A Civic and Social Islamic Reform Movement with Worldwide Peace building Mission

The social movement called Hizmet or Gulen Movement is based on philosophy and values preached by fetullah Gulen, his thought and practice including his insights on renaissance and a Globalizing civilization of love, tolerance and empathy presently in the making.Gulen philosophy is most importantly rooted in the prophetic and civic Islam, it embraces educating youth, raising a golden generation, fostering interfaith and intercultural dialogue, assisting the needy in society and contributing to the global peace and harmony.Hizmet movement was founded in the late 1960s by fetullah Gulen, an insightful and profound man of thought, spirituality and faith with a life long commitment to understanding the principles of faith, consistently commenting on them, and sharing his thought and philosophy with others. It is absolutely essential to keep this perspective in mind in order to comprehend what he exactly preaches and practices. Misguided ones seek out things in his thought and practice that are actually absent, from selfish political ambitions to material gains. The person who tries the hardest to correct these misconceptions and is most offended by them is indeed fetullah Gulen himself. When his philosophy, thought and practice are observed closely over a period of time, the obvious conclusion comes up that Gulen's objective has been to reconcile tradition (faith) with modernity (science) as to him, a healthy modern civil society has the attributes of solidarity, hard work, and productive outcomes.The solidifying force to these attributes is the (ever evolving) strength of community's democratic values and principles (based on ethics and morality) that maintain societal internal cohesion, stability and harmony. additionally, these attributes imply that those who trust each other and resist social decline enhance their individual capacities manifold for work and self development, and also elevate the quality of life of the society as a whole locally and globally.furthermore, these concepts are realized through investment, entrepreneurship and making tremendous improvements in the conscious distributive market economy possible.There are basic and unique characteristics of fetullah Gulen as a leader that differentiate him from the beliefs and opinions of many others. What is the source of such a difference? first of all, Gulen from his very early life was influenced positively by Sufi (mystic) teachings and tradition (without belonging to or founding any sectarian sufi tariqa). This influence can be seen not only in his religious interpretation and practice, but also in his general lifestyle and manner while abiding by the God Given task of helping build, in modern times, Medina like civil society with the ideals of the Quran and Sunnah.His general conduct has always been humble and modest. He does not consider himself above anyone else, and he holds love, tolerance and forgiveness in the highest regard. The ways that these values reveal in his personal conduct are that Gulen listens carefully to others before he begins to speak. He appears as a bashful person (an endearing quality for him) and that should not be misinterpreted as secrecy of any sort. In his eyes, there is so much to be learned from him and so much mystery around the world, while his posture reflects his respect for others as well as his astonishment. another attribute of Gulen (Sufi) thought is that the individual takes it upon himself a responsibility to be a virtuous and perfect human being (Insan e Kamil), as far as possible, in all aspects of life and to others. an ideal person feels accountable to an ideal society as much as to himself. He wants for others what he would want for himself. Gulen places this accountability at the center of his conception of faith and beliefs. according to him, a Muslim is a social being and to the extent that he has spiritual depth, he allows the wellbeing of others to factor into his decision making. This sense of devotion to others is the foundation of his understanding of ethical conduct and moral integrity as an individual.In the Islamic belief, human beings at birth innately possess the inclination (fitra) to virtue; all what is needed is a conducive and healthy social environment, conscious parenting, early education and goodrole models. Ibn e Tufail thought that, if he could make one leaderinto a virtuous/serving person, his mere example would serve to change all those around him for the better.1 Humans, most urgently need best of educating and character building to bring out the goodness and virtue in them.Gulen philosophy presents values focused around inner personal transformation through prayer and spiritual discipline that lead to an ethic of individual freedom and social responsibility for the purpose of serving other human beings (Hizmet).Gulen notes, "every thing of beauty, and every value present inindividuals is multiplied and reflected in society. In contrast, every thing that is inappropriate every insufficiency, is a scandal, and as a scandal blocks society's path and inflicts deep wounds upon it."Gulen most strongly believes in education to elevate individuals and all of humankind. He has complete confidence in science and research, while he urgently believes in religious creeds and in devotion to God. He importantly supports the unity of heart and mind and never abandons one in favor of the other. He always emphasizes learning, as It is pointless to look for an exceptional character in an individual who has not passed through the crucible of conscious parenting, early teaching and learning, human virtues and elevating elements that have not developed within him yet. In the same way that transformative individuation and self actualizing occurs by education, so is social and collective transformation ensured by education.Gulen's teachings also have a constant national undercurrent that exhorts his followers to strengthen their notion of a local community (or nation), and to open up to otherhumans and to embrace the largerfamily of global humanity or communities. Gulen further proposes three spiritual devices in this matter including modesty, tolerance, and devotion of the self to humanity.It was no accident that the ottomans' spanning across a hugegeography from the 15th to theearly 20th centuries, embraced the plurality from different religions and cultures, and were able to maintain their internal peace and coherence for centuries. The fact that there was no discrimination among the multiple cultures and their domain played a very positive role in this achievement.It is most likely that the Gulen Movement with its numerous schools worldwide has derived inspiration and positive lessons from the experience of the ottomans. The Hizmet movement volunteers refer to this as the "line of rumi and Yasawi," i.e. unconditional love, and view this perspective as an ongoing gift from them to the today's world.The Hizmet Movement ventures and values allow for relationships, dialogue and peace building to develop within the full spectrum of plurality and cultural diversity. This dynamics of dialogue between allcultures, faiths and civilizations is critically very important and one can cite Gulen here," one cannot be a Muslim unless one believes in the pre Islamic prophets."The Hizmet Movement takes extra care and precautions not to lose this perspective. This is essential to Gulen's core beliefs, and his volunteers hold the same opinion.according to Gulen, the essence of all divine religions based on revelation lies the hope of reaching the absolute truth. In the Gulen Movement, this offer is more than an abstract promise. In all the actions and initiatives of the movement, there is the intention of turning this ideal into an active and ongoing practice. for that reason, as much as there is sacrifice and altruism in Gulen's faith and worldview, there is sacrifice and altruism in the movement.Empathy is one of the most important principles of the Gulen philosophy and is expected from his volunteers. The ability to embrace others indiscriminately brings the individual closer to God, as well as bringing him closer to being ideal human. for this reason, this call is an accountability call for him. This is what Gulen refers to as "metaphysical tension," or "spiritual alertness" (in Turkish, metafizik gerilim) and I call it as the conscious spirituality. as the individual performs his actions being spiritually awakened, he is approaching the human ideal. achieving closeness to this ideal the individual transcends to being a perfect person or (Insan eKamil) in the process as far as possible.If empathy were not one of the fundamental principles of the Hizmet movement, its members would not be willing or able to carry their message to the farthest corners of the world. They would not be able to communicate with people whose ethnicities, religions, and nationalities are so diverse and different from their own. Such sacrifice is found only in a strong belief. Gulen knows this very well and uses his religious interpretations to foster a mentality that produces a synergy between social works and spiritual development.The subject of socio cultural and civilizational decline, its causes, and possible cures are a perennial topic of philosophical and sociopolitical theorizing in every human culture, society and in every historical period.2 The Hizmet movement initially having been mainly active in education in general, has been increasingly expanding contributions to individual/collective transformative education, rescue initiatives, investments in media, finance, health, interfaith/ inter cultural dialogues and peace building over the decades. Hizmet movment, combined with the creation of a "Golden Generation", has thus become a holistic and preventative approach to sicio cultural regression.fetullah Gulen, a farm boy from rural anatolia in Turkey, emerges to become an encyclopedic personality, a renowned opinion maker on child and human development, modernity and tradition and reformer of renaissance and globalizing civilization. The transformational ideas he has offered and put into practice in his native Turkey did not pertain to "change and secularism from above' 'The social transformational change through Hizmet movement in Turkey and beyond has been through a bottom up grass roots approach. The change to begin with was not meant for the state and its politics but for the public sphere and the people themselves to transform.The life in Islamic belief system is meant to be of goodness (as God wants), fairness and justice. Hocaefendi has had the conviction that religion and science are certainly not contradictory but are complimentary to seeking the truth. Together they empower the individual and the civil society.The ignorance is a form of evil, preventing understanding of the self and the society and inhibiting reconciliation of sociocultural differences. Ignorance is eliminated through education.for Gulen education also builds bridges between inner life and social life, and helps us understand the variety of facts and possibilities. His views on religion in the contemporary world, also pertain to Inter faith dialogue, politics; women, education as an instrument of individual and collective aggrandizement, 'clash of civilizations' thesis and possibility of universal reconciliation based on common religious and humane principles.Hizmetis a voluntary, civic and independent movement. a modern understanding of reality inspires its spirit. reality is both the institutional and cultural set up that we find ourselves in and the belief system from which the movement has emerged out of. It has been simple, pure and civic original Islam. stripped off of extremes and cleansed from legend, particular historical experiences of different, aberrant Islamic notions, epochs, geographies and cultures. only then the true spirit of religion could be distilled and begin to travel over time and space and find actual meaning in modern and post modern settings once again.Hoca efendi (the Master Instructor), as he is commonly referred to, has carried the original message of civic and genuine Islam to the contemporary times and societies before they were thwarted by political or local cultural interpretations.The universal education has always been a fundamental aspect of the Hizmet Movement.all its institutions were built and maintained by the financing of sponsors, businessmen who wanted to return some of their prosperity to the community.3The guiding principles of the movement have been Hizmet (service),"camia" (gathering) and "hosgoru" ("tolerance", but with a more positive meaning, including something like "respect"), values that are all rooted in civic Islam.The religion offers not only a belief system but also a moral recipe for good behavior and