“… The success of the Gülen movement in the field of education has multiple dimensions. The Gülen movement as we see it today has a history which is rooted in that of the Turkish Republic. Organizational structures and the content of discourse developed in close relationship with the political history of Turkey and were shaped by the events in world history after 1990. Fethullah Gülen has managed to lead his followers into the modern world but within their religious framework. This framework has a discoursive and organizational side. He was able to lead the much closed cemaat to new horizons.”
The international conference "Islam in the Contemporary World: The Fethullah Gulen Movement in Thought and Practice" aims to explore the appeal, meaning, and impact of Fethullah Gülen and the Gülen movement on Turkish, regional, and - increasingly - global societies. In the contemporary world, Muslim communities are undergoing radical social, economic, political and intellectual change. The underlying goal of this conference is to examine the issues facing the contemporary Muslim world in transition and the relations between Islam and the West. In particular, the conference explores the ideas of Fethullah Gülen – a Turkish Muslim scholar, author and education activist – and the impact of the civic projects initiated by participants in a social phenomenon called the Gülen movement. Originating in Turkey but becoming increasingly transnational, the Fethullah Gülen movement has a universal educational and interfaith agenda that aims to promote creative and positive relations between the Muslim world and the West, and to make a constructive contribution to the dialogue of civilizations, the reconciliation of science and religion, global education initiatives, democracy, and religious plurality.
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