greatest embodiment of morals, said: Islam consists in good morals; I have been sent to perfect and complete good morals” [2].

Gülen further underlines that the basic dynamics of a life of action and thought is directly tied with our spiritual life, which is based upon our religious values [3]. Gülen’s very idea of hizmet, meaning “service,” reminds the spiritual fervor of Imam Rabbani’s “abadiyat,” (meaning eternity) notion, becomes in a way “service to eternal God.” The attainment of “service to eternity” can only be achieved by serving the humanity. This universal Islamic discourse of Gülen discards the need of state agencies as a perquisite to serve Islam and its interests. Rather, he maintains that Islam can best be served by participating in socially beneficial activities such as promoting peace, imparting education, providing relief and health facilities. To emphasize this point, Gülen has said; “Islam does not need a state to survive; in the modern age, civil society can independently maintain Islam even where Muslims are not in majority” [4].

These conceptual and ideological clusters helped create and broaden the vision of transnational networks of Hizmet Movement that had entered the global arena and made it to engage in a comprehensive perspective on social-civic challenges. Its transnational character became even firmer when Gülen himself moved to the United States and was actively involved in promoting and improving the overall wellbeing of society investing his robust efforts to foster dialogue and peace. Since then, themes such as peace, human rights, ethics, pluralism, altruism, reconciliation and dialogue have occupied even more space in the center of the Movement’s agenda in order to gain a better understanding of, and appreciation for, cultures, histories, civilizations and traditions.

Despite its current national experience in its homeland Turkey differs widely in terms of the social relevance and political interactions, at the transnational level one can hardly doubt that the Movement has progressively developed an ability to address and mobilize around problems of a social and civic nature.

Unlike many other Islamic modernist movements including Salafism and al-Nahdah in Arabia, the Muhammadiyah movement in Indonesia, the Aligarh and Nadwa movements in India, the Hizmet Movement has been characterized by mass interaction and participation at local, national, and transnational levels. This interaction and participation have attracted thousands of volunteers across the globe and have generated a global network of thousands of socio-cultural institutions including schools, coaching centers, universities, hospitals, dialogue centers, relief organizations etc. Their transnational networks active on global and local civic social issues have multiplied, built alliances with national and supranational civil actors including UN’s institutions, and influenced their views and actions.

Professor Anwar Alam maintains:

“Hizmet is a transnational civil society movement calling up everyone to collaborate around a common ideal of good work for humanity. The movement aims to facilitate an environment in which all can work together in a pluralistic, peaceful, all embracing spirit and voluntary altruism, regardless of subscription to a certain faith.” [5]

Unlike other movements, Hizmet’s most effective paradigm of conceptualizing such an unusual combination of coalitions, coordination, and diversities of convergence and pluralism, of national and transnational struggles is an example of a model grassroots movement.

Transnational networking of the Movement has emerged as a crucial aspect of its global activities and as the main form of organizational linkage between local nation-based civic actors to the cross-border activism of Hizmet. The Movement aptly fits into Robert Putnam’s theory on “Social Capital” which refers to “the connections among individuals, social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them.” Hizmet’s transnational network is a result of its employment of “social trust” and “reciprocity.”

Thus, these forms of movement within Hizmet can be characterized by voluntary horizontal and, at times, vertical patterns of coordination that are reciprocal and asymmetrical. Within the Hizmet Movement, in particular, the transnational network can be understood as maintaining coordination among different civil society actors including both organizations and individuals such as experts, located in several countries, based on a shared frame of work, and investing joint efforts for common good. Being a faith based movement, the crucial factor that motivates its volunteers is, as Anwar Alam rightly observed, “the in-built Islamic cognitive structure of the ‘ikhlas-iman-hijrah-dawa’” linkage that provides the motivational resources for the expansion of the movement.” While detailing the micro structure of the Movement he concluded, “in short, the whole Hizmet Movement runs on the informal principle of consultation, trust, cooperation, and faith” [6].

In spite of the different perspectives and viewpoints in course, the Movement flourished as a self-organized and self-sustained actor on the global scene with its own policy priorities and agenda for social-civic changes. The Movement is clearly transnational in its very nature and in the reach of its activism that converges in fostering universal values. While having such a vivid picture of the transnational character of the Movement, one can rightly argue that this transnational character became the reason the Movement not only survived but thrived, in wake of the so called failed coup attempt of 2016 and subsequent witch hunts and purges that were launched by the Turkish regime.

References

1 Alam, Anwar. 2019. For the sake of Allah, The Origin, Development, and Discourse of the Gülen Movement. Blue Dome Press, USA, p. 28.

2 Gülen, M. Fethullah. 1998. Towards the Lost Paradise. Izmir: kaynak.  Al-Bukhari, “Al-adab-ul-Mufrad” no. 273, and  Ibn-Sa’ad, “al-tabaqat” vol.1, p. 192.

3 Ibid, p. 87.

4 Quoted in Mustafa Akyol, “What made the Gulen Movement Possible” in International Conference Proceedings: Muslim World in Transition: Contributions of the Gülen Movement, Leeds Metropolitan University Press, London, October 2007, p. 31.

5 Alam, op. cit. p. 27.

6 Alam, op. cit. p. 159-164.

I didn’t know what to expect when we landed in Athens. I knew we were going to be meeting with refugees and hearing their stories, but I did not expect what I saw and heard. For one thing, I may have expected a strong narrative of unbearable suffering that ran through every one of these meetings. A narrative of victimhood and helplessness. A narrative which wanted so badly to be heard and listened to so that it could expose its most tragic and historic aspects to create greater awareness and anger for it. I may have expected helpless, uncontrollable tears rolling down my cheeks in response to harrowing tales of torture, imprisonment, of separation – mother from child, husband from wife, brother from sister.

What happened, instead, has left me incredibly perplexed. I heard the harrowing tales of torture, imprisonment, separation, familial betrayal, the difficulties of escaping a brutal crackdown, and of near-death situations. But an almost unexplainable sense of calm ran through these people as they told their stories. A calm motivated by faith and the belief that God is with the Hizmet, or “service,” Movement and has already manifested His mercy by preserving the movement despite these hardships. These atrocities did not destroy the Movement or break its spirit; they look more united than ever.

The narrative that believers suffer at the hands of unjust oppressors, as many prophets did under the tyranny of various pharaohs, is all too common in the Abrahamic texts. But it is an entirely different experience to physically see and talk with someone who has gone through these kinds of traumatic experiences, who is still in the thick of trying to find a home for themselves and their family, to be able to tell their story while showing the utmost reliance on God’s plan. They were also weary of putting their experiences in the context of other refugees, as they understood that others suffered even more.

I believe that their reliance upon God, and their calm approach to faith in the midst of such turmoil, is real. And the reality is clear for all of us to see and hear. Reading about their stories through an article such as this one, or even hearing them speak on the news, pales in comparison to actually being with them during their greatest hour of need. I feel that my mind is not the same as before. I am not claiming that the refugees, the heroes who were persecuted and driven from their homes for crimes they never committed, are completely okay with their situation. What I am pointing out is that, even in the midst of their losses and suffering, they thank God and are not hopeless.

The hospitality with which they welcome guests is astonishing. Considering the fact that they were refugees, they still took the time to host us and make us feel attended to.

Shaken by trauma, the brothers we spoke to find assurance by making dark jokes about their time in prison, or the difficulties they experienced while crossing over to Greece and other countries. Hours were spent strategizing ways to escape Turkey and flee to other countries or to reunite with family members that had already escaped. Their hopes hinged on the kindness of border police and passport patrol. There was rarely enough time to grieve about a father who might still be suffering in prison, or think about those in prison that were without medical attention, or the difficulty of having to share a single toilet among 50 people at a time. There was rarely enough time to grieve about the discrimination that they endured at the hands of their cruel jailors, who tortured and beat many of them until they went blind. I almost felt ashamed that I did not cry in front of them, however I did not feel that it would be respectful to show my pain in front of them when their suffering had outmatched mine so much more. So I sat there, listening quietly, waiting for their words to unfold into long complicated stories of imprisonment, release, escape, survival (or drowning to death), landing in Greece (or being caught), staying in a refugee camp, and then ending up with fellow refugees from Turkey.

The lessons that this experience taught me are too stark to ignore. It showed me that Hizmet is a movement that brings power into question. Every effort is made to mitigate whatever suffering and loss might come from the jihad of speaking out against injustice. But when it strikes, the experiences of those that are suffering, and have suffered, as a result of doing what is good remind us once again that to be comfortable, and to put all of our eggs in one basket, is not the way to live. We should not just strive to be productive people, and the best citizens we can be, even though this is incredibly important. We should also work within the social sphere to make active change to the way people think, and to the ways in which people oppress themselves and other people. And we must be prepared, as opposed to being scared, for a time in which we might need to make drastic changes to our lives. We might even be forced to do so. To work towards active change does not fit comfortably with people who are happy with oppression. As the common maxim goes, “silence is violence.”

Being as comfortable and privileged as we are in the United Kingdom, we need to remember that, even here, people are suffering. We must stand up for them.

I am still shocked that I had the honor of hearing these most intimate stories. I am also honored that Allah has given me the chance to see what real faith looks like. I say to myself that, if I cry, it should not just be because their suffering is too much to bear (not to say that we should not cry at all about this). But it should be because I have a long way to go to meet their level of faith and commitment to Hizmet and their service to humanity.

Hizmet Movement (aka Gülen Movement) has always been given different names, which rely on and point to divergent underlying ontologies and understandings. Cemaat (Community), Hizmet (Service), Gonulluler Hareketi, (A movement of volunteers), and Gülenciler (Gülenists) are just a selection of terms often used to refer to the movement. Nowadays, people have come to view the movement in diametrically opposing ways, due to the recent political history of Turkey. On one hand, some praise it for its virtues, claiming that it is a movement promoting and prioritizing democratic values and standards and standing against a corrupt government, at a very high cost. On the other hand, those who criticize it accuse the movement of interfering in politics and even plotting coups against democratically elected governments, and they try to label it as a cult – especially when they cannot prove their accusations. Therefore, a great discrepancy is very likely to emerge between how a sympathizer of the movement sees and defines it and how an outsider sees and defines it, as current developments in Turkey have pushed the public to the edges and have led to increased polarization. Thus, in order to see whether the Hizmet Movement is a cult or not, one has to remove himself or herself from political polemics and try to be critical and strike a balance between how the movement perceives itself and how it is perceived by the outside world. In order to do so, let us first consider how “cult” is defined in the literature and then see whether these definitions match with the Hizmet Movement.

Even though the meaning of cult has changed, the term acquiring differing meanings over time, it is generally and publicly used in a derogatory way to refer to movements that are regarded as socially deviant due to their unorthodox beliefs and practices. During the 1930s, anti-cult movements usually viewed cults as a disparate form of heresy. Similarly, Christian scholar Walter Martin defined a cult as a movement that applies, and relies solely on, personal interpretations of the Bible, in denial of mainstream beliefs such as the Trinity, the Second Coming of Christ, the ministry and personality of Jesus, and the like. Accordingly, new religious movements that were not a part of, or splintered from, pre-existing sects—these include movements such as Jehovah’s Witnesses and Christian Scientists—have been considered cults. From a sociological point of view, Max Weber ascribed the emergence of a cult to the routinization of the charisma of a self-proclaimed religious leader. A great variety of cults exist today—doomsday cults, political cults, destructive cults, racist cults, polygamist cults, and terrorist cults. Cults have also long been accused of applying unorthodox measures, such as mind control and abusive sex, to govern their members and of having secretive organizational structures to accomplish their objectives.

Any attempt to draw a distinction between a cult and a mainstream religious movement is an utterly value-laden endeavor, as it requires one to assume a position of authority and judge what is an orthodox or unorthodox practice or interpretation of a religion. Also, it is analytically impossible to determine how much deviation or what sorts of differences render a movement deviant and get it labeled as a cult, because even sects of the very same religion sometimes are predicated upon utterly distinct theological positions. For example, consider the God conceptualizations of two Christian traditions, Unitarians and Catholics. Whereas the former believe in the physical and spiritual unity of God and reject the idea of the incarnation of God in human form, the latter hold to the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, which states that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are divine manifestations of God. Or, in a similar vein, consider the example of the Alawites and Sunni Muslims; some groups of the former consider Ali, the cousin of Muhammad, to be the incarnation of God, while the latter view him only as the third rightly guided Caliph and as totally human in nature.

Despite this opaque and slippery conceptual ground, we can still systematically consider whether the Hizmet Movement is a cult and possesses any of the general characteristics and features attributed to cults. Let me rise above the dichotomies by considering the criteria for a cult, embodied in the definitions given below, in relation to the Hizmet Movement—namely, deviancy (unorthodox religious rituals), unorthodox means of control (mind control, abusive sex), and the presence of a charismatic leader—to determine whether it is a cult or not.

We’ll begin with deviancy. Even though the movement has often laid great emphasis on the spiritual resurrection of Muslims and humanity, it has not attempted to reject or change the pillars of Islamic faith and the essentials of the religion. It has not proposed theologically novel conceptions of divinity or prophecy. Quite the opposite—the movement intellectually and theologically associates itself with the earlier mainstream of Muslim scholars, thinkers, and movements and derives its legitimacy from its embeddedness in classical Islam. The criticisms leveled at the movement have mostly involved matters relating to the interpretation of religious texts. Accordingly, the movement has been criticized for its strong promotion of intimate relations with the members of other Abrahamic religions, for its willingness to engage in open dialogue, and for its support of democratization, which is often labeled as pro-Westernism by other religious movements in Turkey. Hence, the movement’s existing practices and theological dispositions do not suffice to qualify it as a cult, as they do not exhibit patterns of divergence and differentiation from mainstream Islamic rituals and practices.

Second, with respect to the employment of unorthodox means to achieve desired political objectives—even though the movement has been accused of interfering in politics and having a secret agenda, no proof has been presented thus far indicating the use of unorthodox means to control its members or accomplish its secret agenda. Even the recent purge in Turkey, which resulted in the removal of hundreds of thousands of people from their positions and the imprisonment of a large percentage of them, has not led to the disclosure of evidence verifying the use of unorthodox methods by the movement.

Finally, in regard to charismatic leadership, it is an actuality that Gülen’s charismatic and strong leadership has been very appealing to the masses. However, his leadership has not been grounded in any divine status claims, such as those of a prophetic or messianic character. His charisma has rather been derived from his expertise and erudition in respect to the religious sciences and his intuitive leadership skills. His leadership and charisma cannot be said to be premised upon any sort of divine claim, as has been the case with most cults. Ahmadiyya and Bahaism can be seen as cult-like Islamic movements; their leaders have made actual divine claims. For example, the leader of the former openly claimed messiahship and introduced unorthodox beliefs and organizational structures in the nineteenth century, and the leader of the latter identified himself as the last Prophet, which openly contradicted the mainstream belief of Muslims that the Prophet Muhammad was the last Prophet and Messenger of God. Gülen is neither seen as a supernatural human being by his followers nor does he claim prophecy or messiahship. His charisma is derived more from his spiritual personality deriving from the fact that he has acquired an immense amount of knowledge in the religious sciences and has combined that knowledge with successful practice.

By offering insight in relation to three aspects of cults, this article offers a framework within which the Hizmet Movement cannot be treated as a cult or cult-like organization. Unless there is concrete evidence and universal acceptance of deviant behavior, unorthodox means of control, and leader’s use of charisma to assert any supernatural or divine powers, no social movement can be categorized as a cult movement.

Sight is one of the most miraculous things for which we can never be thankful enough. Our eyes serve as windows connecting our inner life with the outer world. In “Retina the Mind-Boggler,” Dr. Serranur explains the intricacies of the eye’s physiology. Despite many theories and scientific advances, we still don’t completely know how sight works. Scientists do know that the retina plays a crucial role in this very complex structure – so important, in fact, not every eye surgeon dares touch it.

Stem cell research has expanded our understanding of biology and medicine to once-unimaginable levels. Among the treatments for which the initial findings are promising are paralysis, Parkinson’s, diabetes, and even blindness. Despite these groundbreaking discoveries, many are not sure about how far we should go in genetic programming. Dr. Yorulmaz elaborates on this dilemma in “Embryonic Stem Cells.”

The question of how to handle refugees has been a critical issue throughout human history. Despite many regulations, international legal conventions, and technological progress, refugees still pose intractable questions to governments around the world. Last summer, when Dr. Sophia Pandya was visiting Greece to observe the situation of refugees there, the country suffered one of the deadliest wildfires of the twenty-first century, in which a hundred people died and more than a thousand buildings were destroyed. Greece has been the crossroads for many refugees, including, yes, many Turkish citizens, especially in the last few years. The Erdoğan regime’s clampdown on the Hizmet Movement and many others who oppose his autocracy has forced tens of thousands of Turkish citizens to flee their homes and seek asylum in Europe, the US, and elsewhere. Hundreds of thousands of people have been detained in these purges; thousands more are waiting their turn, as their freedom to travel has been illegally curtailed by the Turkish government. What is their crime? Association with a group that opposes autocracy and supports democracy. For many fleeing injustice, Greece has become the last chance for freedom. What Dr. Pandya saw there was representative of what the Hizmet Movement has been doing for decades: Turkish refugees reached out to victims of the wildfires and distributed food and other aid. This was their way of responding to the hospitality of Greek people, who opened their homes to refugees when, as described in this issue’s lead article, they were forced to flee “dark-spirited night demons who were overwhelmed by hatred, rancor, and enmity, and dejected souls growling with wrath.”

I’ve been working with them now for the past eight years. I’ve had an opportunity to work closely with them and to travel with them overseas, and I see no foundation for this.

As a matter of fact, when I look at their zeal and their enthusiasm for the religion, and I look at how they practice the Qur’an and the life example of Muhammad the Prophet (upon him be peace), I’m inspired by what they do.

And they not only focus and center upon Muslims, they have great relationships with the non-Muslim community. And I would consider them to be like ambassadors for Islam.

They share Ramadan, they share neighborly needs, etc.

Muhammad the Prophet (upon him be peace) said he was one time talking with one of his companions, and he asked them if he knew one of the brothers. And then, he said, “Yes, I know so and so.”

And then the Prophet (upon him be peace) said, “Well, let me ask you something about him. Have you worked with him?”

He said, “No.”

“Have you traveled with him?”

He said, “No.”

Then the Prophet (upon him be peace) said, “Well, then you don’t know him.”

I’m pleased to say that I’ve worked with our brothers, and I have traveled with them. And I know them well.

And to classify them as terrorists in any form is a great misrepresentation.

The other thing that I want to say is that they are very loyal and very patriotic to this nation. They work to support the good works in this nation.

They also work with all people, faith or no faith, and they show by example what the Prophet Muhammad (upon him be peace) taught us.

Some of us read books, some of us talk, but they actually do. And I consider it a privilege and an honor to be associated with them and to be part of the brotherhood.

I see them as wonderful human beings and as true Muslims, and I can say this as one that has studied the religion and been a leader in the religion for over 25 years. I can say this.

Also, what I want to say to you is that when people try to come against them – because some Muslims don’t know about them and their movement and the good that they do in the world – I would tell them not to worry about that.

I would tell them to continue to model and be an excellent example of this religion and also build on the relationships you already have.

Myself, as one of your brothers and friends: if I know other Muslims don’t know you, I’m happy to take you with me and introduce you to them and let them get to know you so they can form their own opinions.

And I have no doubt that once they get to know you and get to know your leadership, I have no doubt that they will no longer believe these outrageous allegations against you.

Muhammad the Prophet (upon him be peace) made education a top priority. You all make education a top priority.

He told us that we should be kind and considerate and respectful and hospitable to our neighbor. You all demonstrate that. You host iftars, you host various events during the month of Ramadan to educate the people.

So the Hizmet Movement is, I think, vital to the Muslim community, and they are also showing us how to apply the wonderful, universal, timeless concepts of Islam in the 21st century.

My imam, my teacher, taught me that you never change the principles. You never change the logic in Islam.

He said, but it’s OK to change the way you express the logic. And we have to look at our current set of circumstances and our reality here in the West and apply the best application of this faith.

I see them doing that, and I see them embracing the entire human family and making a positive, wonderful difference in the world.

They’re a benefit to the Muslim community and humanity as a whole.

Imam Omar Shakir, Resident Imam at Masjid Bilal ibn Rabah of San Antonio, Texas

This article has first been published in the special issue of the Fountain Magazine © Blue Dome Press

Hizmet is a group of people that I have observed carry out the best of
Islamic ideals: kindness, hospitality, love, selfless service. They are
mainstream in their creed, as far as the Sunni Islamic school of thought
goes. They read the Qur’an; they pray five times a day; they fast. They’re
very spiritual people. They don’t push their beliefs, their Islamic
beliefs, on non-Muslims. That’s not what they’re out to do. They’re out to
serve the world, Muslim and non-Muslim alike. So in terms of being an
“un-Islamic cult,” Hizmet is anything but. What they really are, in my
opinion, is a true embodiment of the Islamic ideals of love and service to
the other. And I’ve never seen anything to suggest otherwise.

I’m a civil rights activist, a human rights activist; I don’t take my
marching orders from demagogues whether they are domestic or foreign,
whether they are elected or dictators. What I look at is the process, and
what troubles me in today’s Turkey is the process. Due process is the
arbiter between those who accuse and those who defend. It’s absent in
contemporary Turkey. And there has to be independent judiciary; it has to
be judges and a court that is not in anybody’s corner. What we’re seeing in
Turkey, unfortunately, is a situation where government is essentially run
by one party that acts as both the accuser/the prosecutor, the judge and
the executioner. And those who are accused don’t really have any leeway in
the system to defend themselves.

Those who know Hizmet, who have interacted with Hizmet, know Hizmet is the
farthest thing from violence. They’ve never promoted violence; they’ve
never accepted violence; they’ve been the first to condemn violence,
including a violent overtake of a Republic, a coup. They’ve condemned this
coup, and they’ve never promoted anything close to it. They’ve never been
involved in anything that is violent in nature.

Now that the accusation is there, we have to ask for proof. And, even if
there are individuals who may be associated with the Hizmet who were
involved in one crime or another, including a coup, the question becomes:
at what point do you incriminate an entire movement of millions of people,
volunteers who want to serve humanity through their Islamic ideals? Can we
condemn a teacher, a 24-year-old woman serving in some remote part of
Turkey, Pakistan, or Kazakhstan, or anywhere in the world where they build
schools in areas of underserved, underprivileged communities? How are these
souls devoted to service affiliated or associated with that particular
crime?

What you look at here is a witch hunt; it is “guilt by association.” These
are not in the tradition of liberal justice, liberal values that
democracies espouse.

And it’s exactly what is happening around the world when people in power
want to shut out those who are not in their pockets, those they can’t
control, or those whom they don’t like.

When a government is moving towards autocracy, when you’re becoming a
demagogue, when you become the “state” (l’état, c’est moi) and
when you shut out opposition, shut down media, imprison journalists, and
declare organizations, schools, mosques, or associations or universities or
charities, as terrorist organizations just by a signature, then I have to
say, that is incorrect, and that is problematic, and that is unjust!

And I’ll raise my voice, as a Muslim, as a human being, but also as a civil
rights and human rights activist, because civil rights and human rights are
not piecemeal. They cannot be divided; they cannot be allocated to one
group and then denied to another. I believe that ideals are only good and
are only meaningful if they apply to all human beings. It’s a belief in
blind due process, a blind independent judiciary, and having the procedures
and the processes of justice apply everywhere, equally, to all people.

When I read the news that [Hizmet] schools were being shut down in
Pakistan, it hurt, because Pakistan is in need of good schools, it’s in
need of education. We hear about radicalization, we hear about illiteracy,
we hear about the lack of education in parts of the country – same in the
United States, same in the world. And anyone who is putting themselves into
service to build schools and educate young people is doing good in the
world. As someone who built an organization, I understand how much effort
this takes. I understand every wall that is painted, every nail that is
hammered into that wall, every computer that is bought and connected, every
chair and every table, and then all of the content that comes along with a
good education. It takes so much to build a single classroom, let alone a
whole organization. And here you have a school of many classrooms, and then
you have a movement of many schools. One signature, for political pressure
or for personal gain, shuts it all down.

It’s so hard to build. It’s so easy to destroy. And we, Muslim-Americans
and people of conscience, have to raise our voices and say, “We don’t stand
for that!”

Ahmed Rehab, CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations), Chicago

This article has first been published in the special issue of the Fountain Magazine © Blue Dome Press

According to Roy (2004, xi), “[g]lobalised Islam refers to the way in which the relationship of Muslims to Islam is reshaped by globalization, westernization, and the impact of living as a minority.” Roy (2004) defines global Muslims as those who have either settled in the West permanently or are trying to distance themselves from a local version of Islam by identifying with the worldwide Muslim community (the Ummah).

In studying Muslims in the West, one must take into account “the instances and places of reciprocal [historical] influence between the cultural constructs of the European and Muslim worlds” and the transcultural space created by this mutual influence in “the context of globalization, characterized by the mobility of cultures and religion” (Cesari 2004, 5). According to Cesari (2004), the Americanization or Europeanization of Islam cannot be separated from the space and time dimensions of global Islam, as well as its political crises. Cesari (2004) also posits that Islam should be examined as a process of the local, national, and international levels; it is the conglomerate production of cultural meaning and symbols. Hence, it is important to avoid the trap of essentializing Islam and Muslims based on assumptions on a single level, especially without considering Islam at all three levels.

All immigrants face challenges in their new countries. For Muslim immigrants or their offspring in the West, these challenges are heightened. How can Muslims successfully integrate without losing their rich, unique religious heritage?

“European Islam is connected with the stakes and political and cultural difficulties of the Muslim world, as demonstrated by September 11,” and key issues that are being debated about Muslims in the West such as pluralism, citizenship, and religious education cannot be limited to the national contexts of the West due to cultural globalization (Cesari 2007, 22). Although there is an interconnectedness of the Ummah, Western Muslims are not an exact reflection of issues elsewhere, since they are at the heart of religious and cultural developments connected to the Western context. Accordingly, cultural globalization has had an accelerating effect on the formation of a hybrid European or American Islam. This “hybrid” Islam is based on tolerance and respect for the other, which has been a product of Muslims living in the West (Cesari 2007, 23).

European Islam is a nascent phenomenon in that “the emergence of such an Islam does not imply the rediscovery of an Islam sui generis, but the invention of a new religious model, through the intensification of contacts among European Muslim communities, the confrontation of their uncertainties and the hybridisation of their practices” (Bougarel 2007, 20). This hybridi[z]ation is likely to grow stronger in the large cosmopolitan European cities as Muslims try to find solutions to their common problems, such as ethnic and religious discrimination, and requires a shared intellectual space where diverse communities can exchange ideas (Bougarel 2007). In its current form, European Islam “often encompasses phenomena that are quite distinct, or even largely opposed to one another” (Bougarel 2007, 1).

Pauly (2004) argues that a clash of identities takes place as a result of the establishment of minority communities in the West. Such clashes can be traced back to religious as well as broader cultural differences between the migrants and the majority populations, and integration can be a vehicle for bridging such identity gaps (Pauly 2004). Angenendt, Barret, Laurence, Peach, Smith, and Winter (2007) outline the integration strategies used by European states in recent years. These strategies have either generated mixed results or been criticized.

Dialogue with Muslim councils is one strategy that has been applied in Britain, Germany, and France – to mixed results, as the councils need to build youth participation, deliver tangible results effectively, and increase diverse participation.

Another strategy, primarily in Italy and Finland, has been a multicultural policy that promotes religious symbols. This approach encourages cultural differences and supports migrants in preserving their religious identities. Multiculturalism has its critics who claim that it promotes isolation rather than integration, all while creating economic disparities. In Britain, however, multicultural policy has fostered migrant social mobility in adults (no data on youth was available at the time of my research) (Angenendt et al. 2007).

In contrast to multiculturalism, France has attempted to transform migrants into French citizens first and Muslims second by diminishing their religious identities, specifically through a ban on religious symbols in schools. Similarly, in Germany headscarves were banned for teachers in certain states. Forced integration contracts and citizenship tests in countries such as Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Denmark require migrants to learn the native language and social norms. In general, such programs have been received negatively by Muslims, who view them as unwelcoming (Angenendt et al. 2007).

France is an interesting case of mixed approaches. Despite a tradition of harsh secularism, France also has proposals ensuring employers hire minorities – and a university actually started recruiting students using what the U.S. calls “affirmative action.”

In a similar vein, Britain and the Netherlands passed stricter anti-discrimination laws in an effort to extend equal opportunities to migrants. Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands have also attempted to teach Islam at schools.

Not all tensions in European Muslim communities are between immigrants and native citizens. According to Pauly (2004), Muslims in Europe suffer from a lack of political representation and cooperation between different communities. There are many divisions across heterogeneous ethnic, philosophical, and national boundaries. There are also clashes that emanate from countries of origin, such as the one between Turks and Kurds (Pauly 2004).

To create a Euro-Islamic identity at peace with the larger societies of their respective countries, instead of isolating themselves Muslims need to become active and get involved in all aspects of social life. There is no inherent conflict between such involvement and their faith or religious requirements (Ramadan 2004). Economic and political involvement is the way to a successful hybrid European Muslim identity that strikes a balance between the two extremes of total isolation from the larger society and abandonment of Islamic identity (Pauly 2004). Accordingly, Muslims should not be afraid to integrate into their European home lands. They should be able to blend their British, French, German, or American culture with their faith, shaping hybrid identities while enriching the cultures of their home countries.

In this respect, Gülen Movement (Hizmet) volunteers exemplify such an effort and could serve as an example for Muslims living in the West. In Germany, for instance, the Gülen Movement has worked on transforming the image of Muslims, focusing on reintegration of immigrant youth into the German education system. Furthermore, Hizmet has realized social engagement and dialogue with the German non-Muslim community by establishing cultural and dialogue centers to build bridges between cultures, all while offering a cosmopolitan and tolerant form of Islam. According to Hunt and Aslandogan (2007, 19-20), “[o]riginating in Turkey but becoming increasingly transnational, the [Hizmet] movement represents novel approaches to the relationship between faith and reason, peaceful co-existence in liberal democracies with religious diversity education, and spirituality.” As Yavuz (2013, 247) contends, the Gülen Movement “has the potential to be the beginning of religious Enlightenment in its Turkish and wider modern Islamic context where we are witnessing a new era of Muslim religious revival deeply embedded in modern processes of neoliberal market reforms and middle classes, open public spheres, democratic governance, modern education and technology-driven globalization.”

Moreover, Turkey’s membership in the European Union could have helped integrate Muslim communities living in Europe to their countries by buttressing the European Union’s credibility among Muslims. Given the current circumstances, this does not seem to be possible in the near future. Such an accession would mean redefining European identity as a more inclusive one. EU membership for Turkey would also help shape the evolving relationship between Islam and Christianity around the globe (Pauly 2004).

In sum, Muslims in the West face both challenges and opportunities in the countries in which they live. The challenges may emanate from cultural differences and identity clashes as well as the failed integration policies of the host countries. Nevertheless, Muslims living in the West can shape a brighter future both for themselves and the global Muslim community by becoming active contributors to their societies – and without any fear of losing their religious identities. There are many opportunities for Muslims living in the West to build bridges between the West and their homelands, as well as among the followers of different faiths. Embracing their host countries, while working as active contributors to society, is the key to building a peaceful future for all.

References

• Cesari, Jocelyne. 2004. When Islam and Democracy Meet: Muslims in Europe and in the United States. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Cesari, Jocelyne. 2007. “The Hybrid and Globalized Islam of Western Europe.” Portability and Exportability. 21.
• Hunt, Robert, and Yuksel Aslandogan. 2007. Muslim Citizens of the Globalized World. Kindle Edition.
• Roy, Olivier. 2004. Globalized Islam: The Search for a New Ummah. Columbia University Press.
• Bougarel, Xavier. 2007. “Bosnian Islam as ‘European Islam’: Limits and Shifts of a Concept.” Islam in Europe. Diversity, Identity and Influence. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
• Pauly Robert J. Jr. 2004. Islam in Europe: Integration or Marginalization? Aldershot. UK : Ashgate Publishing Limited.
• Ramadan, Tariq. 2004. Western Muslims and the Future of Islam. New York: Oxford UP.

It wasn’t always that way. Born in Zurich to Turkish parents, Kanter spent most of his childhood in Van, a lakeside city in Eastern Turkey. He played basketball for Samanyolu College in Ankara before being signed by Fenerbahce, one of the “big three” teams in Istanbul. When he moved to the USA, he broke Nike Hoop Summit records for field goal attempts, field goals made, and points scored, topping Dirk Nowitzki’s 12-year-old record. After being drafted by the Utah Jazz with the third pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2015, where he later re-signed. We had this interview with him before he was recently traded to the New York Knicks.

Were it not for the political situation back in Turkey, Kanter may have had a solid but quiet NBA career. But on the night of July 15, 2016, Turkey was rocked by an attempted coup. He is a vocal member of the Hizmet movement, one of the largest educational social movements in the world, and that originated in Turkey. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan falsely blamed Mr. Fethullah Gülen, the Muslim cleric who inspired Hizmet, for the coup, and Kanter soon became persona non grata in his homeland. In May, when he was traveling to promote his Enes Kanter Light Foundation, which works primarily with children, he was denied entry into Romania. His passport had been canceled by the Turkish government, which claimed Kanter was a member of a terrorist organization.

Despite being labeled a terrorist by the Turkish government and being threatened with arrest if he returned to Turkey, Kanter has been unbowed in his criticisms of the Turkish government – and especially of President Erdogan. He has also continued to spend his summer practicing and working with children.

The Fountain caught up with Kanter at his youth basketball camp in Englewood, New Jersey. Over the course of three days, Kanter taught dozens of children basketball skills, but more importantly, he also taught them life skills. His interactions with the kids weren’t just genuine; he seemed more at ease with the kids than with the adults. He took a real joy in laughing and teaching them – and he also seemed to relish the impromptu games of one-on-one so many of the kids challenged him to. As kind as he was to the kids, he showed them no mercy on the court, continuing the proud NBA tradition of viciously rejecting any and all shots, no matter how young his opponent. Despite this, the kids were all smiles whenever Kanter joked with them or hopped into the middle of a drill.

Kanter was kind enough to talk with The Fountain about his work with kids, Hizmet, life as a Muslim in the NBA, and the political situation back in Turkey.

***

The Fountain: Playing in the NBA as a devout Muslim, what has that been like? Have players been curious? Have fans been supportive?

Enes Kanter: People definitely ask a lot of questions. Every step you take, people are watching. They’re wondering what’s going on. Especially my teammates, they ask questions almost every day. About everything you can think of. But one thing I’ve learned in America is if you want respect, you have to show respect. You can’t judge anybody. It doesn’t matter if they’re Christian, Jewish, atheist. You can’t judge them. Everybody has their own beliefs, and you have to respect them… We have a lot of dialogues with my teammates, some are Christian, Catholic, some don’t believe in God. But we have conversations. They ask me questions; I ask them questions. But one thing I love about American people is they’re very respectful.

Here’s an example. The first time I went to Oklahoma City, I was wondering, how am I going to do this? I’m a Muslim player, I pray 5 times a day, fast, eat halal food. So when I got to OKC, I told the chefs, the organization, I’m a Muslim, I need to do this, this, this. They were so respectful. They actually have halal food for everyone now. So we eat halal food in the locker room. They’re eating Turkish food. (Laughs.) People are eating it with their [bare] hands [because they love the food so much]. Right now, after practice, even, we get halal food. They love it.

For praying, I told them I pray 5 times a day… They gave me a special room at the practice facility and at the arena. I go in there and pray. Sometimes when I leave the room, guys ask me, did you pray for me?

Not too many know about this, but before NBA games, there’s chapel (for the players)… I actually join sometimes. They’re talking about really good stuff, things from the Bible, and then they pray. It touched me. I said this is something cool, we need to do this in Turkey.

The most important thing for us is eating. If you don’t eat you won’t perform well. One of the lifting coaches, he fasted with me for three days, but he quit. He fasted with me and saw how it feels like as an NBA player to fast. How much protein you need, how many carbs you need to get… So it made them really respectful.

When did you first learn about Hizmet?

I’d been going to Hizmet schools since 2nd grade, but didn’t know what was going on because I was too young. The first thing I learned about Hizmet was from my mom’s book. My mom was reading one of Hocaefendi’s (the Turkish word for “respected teacher,” used to describe Fethullah Gülen, the inspiration for Hizmet) books and I asked, “What is this?” And she explained to me what it is, what the book was, who Hocaefendi is, what’s he doing in the world… From the first day, I thought, “This man is so cool, I want to be like him.” I was so young, I didn’t know what was going on, but I thought, I wanted to be like him.

As you’ve gotten older, and you understand more about Hizmet, how has that impacted you as a person – and as an NBA player?

As an NBA player, of course, you make more money, so you have expensive cars, expensive houses, and you live an expensive life… But meeting with Hizmet, I thought, I’m earning money, respect, fame, and I need to use this for a good cause. One thing Hocaefendi says that really touched me is, “Live for others.” So whatever you do in life, you try to raise generations, you try to do the best you can to help the young kids grow up well. I’m trying to have the camp for that.

You’re comfortable and genuine with kids.

I love kids. I’ve been working with them since my first year in the NBA. They’re very cool, and they love to learn about basketball.

I wanted to ask about the summer of 2016, the attempted coup in Turkey and the purge. I know you’ve had a tough situation with your family, too.

So if you want to understand who did the coup, you need to look at who got the most benefit from it. If you look at what happened after the coup, about 2,000 schools, dormitories, and universities were shut down. There are more than 50,000 innocent people in jail. 17,000 are women: pregnant, new mothers, young women, old ladies… You see (TV) channels, newspapers and magazines shut down.

It’s really sad that all these innocent people are going through this. Do you think these pregnant women did the coup? It’s crazy to me. It’s very sad… They did the coup? I believe President Erdogan did the coup. And it has been blamed on Hizmet. Why? Because that’s the only group that was standing up against him and was speaking truth. He is polarizing people, he’s creating groups and using religion to control people. That’s the easiest way to control people. Religion. It’s really sad to see all these people going through this; to see your country going through this. I can’t even invite my own teammates to see my own country. I can’t even go to my own country.

It’s really sad. You asked about my family, and I haven’t spoken to them probably over a year now. It’s a tough situation, because they (the Turkish government) listen to everything. They listen to phones… They searched my house. They took the electronics away. They took the phones, the laptops, the computers… They wanted to see if I’m still in contact with them.

What do you miss most about Turkey?

I miss the home cooked meal. You eat a lot of food here; I go to Turkish people’s houses. But it’ll never taste like your mom’s food. If you see my house in Turkey, it’s a little apartment. I have a bed like… how many inches is this? (Holds up his hands.)

About 30 inches.

I have a 30-inch-wide bed. I just like, squeeze in there, but it’s your house. You miss your house. You miss your family. You miss your friends. I don’t have any friends left [in Turkey] because of the situation. But if you are standing up for something you believe and you believe it’s the right thing to do, you have to stand up… A lot of my teammates are asking me, “Are you crazy? Your family is still there. Your sister is still there, your brother, your little brother, is still there. Why are you doing this?” But people don’t understand it’s more than just (my) family. There are thousands of people in jail getting tortured right now. So I have to speak up about what’s going on. So the world will know and do something about it.   

And your teammates have been supportive?

Definitely. When I was in Romania, Russel Westbrook texted me with the hashtag, “Free Enes.” That means the world to me. Some of the rookies texted me. Even the GM [Sam Presti] texted me, a senator texted me… I love America, but I wasn’t born here. But when you see that people are supporting you like this, like your family; and your state, Oklahoma, is supporting you like this, it shows you a lot. I see America, Oklahoma, like my family, like my home.

I’ve learned especially from Hocaefendi that, whatever it takes, you have to speak up. There are a lot of people out there waiting for help, waiting for somebody to speak up, to say something about it. The people right now in Turkey, in jails, are my friends, my friends’ family, my mom’s friends, my dad’s friends… I understand I haven’t spoken to my parents for more than a year, but there are over 17k moms in jail who are misbehaved, some even tortured and raped. When I say tortured, it is not only me saying that. The reports – Amnesty International had one –are saying this is what’s going on. But you have to do what you’re going to do. You have to support your people.

***

Fast break with Enes by Orhan Akkurt

Your favorite players?

Nowitzki (Dallas), Pau Gasol (Chicago)

Boston Celtics of 60s or Chicago Bulls of 90s?

Chicago Bulls with Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman

Top 5 players of all time you wish you could play with?

Westbrook, Michael Jordan, Lebron James, Karl Malone, Kareem Abdul Jabbar

What do you like most in the US?

The respect people have for one another.

The craziest thing you did?

To ask the Utah Jazz to trade me. Few players can do it.

Your greatest passion?

To be the European and world champions with the Turkish national team.

What makes you upset most?

Lack of enthusiasm when one does anything.

Anything you regret you did?

Everybody makes mistakes. The best of those who err are the ones who repent.

Hizmet’s activities can be classified into four categories: business associations, interfaith/intercultural dialogue activities, education,[1] and relief work.[2] Its interfaith/intercultural dialogue activities provide safe zones where peoples of different backgrounds can come together and engage in friendly conversations in a peaceful atmosphere. Such meetings create constructive relationships and social capital.

The movement’s educational and relief work also engender dialogue, although indirectly. They have often helped communities who have historically had strained relationships come together under the tree of knowledge.

Hizmet pioneered dialogue activities in Turkey in the 1980s. This allowed different communities to search for solutions to common problems. When the movement spread worldwide in the 1990s, its dialogue activities reached beyond just the Turkish context and encompassed all major faiths and cultures.

With the growth of militant extremism dominating the international discourse about Muslims, Hizmet became a major moderate voice, condemning extremism and embodying Islam’s peaceful face.[3] It presents an alternative vision for Muslims, in stark contrast with the reactionary political Islamist movements. Hizmet encourages Muslims to peacefully but actively engage in all walks of life and with all types of people.

Fethullah Gülen, the key figure whose ideas have inspired the movement, “regards dialogue as an activity of forming a bond between two or more parties.” He also “specifies the humanitarian approach to dialogue, which manifests itself with tolerance and various tolerance-based concepts such as love, compassion, forgiveness, and humility” (Kim 2015, 35).

Kim has also called Gülen’s approach to dialogue “dialogic Sufism,” a reactivation of the Turkish Sufi tradition, one that has been specifically adapted for the contemporary world. “Dialogic Sufism opposes a dialectical approach to humanity which assumes an opposing and conflicting relationship between self and others,” Kim wrote (2015, 36). He adds that this approach is in contrast with the reactionary nature of political Islam: “Instead, it [Hizmet] interacts with any challenging condition and context to build a dialogical bridge between the past and the present, the East and the West, rationalism/materialism and spiritualism, and between different civilizations, religions and cultures, obliterating difference and distinctions between ‘[the] self and others’” (Kim 2015, 37).

Gülen has traced the idea of dialogue back to basic Islamic themes. Accordingly, he takes the “basmala,” the beginning of almost every chapter of the Qur’an, as a point of departure. The basmala is a recitation of God’s attributes, “the Compassionate and the Merciful.” According to Gülen, the recurrence of this phrase in the Qur’an is an indication “God wanted to teach Muslims, among other things, to be compassionate and merciful in their relations with their fellow human beings, and with nature” (Saritoprak and Griffith 2005, 333).

Furthermore, Gülen has been inspired by the writings of Ahmed Faruqi Sirhindi (1564-1624), an Indian Sufi, who introduced the concept of loving friendship (khillah) and that each believer is to cultivate a spiritual friendship with all those who profess the faith of Abraham, both Muslims or non-Muslims (Saritoprak and Griffith 2005). Referring to love in the Sufi tradition, Gülen emphasizes one of the “beautiful names” of God, “al-Wadud,” or the Beloved One, and asserts that Muslims are expected to reflect this attribute in their lives by being a people of love. Gülen has found the roots of these themes in the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, quoting the hadith, “Whoever is humble, God exalts him; whoever is haughty, God humiliates him” (Saritoprak and Griffith 2005, 334). To Gülen, this idea is the heart of Islamic ethics. It is also the basis for interreligious dialogue, and he sees dialogue as the natural result of the practice of Islamic ethics. Humility leads to peace through dialogue, not violence through conflict.

According to Gülen, the Qur’anic verse 3:64, revealed in the ninth year of the Hijra (629 CE), represents one of the greatest ecumenical calls of Prophet Muhammad’s time and clearly indicates that Muslims are expected to treat People of the Book with respect and tolerance (Webb 2015; Saritoprak and Griffith 2005):

Tell them: ‘O people of the Book, let us come to an agreement on that which is common between us, that we worship no one but God, and make none his compeer, and that none of us take any others for Lord apart from God.’ If they turn away, you tell them: ‘Bear witness that we submit to Him’ (Al-Imran 3:64).

According to Esposito and Yılmaz (2010, 162), Gülen’s teachings are based on Turkish Islamic tradition inspired by Sufi figures like the poet and theologian Rumi (1207-1273) and the Ottoman Empire’s religious tolerance, as exemplified in the Empire’s community self-governance (also known as the millet system). In this respect, Saritoprak and Griffith (2005, 330) assert, “[t]he Ottoman Empire presented a great example of the Islamic understanding of tolerance towards non-Muslim subjects, in particular, the People of the Book. In our contemporary world, the issue has become even more relevant because of a tremendous need for interfaith dialogue and understanding.”

They argue that Gülen’s interfaith approach, in turn, is rooted in three Islamic principles: “a history of revelation and prophecy, the commonalities among faiths, and the Qur’an’s explicit sanction of interfaith dialogue” (Esposito and Yılmaz 2010, 162). The following paragraphs will present details of each of these, tracing them in Gülen’s writings.

First, Gülen’s commitment to interfaith dialogue emanates from his inclusive and singular approach to religion, in which Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, particularly – and even the non-Abrahamic religions of Hinduism and Buddhism – accept the same theistic source.[4]

Accordingly, a spiral understanding of history and religion in Gülen’s thought generates this approach, in which the universal principle of God’s existence is reaffirmed by messengers and revelations. “The divine revelation and prophecy establish both an axis for religious unity and a framework for religious diversity” (Esposito and Yılmaz 2010, 163). Since the Qur’an declares in verse 40:78 that God sent many prophets and the hadith tradition specifies their number as 124,000 messengers, Gülen is able to argue that the universality of religion is reflected by any religion, to a varying degree, and that all major religions are based on the shared divine revelation (Esposito and Yılmaz 2010).

Supporting his inclusive approach to religion and interfaith dialogue, Gülen draws parallels between the similarity of different religious teachings (Esposito and Yılmaz 2010). In this regard, he states that religions pursue the same universal goals. He also reiterates their shared source and emphasizes the commonality in generally accepted values across different religions, indicating the divine presence in all religions[5]:

The goal of dialogue among world religions is not simply to destroy scientific materialism and the destructive materialistic worldview; rather, the very nature of religion demands this dialogue. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and even Hinduism and other world religions accept the same source for themselves, and, including Buddhism, pursue the same goal. As a Muslim, I accept all Prophets and Books sent to different peoples throughout history, and regard belief in them as an essential principle of being Muslim. A Muslim is a true follower of Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus, and all other Prophets. Not believing in one Prophet or Book means that one is not a Muslim. Thus we acknowledge the oneness and basic unity of religion, which is a symphony of God’s blessings and mercy, and the universality of belief in religion. So, religion is a system of belief embracing all races and all beliefs, a road bringing everyone together in brotherhood.

Regardless of how their adherents implement their faith in their daily lives, such generally accepted values as love, respect, tolerance, forgiveness, mercy, human rights, peace, brotherhood, and freedom [are] exalted by religion. Most of them are accorded the highest precedence in the messages brought by Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, as well as in the messages of Buddha and even Zarathustra, Lao-Tzu, Confucius, and the Hindu prophets.

Lastly, Gülen believes in the Qur’an’s universal call for dialogue, though it primarily targets the Abrahamic religions and forms the first pillar of interfaith dialogue (Esposito and Yılmaz 2010). Verse 3:64 from the Qur’an is one example that Gülen quotes[6]: “O People of the Book, come to a word common between us and you, that we worship none but God, and associate none as partner with Him, and that none of us take others for Lords, apart from God.”

Gülen also emphasizes verses 2:3 and 2:4, which require Muslims to believe in scriptures that were sent to previous prophets as well as the Prophet of Islam (“…who believe in what is sent to you and what was sent before you”)[7]. Accordingly, by establishing the belief in earlier prophets and revelations, Islam lays out the foundation for interfaith dialogue. Further, based on verse 29:46, “And discuss you not with the People of the Book, except with means better (than mere disputation),” Gülen contends that the Qur’an bases that dialogue on finding common points rather than disputing others’ religious beliefs.[8] Yücel (2013), quoting Seker, asserts that “Gülen’s dialogue work is not un-Islamic or something new to Islam, but is rather based on the spirit of the Medina Charter, an agreement drawn up between the Muslims and non-Muslims (Jews and pagans) in Medina that granted rights and respect towards non-Muslims.” Seker adds that Gülen also draws from the spirit of the final sermon of Prophet Muhammad (Yücel 2013, 204).

According to Webb (2015), for Gülen, being human is sufficient enough to earn respect. Webb (2015, 16), in this respect, points to Gülen’s use of the hadith to justify his universalistic principle:

[The Prophet] one day stood up as a Jewish funeral was passing by. One of the Companions at his side said, ‘O Messenger of God, that’s a Jew.’ Without any change in attitude or alteration of the lines on his face, the Prince of Prophets gave this answer: ‘But he is a human being!’

In this respect, by pointing to enlarging the circle of Hizmet from the Abrahamic faiths to include religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism on the basis of human-brotherhood, Erol (2012) asserts, “the Gülen movement is eager to create further bonds just because they are human beings regardless of their faith, colour, language, culture or ethnic background. It is simply implementing the aforementioned famous saying of Yunus Emre: ‘We love the created because of the Creator.’”[9]

According to Kim (2015, 39), “[i]n Gülen’s diagnosis, most of the problems that contemporary human beings face result from the loss of true humanism, which causes and appears with widespread hatred and enmity,” and “Gülen is convinced that the only way to disentangle the real and critical danger to human beings is to revitalize humanism by means of love and tolerance.” Hizmet means “service to humanity,” and based on Gülen’s philosophy, “the real path of Sufis is to seek their spiritual progress in the happiness of others by living for others. This exemplifies what hizmet is” (Kim 2015, 38). Similarly, Al-Mabuk (2015, 29) contends that in Gülen’s thought, “forgiveness holds the promise to transform hostility, resentment and hatred into peace, love and harmony among individuals and societies.”

Yücel (2013), on the other hand, links Gülen’s dialogue efforts to Said Nursi (1877-1960), an influential Ottoman-Kurdish Islamic scholar and activist. Gülen is an ardent follower of Nursi, who initiated the idea of dialogue in his Damascus sermon in 1911[10]: “Said Nursi proposed dialogue and collaboration between Muslims and Christians before a congregation of over 10,000 Muslims, including 100 prominent religious scholars, in the Umayyad Mosque, Damascus” (Yücel 2013, 197). Nursi believed in this cooperation against materialism, which he saw as the source of the international aggression of his time; to him, greed, driven by materialism, causes the major conflicts that lead to destruction on a worldwide scale. Nursi suggested that Muslims and Christians should cooperate against common threats, including poverty, ignorance, and enmity between peoples. According to Valkenburg (2015, 53), “[i]t can be found in Nursi’s Damascus sermon and in some parts of his Risale-i Nur as well, where Nursi showed that negative approaches to people of other religions in the Qur’an usually apply to specific situations only, whilst the more positive evaluations of others have a more universal value. Something similar can be said about the quotation about loving good deeds and detesting bad deeds, since in the same Damascus sermon from 1911, Said Nursi stated that ‘the thing most worthy of love is love, and that most deserving of enmity is enmity.’”

According to Yücel (2013, 200), “Gülen has two aims for interfaith and intercultural dialogue. Firstly, he seeks a world in which civilisations do not clash. Secondly, he pictures a world where religious, cultural and linguistic differences are not denied or repressed, but rather expressed freely in the form of a civilisation of love. He dreams of a world without conflict and enmity. In such a world, people avoid hurting or annoying each other.”

References

• Al-Mabuk, Radhi H. 2015. “Fethullah Gülen’s Perspectives on Forgiveness.” Hizmet Studies Review. 2(2): 21-31.
• Barton, Greg. 2014. “How Hizmet Works: Islam, Dialogue and the Gülen Movement in Australia.” Hizmet Studies Review. 1(1): 9-25.
• Kim, Heon C. 2015. “Sufism and Dialogue in the Hizmet Movement.” Hizmet Studies Review. 2(2): 33-49.
• Saritoprak, Zeki, and Sidney Griffith. 2005. “Fethullah Gülen and the People of the Book: A Voice from Turkey for Interfaith Dialogue.” The Muslim World. 95(3): 329–40.
• Webb, M. O. 2015. “Fethullah Gülen’s Use of Philosophical and Scriptural Resources for Tolerance.” Hizmet Studies Review. 2(2): 9-18.
• Yilmaz I and Esposito JL. 2010. Islam and Peacebuilding: Gülen Movement Initiatives. New York: Blue Dome Press.
• Yücel, S. 2013. “Muslim-Christian Dialogue: Nostra Aetate and Fethullah Gülen’s Philosophy of Dialogue.” Australian e-Journal of Theology, 20(3).

[1] http://gulenschools.org/

[2] http://embracerelief.org/

[3] http://rumiforum.org/gulen-condem-isis-new-york-times-washington-post/

[4] http://en.fgulen.com/questions-and-answers/599-what-is-the-role-of-prophethood-and-of-prophets

(Accessed July 5, 2015).

[5] http://en.fgulen.com/about-fethullah-gulen/251-fethullah-gulens-speeches-and-interviews-on-interfaith-dialogue/1334-introduction

(Accessed July 5, 2015).

[6] http://en.fgulen.com/reflections-on-the-quran/4286-al-imran-3-64

(Accessed July 5, 2015).

[7] http://en.fgulen.com/conference-papers/peaceful-coexistence/2486-sacred-scriptures-and-interfaith-dialogue

(Accessed July 5, 2015).

[8] http://en.fgulen.com/conference-papers/peaceful-coexistence/2512-gulens-paradigm-on-peaceful-coexistence-theoretical-insights-and-some-practical-perspectives

(Accessed July 5, 2015).

[9] http://www.fethullahgulenforum.org/articles/32/the-contribution-fethullah-gulen-on-christian-muslim-relations

[10] http://www.saidnur.com/foreign/en/risaleler/sermon1.htm