volume: 2 number: 3 autumn 2015

Transcription

Hizmet
1
Studies
Review
An international scholarly journal on
Fethullah Gülen and Hizmet Movement
THEMATIC ISSUE:
EDUCATION and HİZMET
Anwar Alam
The Roots and Praxis of Fethullah Gülen’s Educational Discourse
F. Zehra Colak
School as a Space for
Recognition: Reading the
Motivations of Turkish-Belgian
Parents through Spatial
Identification
Muhammed M. Akdag
The roots of Fethullah Gulen’s
theory of education and the role
of the educator
Non Thematic Articles
Erkan Toguslu
Hizmet en Afrique: les acteurs
transnationaux du mouvement
Book Reviews
VOLUME: 2
NUMBER: 3
AUTUMN 2015
Hizmet Studies Review v.2 n.3
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Editors
Prof. Dr. Johan Leman, Emeritus, KU Leuven
Dr. Erkan Toğuşlu, KU Leuven
Merve Reyhan Kayıkçı, KU Leuven
Editorial Board
Khaled Abou El Fadl, UCLA School of Law; Philip Clayton, Claremont School of Theology;
Trudy Conway, Mount Saint Mary’s University; John L. Esposito, Georgetown
University; Sabine Dreher, York University; Eddie Halpin, Leeds Metropolitan
University; Özgür Koca, Claremont Lincoln University; Thomas Michel, Georgetown
University; Ides Nicaise, KU Leuven; Simon Robinson, Leeds Metropolitan University;
Niyazi Öktem, Fatih University; Ori Soltes, Georgetown University; Pim Walkenberg,
The Catholic University of America; Paul Weller, Derby University, John Whyte, University
of Regina, İhsan Yılmaz, Fatih University.
Hizmet Studies Review is a scholarly peer-reviewed international journal on the Hizmet
Movement. It provides interdisciplinary forum for critical research and reflection upon
the development of Fethullah Gülen’s ideas and Gülen Movement (Hizmet movement). Its
aim is to publish research and analysis that discuss Fethullah Gülen’s ideas, views and intellectual legacy and Hizmet Movement’s wider social, cultural and educational activities.
Hizmet Studies Review is subject to peer review process. The journal is published two
times a year, in Autumn and Spring. Submissions are invited in English or in French.
Submissions in all two languages will be considered. For further information about style
guide please visit www.hizmetreview.com.
Subscription
Annual subscription: Institutions 50 € + p & p; individuals 25 € + p & p.
Editorial correspondance should be addressed to Dr. Erkan Toğuşlu, Hizmet Studies
Review, Parkstraat 45, box 3615 3000 Leuven-Belgium. HSR is edited at the KU Leuven
in Belgium at the Faculty of Social Sciences, Gülen Chair for Intercultural Studies.
Disclaimer
KU Leuven Gülen Chair for Intercultural Studies makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in its publications. However, Gülen
Chair and its agents and licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as
to the accuracy, completeness or suitability for any purpose of the Content and disclaim
all such representations and warranties whether express or implied to the maximum
extent permitted by law. Any views expressed in this publication are the views of the
authors and are not the views of Gülen Chair.
ISSN: 2295-7197 © 2015 Gülen Chair
3
Hizmet Stu d ies R e v i e w
Volume 2, Number 3
Autumn 2015
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First published in Belgium, 2015
KU Leuven Gülen Chair for Intercultural Studies
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of KU
Leuven Gülen Chair for Intercultural Studies.
The Gülen Chair for Intercultural Studies in KU Leuven
University is a research chair specialising in academic
research, teaching and publication in the field of interculturalism, Muslims in Europe, cohabitation of ethnicreligious differences in plural societies.
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Contents
Editor’s Note
6
Articles
Thematic Articles
Anwar Alam
9
School as a Space for Recognition: Reading the Motivations of
Turkish-Belgian Parents through Spatial Identification
31
F. Zehra Colak
The roots of Fethullah Gulen’s Theory of Education and the Role of the
Educator 55
Muhammed M. Akdag
Non Thematic Articles
Hizmet en Afrique: Les Acteurs Transnationaux du Mouvement Erkan Toguslu
73
Book Reviews
93
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Editor’s Note
We again present a thematic issue. In this issue, the three articles cover the topic
of education in the Hizmet movement and one off-topic article presents Hizmet in
Africa.
Education has always been a very important focus in the movement and Fethullah Gülen. The movement is well known with schools and non-denominational
educational institutions founded by its participants around the world. This issue’s
article try to answer various questions on Gülen’s educational philosophy, Gülen
inspired schools, families’ motivations.
Anwar Alam’s paper attemps to locate Gülen’s philosophy of education beyond
the framework of tradition and modernity. He analyses the three formulations of
Gülen’s discourse in light of the Islamic values. Alam’s article demonstrates a holistic
approach to the Gülen’s educational philosophy stemming from Islam.
Fatma Zehra Colak explores a school in Brussels, l’Ecole des Etoiles, founded by
Turkish Belgian parents. This article carried out families motivations to send their
children to the school. The school is imagined as a space of multiculturalism, of
value education, a place to reduce the educational gap, and a place for recognition.
Colak’s article looks at these different motivations and aspirations to understand
how families self identify themselves with the school.
Muhammet Akdag examines Gülen’s ideas on education and educators. The article emphasizes on Sufi roots of educational viewpoints of Gülen to depict the teaching model in the schools opened by Hizmet. The role of Sufi teaching in teacher’s
role model is underlined in this article.
Non-thematic article on Hizmet in Africa offers an analysis of the movement’s
expansion in African continent. It draws attention to the translocal and transnational practices of the people in education, economy and charity. The focus of the
article is to understand how a movement creates opportunity spaces in globalization
process with an entrepreneurial quest.
As always, we would like to thank our advisors and editorial board members.
Their guidance and support make our journal possible, and we are deeply indebted
to them for the time and effort that they put into our journal. On behalf of the HSR
team, we hope that you enjoy your read.
Johan Leman, Erkan Toğuşlu, M. Reyhan Kayıkçı
Editors.
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Hizmet Studies Review
Vol. 2, No. 3, Autumn 2015, 9-30
The Roots and Praxis of Fethullah Gülen’s Educational
Discourse*
ANWAR ALAM, [email protected]
Zirve University
ABSTRACT This paper attempts to locate Gülen’s thought beyond the framework of
tradition and modernity and argues that his philosophy of education provides an alternative to
both the classical Islamic educational system and the modern educational system. The key to the
success of his educational discourse lies in his three formulations. First, he shifted the Muslim
discourse from ‘seeking Islamic education’ to ‘education as the most noble Islamic value’ and an
essential condition for securing one’s own Islamic faith. Second, Islam is essentially a discourse,
not a matter of identity. Thus a Muslim can maintain his\her faith even while operating in
the hostile secular milieu without bothering about the form in which Islam has to be practised.
Third, by undertaking a very comprehensive but flexible understanding of Islam that makes
God, Qur’an, the Universe and Humanity manifestations of the same, single Truth, and by
emphasising Islamic value in terms of ‘good moral and ethical conduct’, he opens the door for
the Muslim community to secure their faith in multiple ways.
Keywords: Turkey, Education, Discourse
Introduction
The Muslim intellectual class throughout the Muslim world since the eighteenth century has grappled with a central question: how to be a Muslim in the
modern secularized world. In other words, how to secure a Muslim way of life
in the increasingly Godless, modern, secular world. In particular, the focus of
Muslim scholars and reformers has been on securing the Islamic faith of Muslim
youth who appeared to them to be enslaved by aggressive secularism and materialism. Against the background of this question, the Muslim intellectual class also
debated the issue of relationship between revelation (faith) and reason, religion
and science and Islam and modernity with an objective ‘to arrest the rapid decline
of Muslim power and deteriorating condition of Muslim communities’ across the
world. Education is the most important site of these debates, and views concern-
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ing education emanate from their theoretical engagements with these issues.
Fethullah Gülen (b.1941 and affectionately called hocaefendi), a Turkish Islamic scholar presently living in the United States, is also a part of chain of Islamic and other Muslim scholars who have reflected on this set of questions. Through
his writings and public actions he is considered to have demonstrated the possibility of ‘being Muslim and modern together’ both at the level of theory and of
praxis. The key to the resolution of this Muslim dilemma lies in his articulation
of his philosophy of education, not to be misunderstood as ‘Islamic education’,
derived mainly from his reading and understanding of Islamic foundational texts
– Qur’an, Sunnah and Hadith, Islamic history, philosophy, values and narratives
of Prophet’s life, and an understanding of ‘modern world’. In his articulation of
Islamic thought, including his philosophy of education, Gülen has been influenced by many Islamic and non-Islamic sources and personalities.
However, it is Badiuzzaman Said Nursi (1878-1960) and his work Risale-i
Nur who is considered to have decisively shaped Gülen’s ideas to the extent that
many scholars and activists within the movement believe that Gülen is merely
the executor of Nursi’s ideas. In the specific terms of the educational field, Nursi’s
formulation of ‘education as an antidote to ignorance, poverty and disunity’ is
considered to have shaped Gülen’s educational thought. However, notwithstanding the subtle influence of Nursi over Gülen’s Islamic thought, it would be grossly
misleading to claim that Gülen is merely a practitioner of Nursi’s ideas on education. This paper, while acknowledging Nursi’s contribution in shaping Gülen’s
thought on various issues, also seeks to throw light on the qualitative difference
between the two in terms of approach towards Islam, education, dialogue, pluralism, public sphere and state, in the subsequent pages.
Gülen’s ideas on education have inspired many and have gradually led to
the development of a kind of civic-social movement called Hizmet in Turkey,
which in turn resulted in a proliferation of educational institutions that range
from coaching institutes to elementary and higher schools to university, mostly
modern-secular and informally recognized as Gülen institutions, in many parts
of the world over a relatively short period.1 The movement also registers its powerful presence in the domains of the media, publishing houses, charity works
and inter-faith dialogue both within and outside Turkey. These institutions have
become a practical site for demonstrating the harmony and unity of religion and
science as well as mind and heart, without declaring a discourse of ‘Muslim modernity’. Hizmet’s success in the educational domain has led one scholar to call
this movement ‘educational Islamism’ (Agai 2002).
What makes Gülen’s Hizmet movement a successful educational enterprise
in a way that had eluded previous generations of Muslim scholars and reformers
(Islamic and non-Islamic both) despite their repeated preaching about the central
value of education in the Qur’an and Hadith? Or is it merely the coincidence of
‘right time and context’ that makes Gülen’s interpretation of Islam and his appeal
for education receptive among good numbers of Turkish population in a way
which was lacking previously? Or is it that Gülen’s writings and speeches provide
an ‘alternative philosophy of life process’ that first caught the imagination of a
section of the Turkish population and is gradually making its presence felt in
other parts of the world?
Before I spell out the ideas and principles underlying Gülen’s philosophy of
education and the reasons for the success of his educational mission in order to
reflect upon the questions raised above, it is important first to reflect critically
upon the pattern of responses of Islamic scholars and movements to the issue of
modernity, particularly the ‘discourse of educational reform’, as these have important bearings upon his philosophy of education.
Islamic Responses to Modernity and Its Consequences
What has been the dominant response of Islamic/Muslim intellectuals to
the challenges of ‘modernizing Europe’? Three dominant Islamic responses can
be discerned: apologetic rejectionism (political), apologetic synthesism (socialeducational) and withdrawal (apolitical). The first claimed that all the virtues
of European modernity – nationalism, democracy, representative government,
patriotism, equality, liberty, fraternity/brotherhood and so on – are enshrined in
Islamic foundational texts, the Qur’an and Hadith, and rejected the European\
modern paradigm of development. This model was personified by Sayyid Jamal
al-Din al-Afghani (1838-1897) and its political-ideological reading of Islam
culminated in the ‘concept of Islam state’ and ‘Islamization of knowledge’ as a
dominant discourse of twentieth-century Islamic movements represented chiefly by the Muslim Brotherhood in the Arab world, by Jaamat-e-Islami in South
Asia and by many other radical Islamic militant groups. Paradoxically, it rejected
modernity but appropriated moden conceptual categories in the interpretation
of Islamic texts. In this model, the state emerged as the essential condition for
maintaining or promoting Islamic identity and for securing the Islamic way of
life. Thus the educational discourse of this model was a part of a political project.
This model sustained its appeal largely due to its anti-western/imperial platform
and remained confined to a segment of the restless petite-bourgeois section of
Muslim society.
The second trend was represented by Muhammad Abduh (1849-1905) of
Egypt, the mufti of al Azhar, the famous Islamic seminary of the Muslim world,
and Sir Syed Ahmed Khan (1817-1898) of the Indian sub-continent, the founder
of the Anglo-Mohammaden College at Aligarh (later became Aligarh Muslim
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University), which sought the synthesis of the religio-cultural values of Islamic
civilization and the rational-scientific values of western civilization. This trend
sought to realize the goal of synthesis by introducing social and educational reform in Muslim society with a particular focus on its English-medium course,
reform of the curriculum and the establishment of a university, and by undertaking a hermeneutic reinterpretation of Islamic foundational texts in order to demonstrate the doctrinal compatibility of faith and reason and religion and science.
However, this intellectual trend could not ensure a breakthrough at the cognitive
level in Muslim societies as it turned out to be merely an Islamic legitimization
of western rationalism and materialism, or resulted in the marginalisation of the
Islamic education system, or kept the two forms of educational system running
parallel to each other without any synthesis. As a consequence, it suffered from
a lack of being ‘sufficiently Islamic’ in the public perception for the vast numbers of Muslims who could entertain the idea of ‘educational reform’ without
compromising their faith, as well as a lack of being ‘sufficiently modern’ to the
westernized section of Muslim societies who pinned their hope on the discourse
of modernity for any churning within Muslim societies.
The third trend was exemplified by an intellectual trend that demanded the
complete withdrawal of the Muslim community from interaction with non-Muslim subjects/spheres, particularly the western. This trend sought to preserve the
‘Muslim life’ and ‘Muslim identity’ by creating a self-imposed cognitive boundary around itself, by living in isolation with a fear of interacting with the outside world lest the interaction should corrupt Islamic morality and value. One
consequence of this trend was the transformation of madrassas from a ‘place of
study’ into a place of exclusive Islamic religious learning by discarding subjects
belonging to natural science and the humanities as they increasingly came to be
identified with the ‘western educational system’. Ulema sought to preserve Islamic
identity in the form of Islamic madrassas that gradually became the most important symbol of Islamic identity. In other words, Ulema sought the refuge of Islam
in madrassas and mosques.
The net effect of the interaction of Islam (including these intellectual trends)
with the west during the colonial period was that Islam closed itself off, erected a
boundary around itself, became defensive, reactive and past-oriented in outlook,
fearful of interacting with outside world or engaging with this world on its own
terms and conditions. In the process of closing itself off, it strongly identified
itself with spiritualism and internalized the colonial discourse of ‘Spiritual East’
vs ‘Material West’. It sought to compensate its material deprivation by contrasting its ‘vibrant spiritualism’ against the moral, spiritual and ethical bankruptcy
of western materialism. Islam became the discourse of ‘other world’, and west/
modernity became the discourse of this world. In the process, Islam began to
lose its balanced outlook between the material and spiritual realms. It may be
noted that one of the key aims of Gülen’s educational discourse is to restore the
balanced outlook of Islam as represented in the Mujadidi-tajdidi model of Islam
that combines the integrated principles of Salfi-Sharia-Sufi in the interpretation
of Islam texts, ethics and conduct as personified by such Islamic personalities as
Imam Ghazali, Imam Rabbani, Shah Wali Ullah, Imam Khalid Al Bagdadi and
Badiuanzaman Said Nursi.
How does Gülen see these Islamic intellectual responses to modernity? It is
interesting to note that none of these models of Islamic responses to the challenges of modernity caught the imagination of Gülen; neither did they find a
place in the list of Gülen’s heroes of Islam, who range from the Prophet Muhammad to Badiuzaman Said Nursi and included not only Islamic religious scholars
but also such diverse personalities as Sinan (the famous architect of Ottoman
times) and some rulers of the Seljuk and Ottoman Empire (Gülen 2009a: 6883). With hindsight, it can be argued that the political overtones of these Islamic
intellectual trends must not appeal to Gülen as he firmly believes that any form
of politicization of Islam harms none but Islam itself. Given Gülen’s comprehensive, non-ideological, flexible and inclusive understanding of Islam, he must have
found these models of Islamic resurgence not only fragmentary and exclusionary
but ideologically and politically loaded and therefore insufficient to address the
challenges of humanity.
Locating Fethullah Gülen: Beyond Tradition and Modernity
I contend that Gülen provides an ‘Islam-inspired alternative philosophy of
life process’ that cuts across the binary framework of Tradition vs Modernity. He
calls his ‘alternative philosophy of life’ a ‘system of thought’ that has been lacking
in the Muslim community for a long time. In his opinion, the regeneration of
human civilization is not possible without a ‘system of thought’ or a ‘philosophy
of life’ that has been lacking in previous Muslim generations for several centuries
(Gülen 2009a: 135-43). In his ‘system of thought’, he visualizes Islam as an ‘organic whole’, the parts of which are inter-related, each part deriving its meaning
and existence by virtue of being part of whole (Gülen 2009a: 12-13). He states
that “The Qur’an, like the universe and humanity, is an organic entity, for every
verse is interrelated with the others. Thus the first and foremost interpreter of
the Qur’an is the Qur’an itself. This means that a complete and true understanding of a verse depends on understanding all other relevant verses” (Gülen 2006:
49). Thus only a balanced holistic reading of Islam – its foundational texts, its
dominant practice, principles, values and norms – can enable a Muslim to understand the ‘Truth’ of God, the Universe, the Qur’an and Humanity: all interrelated
manifestations of a single Truth having the same value.
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Any deviation from this understanding of Islam and Islamic history results in
a fragmented, lopsided understanding of ‘Islamic Truth’ and hinders the growth
of Muslim civilization. Therefore, neither the traditional, scholastic, legal-institutional method nor the framework of modernity, characterized by ‘mechanical application of fixed rules and principles’, is adequate enough to understand
Gülen’s system of thought. In fact, much of the dominant western-centred social
movement theory, particularly the theory of resource mobilization, that has been
applied to understand the Gülen movement, suffers from the limitation of the
political economy approach of modernity and therefore is thoroughly incapable
of understanding the normative dimensions of the movement. In fact, it focuses
only on the outer dimension of movement – the institutional capability of the
movement – without unearthing the philosophical foundations of the movement.
Gülen addresses the challenges of modern civilization – selfishness, greed, hedonism, violence, terrorism, peace, love, mutual living and tolerance – but finds
its resolution in the non-traditional and non-modern perspectives which are based
on the ethically and morally guided material process of life. The ‘non-traditional’
does not become modern, nor does the non-modern becomes traditional. Both
categories entail a ‘discursive space’ that combines a continuum of tradition and
modernity within each category. Hence the relationship between the two is didactic and interactive, not antagonistic as is commonly understood. Thus, ‘modernity and west’, unlike the writings of modern-day Islamicists, does not appear
as ‘other’ in Gülen’s narrative of Islam and Islamic history. More specifically, by
‘non-traditional’, I mean the discursive space that is engaged with the process of
‘community formation’ without following the routes of traditional Islam with its
excessive focus on ritual and identity discourse, whereas ‘non-modern’ reflects an
approach that seeks an engagement with modern institutions, ideas and values
without internalizing the discourse of modernity.
Thus the Islamic narratives of Fethullah Gülen attempt to form ‘a virtuous
global Muslim community’ without any exclusive focus on identity or the ritualistic dimension of such a process of community formation. The ritualistic discourse of Fethullah Gülen is confined to what he calls the ‘Essentials of Islamic
Faith’ (Gülen 2009b) which is an exposition of the basic principles of Islam. Gülen’s Islamic discourse does not hinder his followers from interacting and working in a modern setting. Similarly, the Gülen movement engages itself with the
institutions and ideas of modernity such as secularism, democracy, human rights,
nationalism and gender equality without indulging in the exercise of ‘Islamicizing modernity’ as reflected in the latter half of the nineteenth and first half of the
twentieth century intellectual trend of ‘Islamic modernism’ in the Muslim world,
or currently in the writings of Rashid Al-Ghannushi, Tariq Ramadan and others,
without accepting the ontological and normative vision of modernity. Many see
the perspective of post-modernity operating in Gülen’s philosophy of life as deriv-
ing particularly from his discourse on pluralism, tolerance, peace and inter-faith
dialogue. However, I am apprehensive about calling Gülen’s philosophy a variant
of post-modernism as he believes in the principle of relative truth that not only
obfuscates the ‘realm of good’ and the ‘realm of bad’, but is in direct opposition
to Gülen’s innate belief in the Islamic principle of ‘Absolute Truth’.
Similarly, there are many who identify the success of his educational initiative
in his resurrection of ‘classical Islamic education’ which combines the study of
transmitted sciences (Qur’an, hadith, theology, jurisprudence and so on) and natural sciences (logic, mathematics and so on). In other words, Gülen’s educational
success lies in the harmony and unity of the sciences (religious science and secular
science) that was prevailing during the period of classical Islamic education (from
the eighth to the tenth centuries) (Afsaruddin 2005). However, this understanding of Gülen’s educational thought does not correspond to the empirical reality
of the Gülen schools that have spread all over the globe. Nowhere in his writings
has Gülen referred to such Islamic educational practices in history, nor he has
mentioned the Nizamiyya madarassas or Ibn Khaludun’s scheme of education or
al-Farabi’s philosophy of education that highlighted the distinction between the
two knowledge systems. Further, if one were to detect the Islamic point of view
in the modern sense of the term in Gülen’s educational discourse, one might
stretch Gülen’s educational philosophy to the current ideological project of the
‘Islamization of knowledge’ that flows from the discourse of political Islam/Islamism, which is antithetical to Gülen’s understanding of Islam and Islamic history.
Moreover, the notion of ‘classical Islamic education’ retains a ‘hierarchy of values’
(that entails superiority of transmitted sciences over natural sciences), which is
completely missing in Gülen’s educational thought, notwithstanding the fact that
Gülen draws inspiration from the classical period of Islam, particularly the period
of the Prophet Muhammad and the Four Rightly Guided Caliphs. For Gülen,
knowledge is knowledge and its utility is measured by its approach to serving
humanity.
In fact, any attempt to bring Gülen’s education discourse under the rubric of
‘Islamic education’ would be a gross injustice to Gülen’s Islamic thinking, for it
is the paradigm shift from ‘seeking Islamic education to education as an Islamic
universal value’ in Gülen’s Islamic epistemology that partly explains what appears
to be a paradox in modern thinking about an Islamic movement running the secular educational institutions. Although the Kemalist Turkish law that prohibited
the opening of religious schools or madarassas might have played a role in directing Gülen’s attention towards the establishment of secular schools, the fact of the
proliferation of Gülen schools abroad or in countries (such as India) that do not
place any ban on the opening of religious schools, testifies to the ‘paradigm shift’
in Gülen’s Islamic thinking that flows from his understanding of Islam than the
shift occurs because of the constraints of law.
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In fact, for Gülen, the things called ‘secular’ are an embedded aspect of Islam
and hence the modern distinction between religious/Islamic and secular studies or
even the notion that one is dominant over the other is erroneous and harmful for
the balanced growth of individual, community, society and nation. As Bekir Kaya
pointed out, ‘there was no madarassas during the times of Prophet Muhammad and
His Companions’,2 thus not only deriving legitimacy from Islam for such a (secular)
initiative and also underlining the point that education does not have any colour (religious or secular). Gülen himself highlighted the secular educational engagements
of Prophet Muhammad: ‘The Messenger’s method of education does not just purify
our evil-commanding selves; rather, it is universal in nature and raises human hearts,
spirits, minds and souls to their ideal level. He respected and inspired reason; in fact,
he led it to the highest rank under the intellect of Revelation. … His universal call
encompasses, in addition to the rules of good conduct and spirituality, all principles
of economics, finance, administration, education, justice, and international law. He
opened the doors of economic, social, administrative, military, political and scientific
institutions to his students, whose minds and spirits he trained and developed to become perfect administrators, the best economists, the most successful politicians and
unique military geniuses’ (Gülen 2002a : 3). It is in the light of this that Gülen draws
the attention of Muslims to the educational legacy of Islam and calls upon them to
champion education: ‘we must raise generations who comprehend their time, who
are able to consider the past, present, and future together. Otherwise, God forbid,
our nation will be crushed in the merciless gears of history. Just as species become
extinct when they fail to adapt to their environment, nations also pass away when
they do not respond to the demands of their age’ (Kurt 2014 : 126).
Further, Gülen’s ‘alternative perspective of life processes’ should not be confused
with closing or bridging the gap between tradition and modernity. There are many
who have detected the middle ground in Gülen’s writings that combines the moderate interpretation of tradition and modernity. This explains, according to them,
Gülen’s success in closing the gap between Muslim (a religious identity) and modernity (a secular identity) and bringing the two together without being apologetic
(Kuru 2003). However history is full of moderate and extremist interpretations of
text, context, time and space but that does not enable such a hermeneutic interpretation to sustain beyond a time. It is only a discourse that brings a ‘paradigm shift’ in
the domain of a knowledge system or what is called an ‘ontological rupture’ at the
level of epistemology that manages to sustain itself and serve humanity for all times
and places.
I contend that Gülen has brought a paradigm shift in the domain of knowledge
whose full potential cannot be explored or even understood by merely highlighting ‘moderation’ in its exposition. Gülen univocally asserts that Islam is a religion
of moderation and therefore extremism of any kind does not have any place in the
legacy of Islam. This does not mean that he is highlighting the moderate dimension
of Islam. He remarks that, ‘Islam, being the middle way of absolute balance between all temporal and spiritual extremes and containing the ways of all previous
Prophets, makes a choice according to the situation’ (Gülen 2006 : 145). It is this
understanding of Islam that led him to declare that ‘a Muslim cannot be terrorist
and a terrorist cannot be Muslim’ in the wake of the 9/11 incident. By emphasising the moderate character of Gülen’s thought, one makes him nothing but
an exponent/advocate of ‘moderate Islam’ (Ebaugh 2010 : 2). This further indirectly legitimizes the existence of radical Islam. Such an understanding of Gülen’s
thought is not appropriate as he firmly believe in a balanced-organic-holistic understanding of Islam as opposed to the fragmented understanding of Islam as an
Islamic discourse that focuses upon ‘moderate vs radical Islam’. In an interview,
he categorically stated that ‘Islam has no political prescriptions. Moderate Islam
implies political Islam’ (Sevindi 2008 : 74).
Locating Gülen’s Educational Thought
It is in the framework described above and subject to the truth of Islamic faith
as envisaged in the Orthodox mainstream Sunni Islam that one is free to pursue
the infinite domain of knowledge in Gülen’s scheme of education. Unlike the
materialist philosophy, Islam recognizes four sources of knowledge: revelation,
reason, experience and intuition. Education, according to Gülen, is required to
ensure a balance between all these sources of knowledge.3 It was belief in the value
of education, whatever its sources, that allowed for the borrowings from Greek
science which drove the explosion of scientific achievement that characterized
medieval Islam (Turner 1995: 26) and later travelled in translated form to Europe to play an important role in enabling the Reformation, the Renaissance and
industrialization in the western parts of Europe.
Gülen envisages a similar kind of forward-looking integrated knowledge system, if not an imitation of the trajectory of European modernity, which draws
inspiration from the Islamic past and attempts to obliterate the false distinction
between ‘Islamic education’ and ‘secular education’ that has come to stay in the
modern era by considering the study of Qur’an or history or physics or mathematics or any other discipline as essentially an Islamic universal value. Education
in the hands of Gülen is primarily an Islam-led universal ethical and moral discourse to guide human beings’ actions in various fields of life. The primary objective behind Gülen’s educational discourse is to produce an action-oriented ethical
and moral being. A general interaction with the volunteers working in the Gülen
schools and other fields confirms this prescription of Islam, as has been summed
up by Ozmen Ozugun: ‘We do not teach religion in our school. We provide our
service to all, irrespective of religious and other identities, with an intention to
contribute to making him or her a good human being; albeit we consider our
actions to be Islamic ones’.4
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There are broadly two inter-related dimensions of Gülen’s educational
thought: general and particular. In general, he identifies an ‘educational deficit’
world-wide, including the advanced western nations, and emphasises the value
of education as the ‘best tool’ to serve humanity and a necessity for an intercultural understanding of communities and for living together in the increasing
globalised world. He first and foremost identifies education as a universal democratic value that ‘empowers’ people to achieve the goals of freedom and development. As he emphatically states, “If you wish to keep the masses under control,
simply starve them of knowledge. The only escape route from tyranny is through
the attainment of knowledge” (Quoted in Ünal 2004 : 33). A second source of
his educational thought comes from his holistic understanding of human beings.
According to Gülen, “we are creatures composed of not only of a body or mind
or feelings or spirit; rather we are harmonious compositions of all of these elements. … Each individual is all of these. When a man or a woman, around whom
all systems and efforts revolve, is considered and evaluated as a creature with all
these aspects, and when all our needs are fulfilled, we will reach true happiness.
At this point, true human progress and evolvement in relation to our essential being is only possible with education” (Gülen 2002b : 78). Education is, therefore,
required for the balanced growth of all aspects of human beings.
Third, he defines Islam in the broadest possible terms in which universe, humanity and Qur’an are inseparable. Each human being, as God’s vicegerent on
earth, is expected to improve things on earth in order to serve humanity. To serve
humanity means serving God. Education and knowledge is required to serve humanity in the most effective manner which in turn amount to serving God. As
God’s vicegerents on earth, all human beings are required to improve their educational faculty so as to understand and discover the sign of God.
Fourth, his educational discourse provides a critique or an alternative to both
the dominant Islamic educational system and to the western/modern/scientific
educational system. He found the Islamic schools (madrassas) and the Sufi brotherhood (tarikat) too obsessed with the legal-metaphysical and ritual dimensions
of Islam and other issues of Islamic identity whilst ignoring the inner spiritual
and scientific dimension of Islam; hence their inability to address the challenges
of contemporary society. On the other hand, he saw in the western/modern educational system the development of high professionalism but without the culture
of humanism. Further, he detected the violence and destruction in the positivist
materialist philosophy of life, which, according to him, ‘if allowed to run unchecked will lead to nihilism and survival of the humanity will be at the stake’.
Thus he remarked, “due to humanity’s growing arrogance and egoism, arising
from its accomplishments, we have lived through worldwide colonialism, immense massacres, revolutions that cost millions of lives, unimaginably bloody and
destructive wars, racial discrimination, immense social and economic injustice,
19
and iron curtains built by regimes whose ideology and philosophy sought to deny
humanity’s essence, freedom, merit, and honor” (Ünal 2004: 43). In an interview, he
declared that ‘my main objective is to create global education, which will become an
alternative to the Western model of cultural imperialism’ (Sevindi 2008). Thus for
Gülen, both forms of educational system – traditional Islamic and modern western
– have failed to produce a ‘perfect moral being’ who combines ‘mind and heart’ or a
balanced understanding of materialism and spiritualism.
Gülen’s educational discourse sought to achieve the goal of the ‘perfect moral being’ or what he calls ‘a movement from potential human to perfect human’. The idea
of perfect man (insan-i-kamil) as embodied in the Prophet Muhammad requires a
balance and harmony between the functions of mind, heart, spirit and body which
in turn entails a balance and moderation among the three faculties of human being:
reason, anger and lust, each of which consists of two opposite elements the excess of
which utility can prove to be harmful.5 In short, he envisages an educational system
that synthesises religious and scientific values, with each inspiring the other and binds
the two in harmony in order to serve humanity, universe, God or Islam – all manifestations of the single transcendental Truth – and not mechanically closing the gap
between the two by offering simultaneous teaching of religious and science subjects
in an educational institution, as the trend had been in Muslim society in the past. As
Gülen said, “In a new style of education, fusing religious and scientific knowledge
together with morality and spirituality will produce genuinely enlightened people
whose hearts will be illuminated with religious sciences and spirituality. Their minds
will be illuminated with positive sciences, characterized by humane merits and morale values, and cognizant of current socioeconomic and political conditions” (Unal
and Williams 2000 : 47). The scope of Gülen’s educational project is therefore, as
Fabio Vicini put it, to ‘form individuals with a strong inner Islamic ethic which can
guide humanity toward the correct use of scientific discoveries’ (Vicini 2007).
So behind the establishment of Gülen-inspired schools and universities lies an Islamic imagination: to establish an ‘example’ through deed and actions following the
footsteps of the Prophet Muhammad and the creation of a ‘golden generation’. As
Professor Sadi Colenli from Erzurum has put it, ‘one should not compare this movement with namaz, haj, religion. This movement is about the creation of a golden
generation on the principle of original tasawwuf (sufi Islam), original Islam (scholasticism) and science’.6 So Gülen’s educational discourse is intrinsically connected with
an idea of a golden generation – a generation capable of becoming ‘inheritors of the
Earth’ who will combine the virtues of faith, love, science, mathematical thinking,
freedom of thought, self-criticality, consciousness of responsibility and culture as
the legal way of doing things (Gülen 2009a, see chapter Status of Soul). Ali Unal described the golden generation as ‘one who knows the age in which he lives very well’.7
The golden generation is expected to re-establish Islamic glory in the world and will
prepare a better future for the next generation. This partly explains why, unlike many
20
other commercial educational enterprises, all of Gülen’s darshane, schools and
universities have parallel facilities of dormitories and light-houses where students
are socialised in Islamic moral and ethical values that comprise the fundamentals
of Islam, Sufi training of asceticism and principles of living under God’s conciseness, the ethic of hard work and responsibility, the desire to acquire knowledge,
self-discipline and altruism through the mechanism of the sohbet8 readings of the
works of Said Nursi and Gülen.
In particular, his educational discourse primarily aims to secure the ‘Islamic
faith’, particularly of the Muslim youth whom he sees as becoming enslaved in the
culture of materialism and hedonism of high modernism represented by Kemalism in Turkey. In Kemalist Turkey, the government imposed a ban on all forms
of Islamic educational institution. This created a serious institutional crisis not
only in terms of imparting Islamic education, but also secular education, as large
numbers of Muslims in Turkey, particularly in Anatolia, refused to enrol their
sons and daughters in Kemalist state schools on account of their fear that their
children would be affected by the secular philosophy of the school and might in
the process become ‘un-Islamic’. In other words, they found these schools lacking
in Islamic moral values and hence refused to send their children to a government school. Gülen saw in Kemalist Turkey a nation internally torn between two
world views: an aggressive, ideological secular world view and a defensive, insular
Islamic world view, with each distrustful of the other, and therefore resulting in
the ‘stunted growth’ of Turkish society. This situation came about, according to
Gülen, partly because of centuries of misunderstanding of the idea of progress by
a dominant section of modern secularists, in other words, that scientific progress
is possible only by dominating and eliminating religious values, and partly because of the hurried attempts of the Kemalist state to ‘modernize Turkey’ along
European lines, which led to the establishment of the state’s strict control and
regulation of religious life and of Islam in particular, which in turn gave the impression that science and secularism were inimical to Islam.
Gülen found a solution to ‘this impasse’ by advocating a particular kind of
education that even if it teaches secular subjects at the same time, could instil
among students Islamic ethics and morals. He did not offer any criticism of the
state secular institutions but identified the lack of ‘educators’ in those schools.
Ismail Gouulalan (b. 1933), recalling his days with Gülen in Edrine, stated that
‘among other things we also used to talk about condition of education in Turkey,
but Gülen was more concerned about small numbers of educators’9 he maintained a distinction between a teacher and an educator. Gülen notes that “education is different from teaching. Most human beings can be teachers, but the
number of educators is severely limited” (Quoted in Ünal 2004: 34-35). The
difference be¬tween the two lies in the fact that although both teachers and educators impart information and teach skills, the educator is the one who has the
ability to help the students’ personalities to emerge, who fosters thought and
reflection, who builds character and enables the student to interiorize qualities of
self-discipline, tolerance and a sense of mission. He describes those who simply
teach in order to receive a salary, with no interest in the character formation of
the students, as “the blind leading the blind” (Ünal 2004). In short, by ‘educator’,
he means a teacher who is not only qualified in his/her subject but also embodies
good moral and ethical conduct, is humane and compassionate, and represents
the value of humanism in general.
For Gülen, therefore, what matters is not the secular orientation and physical
space of the educational institution, but the ‘cognitive map’ of the teacher who
interacts with and retains the power of transmitting knowledge and value to students. Such a teacher with Islamic sensibilities can impart Islamic value through
his/her ethical and moral conduct even in the hostile secular atmosphere of the
institution. In this sense, a teacher of any discipline is a living representative of
Islam, humanism and universalism. In other words, the focus in Gülen’s philosophy of education is on temsil (example) not tabligh (preaching). Preaching does
not attract, it alienates; representation, not presentation, attracts people (Yasin
2007 : 559). Teachers should embody universal values, know their learners well,
and appeal to their minds and their hearts. In short, hizmet with its educational
core is a tabligh in the form of temsil.
Unlike Nursi, Gülen did not seek to secure ‘Islamic faith’ or ‘teaching of Islam’ by withdrawing from the Kemalist state educational system into private
houses, notwithstanding the fact that a unity of theological, spiritual and scientific knowledge was taught in such Nurcu private houses. Rather he preferred
to implant a ‘teacher with Islamic sensibilities’ in a secular educational institution as he clearly recognised that the secular form of educational institution has
become hegemonic and the most acceptable form for imparting education in
society. Any other institutional form, including madrassas, lacks the legitimacy to
provide ‘good quality education’ in accordance with the demands of the modern
world. He soon recognized the futility of confining educational ideals to Islamic
circles and this led him to advocate, unlike many contemporary Islamic scholars
and movements, the necessity of elite secular schools rather than the mosque and
madrassas within and outside Turkey. Gülen repeatedly affirms that “If there is no
adaptation to new conditions, the result will be extinction”. In his understanding,
previous attempts to reintepret the Islamic texts failed to understand the mood,
temperaments and requirements of modern times.
In his advocacy for opening ‘secular schools’, he also differed from the previous generation of Islamic scholars, including Nursi, who sought to arrest the
moral and cultural decline of Muslim society by reforming university education
or creating new universities. In other words, Nursi and others conceived an ‘edu-
21
22
cational crisis’ only in terms of a ‘crisis of higher education’ without attempting to
reform Muslim society from within. Thus the approach underlying educational
reform to regenerate Muslim society was top-down, mechanical, rather technical
in nature, in which the juxtaposition of Islam and western science was premised
on their fixed, technical understanding of each other.
On the other hand, Gülen conceives education primarily as ‘social value’,
which is an open-ended, life-long process beginning with family and school. The
underlying approach in Gülen’s educational discourse is bottom-up, moral and
ethical, rather than technical, and is concerned with the inculcation of universal
values (such as altruism, elements of sacrifice, honesty, truthfulness, justice, peace
and so on), the ethics of social responsibility, legal sensibilities and individual accountability. Although conceptually Gülen’s educational discourse comes closer
to the perspective of ‘value education’ in terms of its emphasis on character building, it goes beyond that as it is geared towards the creation of an holistic but balanced personality, or achieving a mean balance by avoiding excess.
By implication, the focus of educational discourse of Islamic modernists has
been institutions and structures, whereas the focus of Gülen’s discourse is human
agency: the creation of action-oriented moral and ethical beings from below. So
unlike the Islamic modernists whose ‘top-down discourses of reform’ led to the
marginalisation of sufistic values, Gülen’s Islamic values of ‘love’, ‘compassion’
and ‘selfless service’ are principally derived from the principles and practices of
Sufism, what Gülen calls the spiritual dimension of Islam. It is for this reason
that he laid great emphasis on the opening of secular modern schools within the
framework of national law for the first two decades – the products of which today
are serving in many institutions of higher learning, including universities across
the world. It would be a futile exercise to have an institution of higher learning or
university with an humanistic vision without a resource base of educator.
Second, his advocacy for opening secular educational institutions also partly
comes from his understanding of Islam as essentially a realm of discourse, not an
identity to be preserved in a particular form: behavioural or institutional. A Muslim can maintain his\her faith even while operating in the hostile secular milieu
without bothering about the form in which Islam has to be practised. Therefore
he is reported to have remarked that if the hijab becomes an obstacle in seeking
education, a girl should prefer education rather than the hijab. From this perspective, Gülen does not consider the veil or the beard as essential elements of
faith or as indispensable to the accomplishment of Muslim life. As he remarked,
“I see the robe, turban, beard and loose trousers as details. Muslims should not
be drowning in detail … Choosing not to wear them should not be construed as
weakening the Muslim Turkish identity. No one should be categorized as a sinner
because of such things” (quoted in Ünal 2004 : 62).
In order to achieve his educational goal, he shifted the discourse from ‘seeking Islamic education’ (as exemplified by the institutions of madrassas and tariqa
which focus on the theological dimension of Islam) to ‘education as Islamic value’. In this way, he established the inter-linkage between education and Islamic
faith. In this relationship, education and its various facets such as science become
an instrument to perfect one’s own faith (iman) and explore God’s creation. By
investing education with the ‘noblest Islamic value to seek’, he makes Islam relevant for this world as well as for the other world. Islamic faith (iman) is thus
secured by seeking ‘good education’ (irrespective of the field) or setting ‘good example’ or ‘good conduct’ which was hitherto confined to the paradigm of ‘Islamic
education’ that was being imparted by madrassas, makhtab, khankha, tariqa and
tekke or any other structure that was considered ‘Islamic’ in the Muslim public
imagination. Gülen, by interpreting Islamic faith primarily in terms of moral and
ethical conduct and education, not Islamic education as traditionally understood,
as the essential condition to secure Islamic faith, abolished the Islamic hierarchy
of values that came to lodge between Islamic knowledge as imparted through
the traditional Islamic institutions and other knowledge imparted by other nonIslamic institutions. Thus an educated person, irrespective of his/her field, with
good moral and ethical conduct can retain his/her Islamic faith without undergoing the prescribed Islamic training of traditional Islamic institutions. This opens
the door for many conservative Turkish parents to send their children to the state
secular educational institutions.
With this diagnosis of Turkish society, he first embarked upon delivering a series of lectures mostly related to the principles and history of Islam, the life of the
Prophet Mohammad, Islamic ethics and conduct, and the relationship between
religion and science in his capacity as an imam of various mosques in order to restore recognition of and respect for Islam and to dispel the perception that Islam
is opposed to science, progress and development in the public sphere. His sermons on Islam and his advocacy for education performed the ‘function of moral
opposition’ (Gürbüz 2007) in the view of the established Kemalist order without directly intending to do so, and attracted critical public opinion, and others
who were increasingly becoming alienated from the Kemalist order in view of its
perceived failure to manage the economic, social and sectarian crisis of Turkish
society in the 1970s. He then successfully persuaded a number of Anatolian businessmen to invest in establishing a preparatory coaching classes with facilities of
hostel, dormitory and light-houses in order to enable the students, mostly from
the Anatolian region, to become enrolled in a higher educational institution in
Turkey. Gülen personally encouraged the students to go into the field of education in order to fill the dearth of educator in Turkish educational institutions.10
23
24
In particular, he encouraged students to pursue science education so as demonstrate the complementarity between Islam and science as well as to remove the
perception in the conservative section of the Muslim community that education
in science promotes atheism. In fact, unlike Nursi and many Nurcu factions, he
did not simply argue that religion and science were complementary; rather in his
educational philosophy, science accomplishes a central role not only because of
its connection with revelation, but because it is considered a great instrument in
the hands of men to make a better world. From this perspective, Gülen shares
with Western thinkers the connection between science and the idea of progress,
and also advocates that the Muslim community should learn from the scientific
and technological legacy of the West. In Gülen’s words, “the real problem consists
in the fact that we have been unable to assign a true direction to science and
thus confused revealed knowledge with scientific theories and sometimes scientific knowledge with philosophy … . One result is that the younger generation
became alienated from their society. After a while these inexperienced generations lost their religious and moral values, and the whole nation began to decline
in thought, ideals, art, and life … and evil aspects of modern civilization were
propagated” (Ünal and Williams 2000 : 97).
Initially, Gülen, because of the dominance of the concept of ‘Islamic education’ among religious Turkish (Anatolian) Muslims, encouraged Anatolian Muslim parents to send their children to Imam Hatip schools11 as ‘good Muslims
grow in Imam Hatip’. Additionally, the underlying reason for Gülen to exhort
Muslim parents to send their children to Imam Hatip schools was to get access
to at least some education rather than no education at all. It was only at later stage
when the sharp differences between ‘Islamic education’ and ‘secular education’
began to get diluted and the idea began to filter down that one would still be
Muslim despite receiving a secular education or studying in a government secular
educational institution, partly due to Gülen’s discourse on Islam and education,
that many Muslim Turkish parents began to send their children, mostly sons, to
state secular educational institutions. However, it was only when the option for
Hizmet-linked darshane, hostels, coaching institutes, dormitories, schools and
other educational institutions became legally available in the post-1980 context
of economic and political liberalization that allowed the private players to enter
and steadly exapand into the educational field owing to the demand for quality
education and the restrictive quota policy of the Turkish government,12 that the
Anatolian Muslims began to enrol their children, now including girls, in large
numbers in the secular educational institutions as parents trusted the Hizmetlinked institutions for ‘security of faith’ and for providing a morally and ethically
safe environment to their children.
Gradually, the Gülen movement has transformed the concept of education
into an everyday Islamic value and service ethic of Turkish society. This created
a ‘resource base’ within Turkish society to support the educational activities of
the Gülen movement within and outside Turkey. As sections of ‘Muslim Turkey’
strongly came to be identified with an educational cause as the most ‘noble Islamic cause’ and one of the best ways to serve Islam, they generously funded and
supported, even going beyond their economic capacity, the movement’s initiatives in opening schools and other educational institutions abroad. On the other
hand, the larger number of teachers associated with the movement are already
religiously motivated to serve abroad, even in the most difficult situations, as
they identify themselves in the role of Sahaba (Companions of Prophet) and thus
undertake hijrat to perform the most fundamental duty of Islam: dawa through
education. In addition, the Turkish volunteers in the movement also found a
gainful employment. The emerging model of ‘business-teacher-jihad-hijrat’, derived from the Prophetic model, transformed the Turkish Gülen movement into
a world-wide Islamic movement within a short period. It is through this process
that education in the Gülen movement has emerged as the prime instrument to
serve the Turkish nation, Muslims, Islam and people throughout the world. Enes
Ergene, one of the prominent intellectuals associated with the Gülen movement,
stressed this unity of trade and Sufi Islam, which had once prevailed during the
Selcuk and Ottoman period, as the reason for the success of Gülen movement.13
In lieu of a conclusion
Gülen’s educational discourse has a powerful transformative impact at the
level of state and society. Within the Turkish setting, the movement has demonstrated that a religious student is capable of mastering secular knowledge and
can achieve a high degree of professionalism in what aree considered secular and
worldly matters. To this extent, the movement broke the barrier between religious/Islamic studies and secular studies that had come to lodge in the modern
world. The movement demonstrated this by producing large numbers of Muslim
students of Imam Hatip and other schools into the university system through
rigorous coaching, and helped them to secure lucrative positions in the state employment opportunity structure which had hitherto been the monopoly of the
secularised segments of Turkey. Mehmet Bey, a gold and diamond businessman
from Izmir, underlined this contribution of the Hizmet movement, saying that
because of Gülen, most students from a theology background (Imam Hatip) successfully moved to different science subjects and became engineers, doctors, architects and so on.14 In part, the movement also secured upward mobility for a
section of religious women in Turkish society.
To this extent, the movement has helped in the democratic allocation of national resources and has saved the Turkish nation from the ‘theatre of civil war’
between some religious and secular segments of the population, reminiscent of
many Muslim nations over the last three decades. Access to the public employ-
25
26
ment structure provided many hitherto excluded Turkish Muslims with a new
sense of identity, social recognition, respect and dignity, enhanced family status
and gave them a new sense of identification with the nation. In part, the participants in Gülen’s educational discourse and enterprise also visualised themselves
as playing an important role in the ‘Muslim’ transformation of Turkey through
education. However, as Gülen-inspired ethically, morally and legally-oriented
public servants became an obstacle for corruption-lashed Turkish polity under
the leadership of President Erdogan, the state in turn has launched a sort of illegal
war to finish off the movement, particularly by targeting its educational resources
within and outside Turkey, and that has resulted in large numbers of arrests of
Hizmet-linked public servants among others in the name of parallel structure
over last two years. Despite the hardship and the onslaught that the movement
is currently undergoing, Hizmet continues to carry out its educational and other
missions peacefully and legally.
Second, at a general level, Gülen’s idea of education is very relevant for the
globalised contemporary world, particularly for the Muslim world, the large part
of which is still soaked in an ideological understanding of Islam and the politics
of Islamic identity. The relevance of his educational ideas lies not merely in his advocacy of peace, brotherhood, tolerance and living together; far more important
is his philosophy of education based on the principle of pluralism. The modern
educational system has evolved in the context of European mono-culture (at the
cost of diversity), leading to the development of ‘uni-dimensional man’. One consequence of this modern development is that science and secularism have become
highly intolerant and refuse to coexist with other philosophies of life and this has
resulted in high levels of violence and destruction in the name of ‘progress’. As the
world becomes more globalized, more interlinked and more interdependent, the
need for understanding each other and living together has become a necessity. It
is in this context that Gülen’s philosophy of education based on the principle of
pluralism and living together becomes a necessity for the survival of humanity.
* This is a revised and enlarged section of my earlier published article entitled ‘The Roots
of Fethullah Gülen’s Educational Discourse’ in International Symposium, Global Perspectives on the Religious, Cultural, and Societal Diversity in the Balkans: Fethullah
Gülen Experiences as a Model and Interfaith Harmony in Albania, Universiteti Tiranes,
Prizmi, 2012), p.26-40 (in Turkish), and pp.302-316 (in English).
NOTES
1 There is no precise number of these educational institutions. The total number of Gülen
educational institutions is considered to more than 1000 spread all over world. Writing
in 2010, Thomas Michel provided the following estimates of the movement’s educational activities: ‘there are about 800 elementary schools, high schools, college preparatory
institutions, student dormitories, and more than ten universities in almost 110 countries
that are associated with this movement’ (Michel 2010). Within Turkey, the movement is
considered to constitute 25% of all dershane (private coaching institutes) and 3-5% of
all educational activities.
2 Interview with Bekir Kaya, a businessman and volunteer in the Gülen movement, 17
March 2011, Izmir.
3 Interview with Mustafa Ozcan, 9 March 2011, Istanbul.
4 Interview with Ozmen Ozugun, a volunteer who worked in Gülen schools in Kenya
and Madagaskar for about ten years, 12 November 2014, Zirve University, Gaziantep.
5 Gülen draws the classification of human faculties from Ibn Miskawayah, a tenthcentury Muslim philosopher. For details see, Ali Unal and Alphonse Williams (2000:
306-308).
6 Interview with Professor Sadi, Erzurum,10 March 2011.
7 Interview with Ali Ünal, 2 March 2011, Istanbul.
8 Within the Gülen movement, Sohbet refers to a regular meeting of volunteers for a
collective reading of Islamic texts, particularly Nursi’s Risale Nur and the writings of Gülen, as well as to discuss ongoing and future projects of the movement. They are organized
along gender, neighbourhood, class and professional lines on an almost weekly basis.
9 Interview with İsmail Gönülalan, who was closely associated with Gülen during his
stay in Edirne. Edirne, 4 March 2011.
10 Ismail Gönülalan (b.1933) narrated his encounter with Gülen on this issue: ‘When
I sought his advice about the education of my child after finishing high school, Gülen
suggested sending him to an education faculty but later, looking at my face, he advised
for medicine’. Professor Dr Recep Kaym of Sarkaria University also confirmed that Gülen
encouraged and motivated students to pursue careers in the field of education by obtaining BEd and MEd degrees (interviews with Ismail Gönülalan, Edirne, 4 March 2011
and with Professor Dr Recep Kaym, Sakarya University, 28 February 2010.
11 An Imam (someone who leads the prayers of a congregation) Hatip (preacher) school
is a semi-public funded educational institution in Turkey where all subjects of the government (secular) schools are taught in addition to Islamic subjects (such as Qur’an, hadith
and Sunni Islamic History). However, 60-70% of the physical structure of Imam Hatip
schools has been built by private Muslim contributions. The purpose behind the creation
of Imam Hatip schools was to produce ‘Islamic religious professionals’, whose numbers
were steadily declining under the Kemalist regime, to perform rituals connected with the
Islamic religion under state supervision. The number of Imam Hatip schools has steadily
multiplied in part due to the need to deal with the communist threat of the Soviet Union
and in part due to the introduction of multi-party democracy in Turkey in the late 1940s.
All political parties and the government have made significant contributions to the proliferation of Imam Hatip schools in order to ensure the electoral support of religious
Turkish Muslims. According to Yavuz, ‘The number of middle imam-hatip school and
high imam-hatip schools rose from 7 in 1951 to 604 and 558 in 2001 respectively. The
student enrolment in middle and high imam hatip schools also rose from 876 and 889
in 1951 to 219,890 and 134,224 in 1999 respectively, whilst the combined strength of
teachers in both middle and high imam hatip schools went from 27 to 15,922 during
the same period’ (Yavuz, 2003 : 127). In 2011-2012, the total number of Imam Hatip
High Schools was 493 and the total numbers of teachers and students were 235,639
and 112,608. See Engin Aslanargun, E., Abdurrahman Kılıç Sinan Bozkurt (2014).
According to the Daily Hürriyet, the number of Imam Hatip schools increased from 493
27
28
in 2010-2011 to 854 in 2013-2014, which is almost a 73% jump in comparison with
vocational High Schools and Anatolian High Schools which had registered increases of
23% and 3% respectively. See Barçın Yinanç, ‘Rise in imam-hatips shows AKP’s favoritism for religious education’. http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/rise-in-imam-hatipsshows-akps-favoritism-for-religious-education.aspx?PageID=238&NID=70225&News
CatID=338 accessed on 14 October 2014.
12 The privatisation of education grew rapidly after 1980 in both schools and higher
education. It grew from 164 primary school and 76 secondary schools in 1965 to 642
and 487 in 2001 and then to 728 and 650 in 2005 respectively. The number of students
increased from 25,727 primary school students and 12,867 secondary school students in
1965 to 171,623 and 73,136 in 2001 and then to 180,090 and 76,670 in 2005 respectively. See Fatma Gök, History and Development of Turkish Education, p.248, quoting
Akyüz, Y. (1993) Türk Eğitim Tarihi. İstanbul: Kültür Koleji Yayınları, p.286. Similarly,
in the field of higher education the number of private foundation universities has grown
steadily since 1986, reaching 3 in 1995, 17 in 1997, 23 in 2003, and 28 in 2006 (see
Gok p.253, quoting YÖK (2006) www.yok.gov.tr, 10 August 2006) and had increased to
72 in 2014. Today, Turkey has a total of 190 higher educational institutions, comprising
104 public universities, 72 foundational university, eight foundation higher educational
institutes other than universities and six public higher educational institutes other than
universities. See Durmus Gunay, Turkish Higer Education System: New Developments
and Trends, http://int-e.net/kis2014ppt/DurmusGunay.pdf. accessed on 20 November
2014).
13 Interview with Enes Ergene, 28 December 2010, Istanbul.
14 Interview with Mehmet Bey, 16 March 2011, İzmir.
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Gürbüz, M. (2007). ‘Performing Moral Opposition: Musings on the Strategy
and Identity in the Gülen Movement’ in International Conference Proceedings:
Muslim World in Transition: Contributions of Gülen Movement, Leeds Metropolitan University Press, London, pp.104-117.
Kurt, Erkan M. (ed.) (2014). A Fetullah Gulen Reader: So that Others May Live,
The Gulen Institute and Blue Doom Press. New York.
Kuru, A. (2003). ‘Fethullah Gulen’s Search for Middle Way: Between Modernity
and Muslim Tradition’ in M. Hakan Yavuz and John l. Esposito (eds) Turkish
Islam and The Secular State: The Gulen Movement. Syracuse University Press, New
York, 115-130.
Michel, T. (2010) ‘The Thinking Behind the Gülen Movement’, International
Fethullah Gülen Conference: The Gülen Model of Education, Jakarta, 19-21 October.
Sevindi, N. (2008). Contemporary Islamic Conversations: M. Fethullah Gulen on
Turkey, Islam and the West, State University of New York Press.
Turner, H.R. (1995). Science in Medieval Islam, Austin, University of Texas Press,
p.26.
Unal, A. and Alphonse Williams (2000). Advocate of Dialogue, Fountain, USA.
Ünal, Mehmet (2004). In The Service of Peace: A Short Biography of Fethullah
Gulen, Ufuk Books, Istanbul.
Vicini, F. (2007). ‘Gulen’s Rethinking of Islamic Pattern and Its Socio-Political
Effects’, in conference proceedings Muslim World in Transition: Contributions
of the Gulen Movement and Peaceful Coexistence. Leeds Metropolitan University
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Press.
Yasin, M. (2007). ‘The Educational Theory of Fetullah Gulen And Its Practice in
South Africa’, in International Conference Proceedings: Muslim World in Transition: Contributions of Gulen Movement, Leeds Metropolitan University Press,
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Yavuz, H. (2003). Islamic Political Identity in Turkey, New York, Oxford University Press.
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Vol. 2, No. 3, Spring 2015, 31-54
School as a Space for Recognition: Reading the Motivations
of Turkish-Belgian Parents through Spatial Identification
F. Zehra Colak, [email protected]
KU Leuven
ABSTRACT This paper explores a school in Brussels, L’Ecole des Etoiles, as a space
whereby Turkish-Belgian parents aim to negotiate and change “the terms of recognition” and
as a choice that provides parents with opportunities to realize their dreams regarding the education of their children. Conducting semi-structured interviews and participant observation,
I carried out fieldwork among Turkish-Belgian mothers and investigated their motivations
for choosing to send their children to L’Ecole des Etoiles; their motivations are strongly related
with how they imagine the school as a space. A particular emphasis is placed on the Hizmet
Movement, a voluntary, transnational, faith-inspired civil movement, which has inspired the
opening of schools around the world, including L’Ecole des Etoiles. The spatial identification
of parents with the school is influenced to a certain extent by how they relate to the movement
and its ideals.
Introduction
The role of schools in multicultural politics has been significant; they have
been considered “as a site both of tension and risk around culture and diversity
but also as a possible solution to racialized prejudice and inequalities” (Byrne
& De Tona 2014:478). Mixed schooling has been promoted in some countries
to reduce segregation by making daily encounters possible between students of
different origins (Abbott 2010; Knox 2011). However, structural limitations in
most communities and segregation in many schools significantly restrict the opportunities for creation of a diverse school environment and possibilities of interaction between pupils from different groups (Wilson 2014). Initiatives like
integrated school projects in Northern Ireland aim to provide education to children with a different or no religious background in a system where segregation
prevails. A group of parents from two main cultural communities (Catholic and
Protestant) were concerned about the negative outcomes of strict segregation in
32
schools and their efforts led to the opening of first integrated school in Belfast
in 1981 (Abbott 2010). One aim of these schools is the “nurturing each child
according to their own ethnic, religious and cultural background, in order to
foster within them respect for each other’s different values and beliefs” (Abbott
2010:847). The role of parents in mixed schools has also attracted attention in
the sense that they make a conscious choice to send their children to these schools
and to meet parents from a different ethnic, religious or cultural background in
the school environment, which acts as “key sites of encounter and incremental
learning for parents” (Wilson 2014:102). These sites transform the way parents
perceive the school as a space and the way they position themselves in the school
“while shifting the dynamic structures and boundaries of the spaces in which actions take place “(Carreon et al. 2005:468).
There is a plethora of research investigating the education and integration of
minority children within the multicultural communities they live, however, the
motivations and views of minority parents with regards to schooling of their children have not received sufficient attention in Belgium (Hermans 2006). Drawing
from school-based observations and semi-structured interviews with parents of
l’Ecole des Etoiles, this paper investigates the identification and engagement of
Turkish-Belgian parents with school space and how their identification is projected into their motivations for choosing l’Ecole des Etoiles. Most research participants are highly-educated women with a compelling aspiration to send their
children to “white schools” where they can both receive a high quality education
and befriend native Belgian children. However, their choices are severely restricted due to their ethnic background, which can significantly define to what extent
they can have access to certain schools (Levine-Rasky 2009). For these parents,
l’Ecole des Etoiles acts as an inclusive school space providing them with the opportunity to voice their opinions about the schooling of their children and bringing
them “into a visible sphere of engagement” (Lea et al. 2011:265).
The article briefly mentions the historical background of migration in Belgium and educational gap between native and minority students. Secondly, Turkish-based educational initiatives and the educational activities of Gülen Movement are discussed from various perspectives as well as the implications of the
educational philosophy of Gülen. The article then looks into how parents negotiate terms of recognition in relation to spatial identification with the school and
argues that this identification and negotiation of recognition is reflected in their
motivations in choosing l’Ecole des Etoiles.
Historical development
Belgium has attracted large numbers of immigrants since the 1920s. The
first wave of immigrants came from Poland and Italy, followed by Moroccans
School as a Space for Recognition
and Turks in the 1960s (Phalet et al. 2007). The inescapable industrial recession of 1974 slowed immigration, but the process of family reunification continued (Atalik & Beeley 1992). Immigrants, initially considered as guest workers,
became permanent residents, and consequently, the second-migrant-generation
overran the labor market because of the transition from industrial economy to the
service sector (Phalet et al. 2007).
The first generation of Turkish immigrants left their homeland in search
of better economic standards and higher incomes. The Turkish government had
hoped then to ease growing unemployment and to gain foreign currency through
its emigrants (Castles & Miller 1998). The region of Emirdag, located in the
province of Afyon, had sent out the biggest number of immigrants to Belgium
(Timmerman 2000). Emigrants from this rural part of Turkey generally lacked
proper education. The opportunities for them to acquire high levels of education
and professional skills were limited, if not non-existent. In general, most men
coming from this part of Turkey had achieved primary education, whilst women
had spent even fewer years in school. Farming was considered the main means of
survival and subsistence rather than schooling, which was regarded as optional
and not contributing to the household economic productivity (Martin 1991;
Crul & Vermeulen 2003).
The number of Turkish immigrants in Belgium in 1993 was registered as
88,269, 0.9% of the total population (Poulain 1994), but the flow of immigrants
began to decline in 1999. By then, large numbers of Turkish immigrants had
acquired Belgian citizenship (Diedrich, Cook & Lindo 2004), and up to 2001,
Turkish immigrants still counted as the third largest minority group in Belgium,
after Italians and Moroccans (Phalet et al. 2007).
Educational gap
In Belgium, schooling is compulsory, and primary education begins at the age
of six. Secondary school succeeds primary education and ends at around the age
of twelve. At this stage, the secondary school is divided in its turn into four general sections or directions: the General Secondary Education called ASO (Algemeen
Secundair Obderwijs) for Dutch, or ESG (Enseignement Secondaire General) for
French, which both allow students to continue studying in university or college;
the Technical Secondary Education or TSO (Technisch Secundair Onderwijs or
Enseignement Secondaire Technique) which focuses more on technical education
and prepares students for the job market as well as for higher education; the Vocational Secondary Education or BSO (Beroepssecundair Onderwijs or Enseignement
Secondaire Professionnel) which is a very practical and very job-specific education;
and the Art Secondary Education KSO (Kunst Secundaire Onderwijs or Enseignement Secondaire Artistique) which offers a more developed general education
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with active art practice and performance (see also Phalet et al. 2007; Eurydice
2009/2010; Fleischmann 2011).
Free education is a guaranteed and a protected “right for all” in Belgium;
however, there is a discrepancy between discourse and practice in the sense that
education for children of immigrants has for a long time been a highly debated
topic in many host-countries, including Belgium. Perhaps at the origin of such
controversial debates is an existent gap between native Belgian students and
immigrant students. Compared with other OECD countries, Belgium has recorded large achievement gaps between native and other ethnic-minority children (Marks 2006). Although since 1991 Belgian migration policies have been
adopted, shaped and adapted to optimize integration (Phalet & Heath 2011),
immigrant children remain disadvantaged for several reasons: lack of opportunity
to learn Dutch or French at home; parents’ lack of sufficient knowledge about the
Belgian education system and its functions; and parents have poor social capital
and in some cases face racial discrimination because of cultural and religious differences (Alba & Waters 2011; Stevens 2008; Fleischmann 2011).
Children of Turkish origin are among the most disadvantaged ethnic-minority groups when it comes to educational attainment within Norway, Belgium
and the Netherlands (Heath & Brinbaum 2007). On a wider European scale,
schooling systems in Sweden and France are said to be “more open”, whereas
those in Germany and Austria are seen as “more challenging” for immigrant
Turkish children. On a different note, Belgium fits into neither one of the two
previous schooling systems. It is rather located in-between. Even though Belgium
offers relatively good opportunities for immigrant children to follow a potential
academic track, it ranks high in the number of dropouts from lower secondary
school. This is mainly linked to the early tracking, or “downstreaming” that most
Belgian students face when repeating their school year, compelling them to follow a lower educational track (see also Crul et al. 2012).
According to the 2001 Belgian Census, “in order of importance, parental
education, accumulated wealth (as measured by ownership and quality of housing), employment and occupational class explain most educational inequality”
(Phalet et al., 2007:390). When related to Turkish immigrant students, education level among the first generation of Turkish immigrants is low (Crul et al.
2012). This in turn impacts the parents’ profession and consequently the type of
schooling that their children follow. In the central area of Brussels, it is estimated
that more than 80% of the parents of students in technical schools were born
abroad (mostly in Morocco, the Congo and Turkey). Although Belgian students
in technical education form 87.5%, there is an under-representation of students
of foreign descent in general education with an over-representation in vocational
schools (Jacobs & Rea 2007; Neels 2000).
Between 1995 and 1996, the number of Belgian students following general
education in the last year of secondary school was 35% higher than non-EU
students. Compared with vocational education, the ratio was 22% Belgian students against 60% non-EU students (Timmerman 2000). A more recent study,
however, has shown that children of Turkish origin are six times less likely to acquire a university degree than their non-minority counterparts (this is equivalent
to a ratio of 3% against 18%) and three times more likely to have less than full
secondary qualifications (36% against 13%) (Phalet et al., 2007:399). Apparently, Turkish-Belgian students outnumber Belgians in drop-out rates (European
Commission 2013; Phalet & Swyngedouw 2003; Crul et al. 2012). The majority of them attend vocational schools, labeled “ghetto schools”, mostly common
in urban communes (see also Timmerman 1995; Fleischmann 2011; European
Commission 2013). Although in Belgium the choice of school is not confined to
one’s residence and neighborhood, immigrant parents seem to be left with little
alternative but the “ghettos” (Fleischmann 2011).
Turkish-based educational initiatives
The educational projects of Turkish-Belgians are provided either by faithbased and affiliated inspired organizations, or by state-organized projects that
seek to safeguard and protect the cultural, linguistic and religious values of this
minority group. At the European level, institutions such as schools, mosques and
education centers are usually founded by well-known transnational organizations
such as The Islamic Federation of Belgium (Milli Gorus), the Turkish Islamic
Foundation of Belgium (Diyanet) (Yanasmayan 2010), and the Hizmet movement. Although a few initiatives and extensions from larger local organizations in
Turkey are available, Milli Gorus, Diyanet and Hizmet remain the most popular
and attract large numbers of followers and members from the Turkish-Belgian
community (Yildirim 2012). Elaborating the work of these organizations and
movements goes beyond the scope of this paper. I shall, however, try to give a
broader idea of their educational activities, with particular focus on the role that
the Hizmet movement played in founding l’Ecole des Etoiles, enforcing a uniform
conformity with its principles, its values and norms.
The Turkish Islamic Foundation of Belgium (TIFB) was established in
1982. It currently owns and runs 67 mosques and more than 100 associations. It
has 28,000 members and offers services to 140,000 people, among them 5,000
students following classes in religion and cultural values. The foundation’s main
mission is to educate Turkish-Belgians about the history, culture and religion
of their native homeland and to provide religious services through teaching the
Qur’an, hadith (a collection of traditions containing sayings of the Prophet Muhammad) and about the life of the Prophet. Other educational classes offered by
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the foundation include the French, Flemish and Turkish languages, computer
and needlecraft, mother and child care, and driving lessons in Turkish. There
are also cultural lessons which offer Turkish folk-music, Sufi music and Turkish
musical instruments. But one of the main motives of the foundation is to provide
students in need with scholarships, funded through alms and donations (http://
www.diyanet.be/Anasayfa.aspx).
The Islamic Federation of Belgium (IFB) is a branch of a transnational organization spread around Europe (Yanasmayan 2010). Services provided by this
federation do not differ, in theory, from the ones offered by the TIFB. In practice, however, different methods are applied in terms of dealing with educational
issues and transmitting cultural values. The IFB emphasizes the unification of
the role of Islamic religion rather than the reinforcement of cultural and ethnic
bonds. The TIFB, for instance, considers both cultural and religious education as
two intertwined items. Volunteers at the IFB teach Qur’an along other religious
services. They give language courses, organize socio-cultural activities and even
help children with their homework. Part of the IFB is the Avicenna Institute, an
Islamic school for girls, not recognized by the Belgian state, which attracts students from all over Europe because of its particular Islamic education in Arabic.
Students at the Avicenna are also taught social and cultural sciences alongside
Islamic education. The school was opened in 1991 and currently has 150 enrolled
students (Yildirim 2012).
The Hizmet movement is a voluntary, faith-inspired, transnational civil
society movement founded on the principles and ideas of Fethullah Gulen, a classic Turkish-Muslim thinker and writer. Followers of Gulen have supported the
foundation of four schools in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, with 1230 enrolled students, and one in Brussels with 340 enrolled students. L’Ecole des Etoiles
is the only French school founded by the movement, with two locations, one in
Charleroi and the other in Haren where I conducted my research.
The Gulen Movement in educational activities
Since the beginning of the second millennium, the Hizmet movement has become a global subject of interest to many scholars in the field of social and political sciences. The voluntary, apolitical, religion-inspired and transnational nature
of the movement has inspired many books, conferences, seminars, workshops
and scholarly articles. My interest in the movement grew along my research work,
since l’Ecole des Etoiles was founded by people inspired by Gulen, and some informants were themselves active members of the movement. An extensive analysis
of the movement stretches beyond the scope of this work. I shall, however, tackle
the educational activities of the movement, since they influence and are linked to
the motivations of parents to send their children to l’Ecole des Etoiles (see Khan
2011; Cetin 2010; Ebaugh 2010; Hunt & Aslandogan 2007; Unal & Williams
2000; Gulen 1996).
Gulen is a Turkish Muslim preacher, writer and activist who has inspired
the foundation of more than one thousand schools in many countries around the
world, as well as dormitories, universities, and educational, cultural and interfaith
dialogue centers (Ebaugh 2010). Gulen served as a preacher during the 1960s in
Turkey. His ideas influenced many people from different sectors of Turkish society, not only because of his vast teaching about traditional Islamic knowledge,
but also due to the diversity in the topics he delivered (Western philosophy, sciences, human rights, the importance of education and knowledge accumulation)
(Ebaugh & Koc 2007).
His views diverged greatly from those of other scholars in Islam. For instance, he argued for the compatibility of Islamic values and faith with modern
life and science, and proposed a tolerant approach towards non-Muslims by suggesting common grounds that can be achieved through dialogue and tolerance
(Aras & Caha 2002; Agai 2002; Kalyoncu 2007). He called on people to build
schools instead of mosques and to take active roles in society, merging activism with piety, which Ozdalga (referring to Weber, 2000) defined as ‘worldly
ascetism’. The main characteristic of the Gulen movement – or the Hizmet movement – is the provision of non-stop service to others and self-dedication to good
deeds (Ebaugh & Koc 2007).
As Afsaruddin has stated, “Hizmet, service to God through one’s work,
particularly teaching, is a central tenet of Gulen’s educational philosophy and has
been taken to be indicative of “worldly asceticism” on his part” (2005:20). Thus,
according to the movement’s ideology, the way to salvation is not only attained
through traditional religious practices and going to the mosque, but also through
alternative contemporary forms of Islamic activity (Agai 2002:34). Gulen says
that the consent of God can be achieved by serving one’s society through selfdiscipline and hard work (Aras & Caha 2002). Therefore, the movement places
great emphasis on good manners, hard work and shared responsibility towards
other people (Ozdalga 2003).
As a matter of fact, schools founded by Gulen-inspired volunteers, often
referred to as “Gulen schools”, were named regardless of Gulen’s personal wishes
(Michel 2003), as there seems to be no organic link between Gulen and the
schools other than a spiritual one (see Mohamed 2007:561). The educational
philosophy of Gulen can be summarized in the following quotation from one of
his books:
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“As for man, real life is accompanied by knowledge and education. Those
neglecting learning and teaching, even if they may be alive, can be considered as dead, because the aim of man’s creation consists of seeing, understanding and teaching learned knowledge to others”. (Agai 2002)
Historically, the first educational initiatives took place in Central Asia after
the fall of the USSR in 1991 (Clement 2007). It was basically the historical, linguistic and ethnic proximity to those countries that attracted volunteers from the
movement to take such initiatives that they considered a sacred vocation (Demir,
Balci & Akkok 2000). Soon after, these initiatives spread to other parts of the
world, stretching from the Caucasus to Africa and from Russia all the way to the
Philippines. Volunteers on these missions included Turkish businessmen, teachers and ordinary people (Williams 2007). The schools they founded are secular
and follow the national curriculum of the country in which they have settled.
Notably, each school is an independent institution in the sense that administrative decisions and regulations are set by principals and teachers (Mohamed 2007).
Schools funds, however, are supplied through various resources such as Turkish
private companies or state support (Woodhall 2005; Peuch 2004; Michel 2003).
In many parts of the world, the quality of education provided by Gulen
schools is relatively high, especially in the field of physical sciences where high
technology laboratories and computer rooms are provided. Perhaps shedding
more light on the educational philosophy of Gulen is appropriate here. There has
not been one particular ideology promoted within the Gulen educational philosophy. Rather, a more ethical and moral pedagogical approach has been applied, in
which educators act as role models for students to follow (Ozdalga 2003; Michel
2003). From Gulen’s perspective, teaching is of a sacred nature, and accordingly,
teachers need to be equipped with the skills and values necessary to deliver their
knowledge to pupils through role modeling (Mohamed 2007; Said 2006).
For Gulen, science and faith are not “only compatible but complementary”
(Ebaugh 2010:35). He imagines a “Golden Generation” whose mind is nurtured
by science and whose heart is enlightened by faith (Agai 2002; Nelson 2005; Mohamed 2007). From this perspective, Gulen’s educational philosophy is one of an
encompassing and humanitarian nature (Afsaruddin 2005:21), and accordingly
these schools irrespectively accept Muslim and non-Muslim students (Peuch
2004; Aras & Caha 2002; Michel 2003). In fact, Islamic religion is not being
taught in Gulen schools if it is not part of the national curriculum and no explicit
reference to Islam has been observed in the curriculum of schools. Despite the
fact that religion is the inspirational source in the emergence of the movement
(Agai 2002), the ethos promoted in the schools is universal and encourages hard
work, tolerance, compassion and honesty. These ethical codes, referred to by Agai
as “Islamic ethics on education” (2002) are underpinned in the Islamic doctrine;
however, their expression is not restricted to Muslims (Michel 2003; Agai 2002;
Clement 2007). Their humanitarian and “trans-confessional” approach is what
characterizes Gulen schools and the movement itself (Ozdalga 2003:67).
Even so, the Gulen movement has been subject to criticism by several social and political scientists. The fact that the exact number of its members is not
known raises doubts as to whether the movement holds a second hidden political
agenda. The movement has been viewed as an Islamizing threat to Turkey by some
whilst other critics have accused the movement of having an anti-democratic and
hierarchical structure within which Gulen exhibits his omnipotent power to drive
his followers to bring the government down (Ozdalga 2003; Aras & Caha 2002).
Other accounts, like Ozdalga’s, presume these criticisms to be a counter-action
to the movement’s educational achievements. The fact that no thorough analysis
has been made about the volunteers’ position, status and their relations to one
another may raise doubts as to whether the movement benefits from a strict hierarchical network or a ‘de-centralised polymorphic’ structure (Williams 2007:586;
Toguslu in press; n.d.).
Methodological Reflections
L’Ecole des Etoiles was founded in 2005 in Schaerbeek municipality of Brussels. At the time of research (September 2012-February 2013), there were 380
students in primary section and 180 students in secondary one. According to the
enrolment data, 58 percent of the students were Turkish-Belgians, 32 percent
Moroccan Belgians, eight percent native Belgians and two percent from other
national backgrounds. As a private non-confessional school, l’Ecole des Etoiles was
subsidized by the French Community. The school was a member of FELSI (La
Fédération des Etablissements Libres Subventionnés Indépendants) during the research.
School directors and parents committee facilitated my meetings with parents. Once I established rapport with a few parents, I accessed others through
snowballing technique. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents
(12 women, 1 men) and two school directors. The interviews lasted between one
and three hours and they were transcribed verbatim. The interview language was
Turkish. Most parents had a bachelor’s degree. Being a Turkish, Muslim female
researcher helped to build an intimate relationship with the participants, who
often considered me an insider.
I used the ground-theory method to analyze the data. Open-ended interviews at the onset of the research helped to discover some preliminary insights
and seek new horizons (Charmaz 2006). Semi-structured interviews allowed an
in-depth exploration of the participants’ worlds through “probing beneath the
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surface and digging into the scene” (Charmaz 2006:23). One challenge may be
the difficulty of accessing parents from different socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds. Due to barriers such as time, language and distance, the research group
could not be more diverse. Still, I tried to achieve “theoretical saturation” for
emerging categories (Glaser & Strauss 1974).
Negotiating Terms of Recognition
Charles Taylor, in his work on the politics of recognition, analyzed the dialogical character of identity as connected to the matter of recognition. He believed
that socially constructed identity and the recognition of it became problematic
only after the modern period. Today the problem is “not the need for recognition
but the conditions in which the attempt to be recognized can fail” (Guttman
1994:35). He connected the argument on the politics of equal recognition to
the increasing need for the recognition of the ideal and authentic culture, and
argued that after the acknowledgment of the identity as constructed in dialogue
with others, recognition has gained more significance today. He stated that there
are two levels in which the discourse of recognition can be studied: “the intimate
sphere” and “the public sphere”. The former is where identity is constructed in
relation to significant others whilst the latter refers to a sphere where the significance of the politics of equal recognition increases day by day. Taylor focused on
the two different meanings of the politics of public recognition in the public
sphere. The first meaning is about the politics of universal dignity which refers to
the recognition of the same equal dignity of everyone universally, and the second
is the politics of difference, which is recognizing the unique and distinct identity
of everyone. He analyzed the overlapping and clashing implications of these two
meanings and looked into the extent that liberal discourse, which can also be
seen as another particular idea with claims of universal recognition, can meet the
needs of both. According to him, individuals have the potential both for equal
worth and for belonging to a culture and defining an identity in relation to it. The
proponents of the first interpretation claim that the second one goes against the
idea of non-discrimination, whilst the supporters of the second meaning believe
that the first interpretation does not allow the survival of alternative identities but
establishes homogeneity.
It has been generally acknowledged in multicultural communities that there
is an increasing need not for “a difference-blind social space” but for spaces where
distinct characteristics can be maintained and cherished (Guttman 1994:40).
Taylor argued that “the demand for recognition is now explicit” and that this demand requires “acknowledging the worth” of cultures and “recognizing the equal
value” of what these cultures have (Guttman 1994:64).
Achieving Recognition in School Space
Schools are “multidimensional spaces” embedded within a complex and diverse network of social relations (Bowen 2010:112). The multidimensional nature of school space can create new and alternative ways of “thinking and using
space” (Mei-Hui Yang 2004). Yang pondered on the “new forms of collective
identities” constructed within those spaces and underlined that they are different from the ones championed by the state. According to Yang, representational
spaces are “new civil spaces of grassroots organization, kinship regrouping, fund
raising for the public good, local community building, and reconstructions of the
terrain of ritual polities” (Mei-Hui Yang 2004:728).
L’Ecole des Etoiles functions as an official educational space as well as a
civil space founded by the support of grassroots organizations and commoners
who were motivated to educate particularly immigrant-origin younger generations. Parents often attributed a symbolic and transcendental meaning to the
way the school is organized and manifested as a space by directors, teachers, students and themselves. Obviously, l’Ecole des Etoiles “has a social centrality for
those who share a structure of feeling and seek to establish an identity around it”
(Hetherington 1998:108). Hetherington defined them as “spaces of occasion in
which the values and political views of a group might be expressed and around
which identities are at the same time performed” (Hetherington, 1998:108). The
common goal around which parents’ desires are gathered is to achieve a valuesensitive education which will incrementally transform the terms of recognition
through a differentiated self-image (Hetherington 1998:126). The struggle for
recognition goes along with getting rid of the imposed, demeaning self-images
(Guttman 1994:65). For parents, becoming part of a space where they have an
influential role in negotiating the norms and ethos and hence gain recognition
can be defined as “a performative process that has a distinct spatiality”. (Hetherington 1998:102). On a related note, they reconstruct the politics of recognition
(Guttman 1994), defined as terms of recognition by Appadurai, which means an
“ethical obligation to extend a sort of moral cognizance to persons who shared
worldviews deeply different from our own” (2004:78).
Parents thought that in l’Ecole des Etoiles, the linguistic and cultural background of children was valued and considered an invaluable asset. Mrs Temizer,
the director of the primary school, explained how they guide teachers on how to
approach students when they speak their ethnic language:
If students speak their own language, never ever give the impression that
their languages do not matter. You have to get them to agree that they are
advantaged in that they have access to several languages and they experience several cultures. They have got very high potentials and they can
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achieve a very good status in the future. They have to develop their ethnic
language too, but not in the school. You have to learn French in the school,
because you cannot learn it anywhere else. So, we need to show the advantages of their languages and make it meaningful for them.
Since parents feel that their cultural background is respected by the school
management, they feel at ease about discussing certain issues with the school
directors and teachers. School space acts as a platform where they can raise their
doubts and concerns about their cultural sensitivities besides their children’s education. One of the parents, Elif, mentioned that their religious values were not
being judged and no one questioned the legitimacy of them in l’Ecole des Etoiles.
She referred to an incident between a teacher and her daughter:
There was an aid campaign for Africa in the school and my daughter told
her teacher that she thought God was not fair, because God did not give
enough food to people in Africa. Her teacher explained that it was not
God but there were bad people in the world and they were the reasons
for the poverty in Africa. Just after this happened, her teacher called me
and told about my daughter’s question and her response to it. She said she
may not have given her the correct answer, so I should know about it and
explain it to my daughter again.
Such incidents seem to have reinforced parents’ feelings of confidence in
school while increasing their attachment to the humanitarian ideals promoted by
school and the Gulen Movement. This is not only a recognition of the cultural
background of students but also their parents whose engagement have been made
visible in school sphere and whose opinions have been deemed necessary with regards to certain matters. Seda, who worked as an Islam teacher in several schools,
remarked that she felt different in L’Ecole des Etoiles:
I am not speaking out of imagination, I know by experience. I go to six
different schools to teach then go to L’Ecole des Etoiles to pick up my children. In L’Ecole des Etoiles, I feel the relations are more humane, softer. I
feel relaxed as a person, not like an object or someone being talked to for
the sake of formality. I can flexibly wander around the school corridors,
ask any question I like.
Seda developed an identification with the school due to the warm welcome
and positive environment, where she enjoyed the flexibility and received respect
as an equal individual. For most informants, their feelings about the school were
shaped by how they were approached by the teachers and school staff, since this
defined to a certain degree whether they could develop a positive spatial identification with the school.
Why L’Ecole des Etoiles?
Parents develop strategies with regards to what kinds of schools they prefer.
They compare the opportunities provided by different schools while evaluating
their expectations about the future of their children. The choices they make about
schooling can impact the decisions of others who share similar social environments. The motivations of Turkish-Belgian parents for choosing to send their
children to L’Ecole des Etoiles are various. It is important to underline that their
choice for this particular school space does not only guarantee an education for
their children but also satisfies their aspirations to a certain extent by recognizing their position as parents and hearing their voices. What they want for their
children in a sense becomes what they want for themselves. They do not only ask
recognition of their children’s culture, language and religion, they also ask for
their background to be recognized and respected.
Many parents dreamt of a more mixed school environment for their children.
Yet, they were also aware this was hard to achieve soon considering the current
structural challenges in their communities. The fundamental motive for most of
informants was the attitude of the teachers towards their children and to them as
parents. Parents were in general relieved to see that teachers and directors genuinely cared about the future of their children and tried to improve student outcomes. They also desired a moral education rather than a directly religious one.
Some parents chose L’Ecole des Etoiles on the grounds that it was founded by
Gulen-inspired people and Gulen’s ideals were expected to be visible in the school
space. Yet, it is rarely given as the sole reason for their choice.
Dreaming of Multiculture
Schools with “a social centrality for those who share a structure of feeling
and seek to establish an identity around it are likely also to be what we may call
spaces of occasion, in which the values and political views of a group might be
expressed and around which identities are at the same time performed” (Hetherington 1998:108). L’Ecole des Etoiles can be considered as a space of occasion
with a social centrality for most parents who share the dream of a positive, less
discriminatory and less segregated future for their children, whilst supporting the
ideals championed by the school and encouraging their children to develop an
identity around these values.
The school management wants to address the wider Belgian community,
however, the school has rather become a place for discriminated people with
mainly Turkish and Moroccan ethnic origins. Despite the welcoming philosophy
of the school, it is a matter of debate whether or to what extent the school can be
43
44
successful in creating a multicultural school environment. During the interview,
Mr Demir referred to the structure of society in Europe and how this was linked
to why they could not attract native Belgian students:
Society is arranged in a compartmentalized way here. There are borders between the neighborhoods and schools. The lines are drawn between spaces.
We have not planned it this way. This is how the system works in an elitist
and discriminatory way. We invite everyone to our school but what we
are doing is like a little drop in the ocean. Plus, there is no alternative. If
these students go to another school, it will most probably be a ghetto and
there is always the possibility that they will be discriminated against. The
conjuncture of the educational system does not provide equal chances for
everyone. There are elitist schools which are usually the church schools
and ghetto schools mainly for those who have different ethnic origins than
Belgium.
In the school, there is a visible effort to promote similarities and togetherness
with other ethnic groups rather than an “attachment to otherness, difference and
marginality” (Hetherington 1998:108). Although as a mission it seems difficult
that this intermingling will be achieved soon, different strategies are being employed by parents outside the school. The school management encourages parents
to send their children to clubs opened by municipalities so that their children will
have an opportunity to make friends with children of different ethnic origins. It
seems to be of the utmost significance to many parents to mix with others and not
to live within ethnic boundaries. Deniz was worried about her son growing up
without any native Belgian friends and registered the boy on an English course:
We cannot expect the school to do everything. We have to find solutions
ourselves. I want my son to meet children from different segments of society and become friends with them. If not now, he will meet them when
he goes to university. We have to try hard to open their minds to the world
outside. I begged him to register with the music academy. The school also
advises us to send our children to clubs. I followed him once in this English class and saw that he stands outside, puts his hands into his pockets.
I told him to go and meet other children there. He does not like to do
something he is not used to.
Deniz feared that her son would have adaptation troubles in the future if he
did not mingle with other kids, especially native Belgian children. She was aware
of the structural challenges and that the school would not achieve to attract other
students in the short-term. Most parents wanted their children to receive education in a more mixed environment and this often appeared to be their biggest
concern about sending their children to l’Ecole des Etoiles.
Seda wanted her children to adapt to the multicultural society in the future.
Although l’Ecole des Etoiles did not seem to be achieving this soon, she did not
consider it to be an obstacle since she thought that the positive dimensions of the
school were more necessary to the individual development of her children. Unlike some other parents, Seda did not believe that the integration of her children
would be problematic as long as they completed their individual development in
a healthy and peaceful way:
My children may be in a school where the majority is of immigrant origin.
However, they receive good quality education, they are being treated well
and they are cared about as individuals. My son’s teacher is very thoughtful and conscientious. She apologizes when she thinks she has not done
her best and asks parents for support. She treats her students like her own
children. He has changed three teachers till now, all of them were like his
mothers. Every day before they start the class, they discuss the daily agenda. Before the elections, they learned about the parties and elections. The
administration is also very good both in terms of characteristics and managerial skills. My son will grow up with self-confidence, receive good quality
education and he will be loved and respected by his parents and teachers.
I do not think he could have as much self-confidence in other schools
where there is strict punishment. My child is willing to go to school, he
wants to stay longer when I go to pick him up. I would stop to think for a
while if he did not want to stay there longer. The technology is being used
to the maximum level with smart-boards and so on. I believe my children
are being prepared for the future in a good way. It may be seen as a ghetto
but this is no problem for me as long as he is respected. My priority is that
he will have a grounded identity. If he has a peaceful relationship with
himself, he can easily be friends with others. In L’Ecole des Etoiles, he is
at peace with himself. I have an open-minded outlook to the world and I
have friends from diverse backgrounds. They are aware of this, so I am not
really concerned about their future.
For Seda, her experiences in schools formed the basis of her choice about her
children’s schooling. She believed that children with other ethnic origins were
not treated well when they are mixed with Belgian children in school. Being a
teacher herself, she had witnessed several times how her colleagues were referring
to children with different ethnic origins and their parents, such as ”her mother
is stupid, anyway”, “her father still does not speak French, he is a truck driver so
he is always away for months”, “she has six children, which one should she take
care of ”. These negative comments, she stated, often dominate the positive ones.
45
46
The Teacher Question
The experiences of parents with previous schools are highly influential on how
they define their relationship with l’Ecole des Etoiles and accordingly their comments incorporated many comparisons between different schools and teachers.
It was emphasized by parents that a trusting relationship with teachers was vital
for a positive interaction. They were particularly dissatisfied with teachers who
were uncaring, not sacrificing, and not idealistic. «The teacher simply did not
care about my child’s future» was a common phrase during most interviews. Almost all parents believed that the teachers in l’Ecole des Etoiles were more willing
to sacrifice their time for the students and they paid more attention to thoughts
of parents. Parents were particularly content with the fact that their ideas about
their children’s education mattered to the teachers.
Selin’s present choices about her children’s education were primarily influenced by what her daughter had experienced in another school:
She was constantly failing maths, and thus she lost her self-confidence. I
went to see her teacher, because just a few students passed the course. I
thought the problem was the teacher. I was not taken seriously. I found
private math teachers when we went to Turkey on holidays. Plus, my
daughter was cringing with embarrassment. She had no friends but one.
Now she regained her confidence here.
Besides the failure of her daughter, Selin was worried that she was ignored as
a parent. When she decided to send her daughter to l’Ecole des Etoiles with the
advice of her friends, she especially liked seeing strong links between teachers and
parents. Her position as a parent was reaffirmed and recognized by teachers and
this served to increase her motivation in choosing l’Ecole des Etoiles.
A mother of three, Meral defined herself as a member of the Gulen movement. She was one of the parents who had supported the foundation of l’Ecole des
Etoiles. During the first three years in l’Ecole des Etoiles, she was quite content with
the teacher. This last year, she had received complaints about her son and she was
surprised because what her son told her and what the teacher said about him were
not consistent. Although she was having reservations about continuing to send
her son to l’Ecole des Etoiles, she believed that she would find a solution to this by
cooperating with the school directors and staff. How Meral related herself to the
school as a space has implications beyond her son’s schooling. She thought that
she could at least make her voice heard in this school, unlike what she had experienced in other schools trying to enlist her two older daughters. Her emotional
attachment to the school and its ideals obviously made it difficult for her to make
47
a choice. Also, the fact that she could easily discuss about these problems with school
management made her feel less worried about it.
Schools opened by the movement are often criticized on the grounds that
they do not “promote free will and individualism, but rather promote a collective
consciousness and the schools are less likely to encourage self-reflection and selfrealization of individual potential” (Yavuz 1999:598). Roya, a Moroccan mother in
her early thirties working as an Islam teacher, argued the opposite, like some other
parents:
In public schools, no attention is paid to the individuality and differences of
students. The education is structured, strict and competitive. Here, it is more
individual oriented. They adapt it according to the personal differences. I see
that children are confident both intellectually and morally, in every way. Their
self-confidence is increasing because they are at ease with school. In the previous school, he constantly had remarks as the toleration level was low. The
quality of education is high here. You can always talk to teachers, principals.
You can easily have access to them, they are very open. We arrange meetings
and talk about the potential solutions to problems of our children. The atmosphere is very good.
Promoting Ethos in School Space
A particular school ethos is prevalent in l’Ecole des Etoiles similar to the republican
ethos of schools in France (Hemming 2011; Cole 2001). This ethos entails a particular set of values, such as respect, kindness, sacrifice and caring, which are both being
taught via an elective class and being actively promoted in the school environment
by directors, teachers and staff who consider themselves as role models for their students. More than half of the parents showed concern regarding the moral cultivation
of their children. These parents had expectations from the school in that sense, since
they imagined the school as a space “providing a moral compass, and instilling a
new sense of morality” (Parker & Jenkins 2002:277) into their children. I asked Mr.
Demir if they had a special strategy for the transmission of moral values:
Human beings are composed of three dimensions. These are intellectual, instinctive and spiritual dimensions. The West has broken its bonds with the
dimension of moral conscience. The mechanism is built upon the instinctive
and intellectual dimension. If you ask people from the West about how they
like children to be, they will tell you that they want their children to be knowing, intellectual, standing on their own feet, taking trips around the world,
learning new languages and so on. Knowledge and individuality are the first
concerns they have. Parents with Turkish origins will base their priorities on
the moral dimension. They will prioritize being a good person, doing no harm
48
to other people, contributing to one’s country and to humanity over individual development.
While describing the ethos of the school, Mr. Demir underlined that the intellectual dimension needs to be fed with knowledge and that the moral dimension
should be fed with humanitarian values so that a moral conscience can be built.
This, he said, is what they aim to give to pupils in the school, spreading a particular
form of relationship between teachers, parents and students based on caring, sacrifice, respect, tolerance and understanding. For him, the source of inspiration is
Gulen’s ideas, yet he carefully added that this should not mean that Gulen himself
has any impact on how schools are run. In Demir’s opinion, Gulen brings a different interpretation to Islam; this allows them to live together and get on well with
everyone. This, he stated, can be only possible through tolerance and compassion
towards other people:
Gulen talks about non-reciprocal love and affection towards other people. He
talks about the significance of altruism. We are motivated by the desire to
gain the consent of God. We may be motivated by a religious desire, but the
purpose is not the transmission of religion. We focus on loving people, and
providing peaceful spaces for them, in a way addressing the needs of their
conscience, too. This gives peace to people.
It is not possible to speak of a precise Gulen pedagogy used in all schools opened
by those who are inspired by the ideas of Gulen. Even the term ‘Gulen School’
seems problematic. The two things which are common for all these schools is that
the initiative is taken by those who are inspired by Gulen and that they have Turkish
origins. The contextual factors are almost always influential and even schools within
the borders of the same city may be following totally different educational paths, as
in the example of Lucerna schools and l’Ecole des Etoiles in Brussels. The following
sections elaborate on the reasons which are conducive to the building of a particular
form of interaction within the school space, among teachers, parents and students.
The question of why these parents choose L’Ecole des Etoiles provides a perspective
into how parents build a relationship with the school space and position themselves
with regards to the ideals promoted by the school.
There is no explicit Islamic-oriented training in the school, however, parents
have confidence in the school to raise their children in a morally sensitive manner.
Some of them emphasized that they allowed their children to go on school trips because they were sure that the teachers would be sensitive about their values. Among
those who cared about the moral content of education, some were inspired by the
ideas of Gulen and felt that they needed to send their children to this school even
though there were things they were not pleased about.
49
While talking about her motivation, Deniz referred to the sentimental bond that
she had with school and added that it would have been awkward to send her children to another school. She was inspired by the ideas of Gulen and her husband was
regularly attending and supporting the voluntary activities of Gulen movement in
Belgium. Although her first motivation for choosing the school was the inspiration
of Gulen, this did not prevent Deniz from developing a critical approach towards
the school. To Deniz, the only negative thing about the school was that it was not
diverse enough and that her children would have troubles adapting to society in the
future. On the other hand, she said that the best thing about L’Ecole des Etoiles was
that the teachers and principals were genuinely concerned about the outcomes of her
children. When asked about the role of becoming a member of Gulen movement on
her choice of L’Ecole des Etoiles, she said:
It is an important factor for me. The school represents a system I appreciate,
internalize, trust and believe in. Because they teach, if not directly, universal
moral values to the future generations along with good quality education. It
has an ideal of a virtuous, educated, high-standard society. In this increasingly
materialistic world of today, I believe that these schools, unlike the classical
schools, may be like a ray of hope. I wish everyone from different segments of
society would come and profit from such a school.
L’Ecole des Etoiles, as a symbolic space represents the system of ideals, values and
principles supported by parents like Deniz. They believe that it is not right to choose
another school when there is one where they could feel at home.
Concluding Remarks This paper contributes to understanding the way Turkish-Belgian parents relate to
a school space and negotiate their positions as parents with a migration background.
The spatial identification of parents is reflected in their motivations in choosing to
send their children to l’Ecole des Etoiles. They not only ask for a school which will
respect their ethnic and religious background but which will also take their thoughts
seriously and treat them with respect. Once their demands are met to a certain degree, parents find themselves in a position to discuss about their children’s education.
They dream of a school environment which is more mixed and multicultural and
many parents fear their children will not achieve to adapt to the mainstream society
once they graduate. Parents were encouraged by the approach of teachers, who cared
for the improvement of their children’s outcomes and respected their values. The fact
that they felt at ease about discussing things with the teachers was a significant determinant in their spatial identification. The attitudes of people (teachers and staff)
in the school space had a strong impact on how they felt themselves in the school.
Some parents were initially motivated to send their children to l’Ecole des Etoiles since
it was mainly founded by people who were inspired by Gulen. They believed school
represented their values, ideals, beliefs and they could not imagine choosing another
50
school. Besides a high-quality education, they expected the school to instill moral
values in students, albeit not directly religious.
Offering a platform for the parents to negotiate their views and concerns, the
school empowers the parents to make decisions and choices regarding their children’s
education. Since their differences in terms of background is recognized, respected
and considered valuable by the teachers, the parents feel entitled to voice their opinions about potential problems and solutions. High level of trust between the parents
and the teachers encourages the parents to raise their concerns about certain issues.
Proactive engagement of parents in school seems to be contributing to their strong
identification with the space and building intimate relations with the school staff
and the teachers. Although l’Ecole des Etoiles does not offer the best educational environment for those who dream of a more mixed school space, it achieves to attract
parents by providing them with the opportunity to negotiate terms of recognition
and to voice their opinions.
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Vol. 2, No. 3, Spring 2015, 55-70
The roots of Fethullah Gulen’s theory of education and the
role of the educator
MUHAMMED M. AKDAG, [email protected]
ABSTRACT In this article we are going to examine Gulen’s ideas about education,
educators and schools as holy places of education. Hence the Islamic roots of Gulen’s
thought and his Sufi-Islamic way are very important to understand his viewpoint,
especially about education. Through this way we can see how important teachers are
in his thought and the role of his Sufi-Islamic roots to educate these teachers, mentors
and crew reconciled to modern methods and theories. The critics and their main arguments are going to be discussed too.
Introduction
Gulen calls for dialogue and peace (Haughey 2008), and takes position between traditionalism and modernism. His understanding of Islam is more liberal
and tolerant for other religions, life styles and philosophies (Aras and Caha 2000:
31; Bilir 2004: 270; Özdalga 2006). The key words of his civil Islam perspective
that is based on social reforms and intellectual transformations are education and
spiritual improvement (Kurtz 2005: 377; Kim, 2005; Bulaç 2007: 89-106). He
demands condolence instead of retreat. A society, he states, could be changed by
only the individuals who belong to it. Hence, Gulen’s doctrine is: “Build new
schools instead of new mosques” (Steinvorth 2008: 26; Agai 2004).
Gulen condemns terrorism sharply and he is arguing against Huntington’s
apocalyptic theses of “Clash of civilizations” (Penaskovic 2007). By doing so he
became a bridge between Islam and the West as a temperate Muslim. His interpretation of Islam persuades the Muslim and the non-Muslim in a humanistic
and peaceful way (Osman 2007).
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The Hizmet Movement could be presented as an example for international
and global civil movements and a modern type of Islamic activism. The Sufismorientated activism of the movement is also noteworthy on the basis of the movement. It places special emphasis on serving in the society, to educate individuals
and thereby form a new generation.
The Movement and Gulen have been on the agenda of researchers for more
than ten years and studied carefully. On behalf of these researches our attempt
in this paper is to describe Gulen’s theory of education on a new interpretation
and mobilization of human resource and the role of teachers in the movement as
mentor, tutor and educators. We want to examine the critics to Gulen’s theory of
education too.
Today it is not easy to discuss the aforementioned matters on a solid platform
because of the dynamic and progressive nature of the Hizmet Movement. We
need a variety of methods and materials. However, we are going to examine the
theoretical side of the topic and use primary and secondary literature and the
results of our researches, experience and observations on the field. We should
not forget that Gulen and his friends are often subjects to attacks through media.
The educational theory of Fethullah Gulen
Education and pedagogy take the first place in Gulen’s thought. In his speeches, sermons and books he elaborates on education and underlines its importance.
As an Islamic scholar he himself is a teacher, preacher and mentor. For these reasons, he described the essentials of education considering not only the methods
of Islamic religious perspective but also in view of modern methods. Besides, he
carried and still carries out his lessons personally and taught them to his pupils,
who are the forerunners of the movement now (Akdag 2013:116).
Like some other contemporary Islamic scholars, Gulen criticizes todays’ educational systems (Gulen 2011:13). Nasr sees in western curricula and teaching
contents means of the secular degeneration (Erken 1995: 80; Nasr 1993). Gulen
agrees with Nasr and underlines the lacks of ethical and moral values in this system cursorily and emphatically which has a global influence on all cultures and
of course on Muslims. This entails that Muslims on many are confronted with
many difficulties in an education which does not contain curriculums supported
by the faith and Islamic roots (Gulen 2011:14). According to Gulen the stencils
of the education system in Turkey which was founded in the period of the early
republic would have to be changed absolutely (Kuru 2003: 130).
At the other side Gulen attaches a special meaning to the human agency in
bridging of theory and practice to educate an ideal youth. According to his opin-
The roots of Fethullah Gulen’s theory of education
ion Islam is a constitution of morality and identity. For him, the role of education
must be stressed for self-cultivation. Therefore, his education project is based on
many principles such as self-control, cultivation of ethic, teaching science, etc.
This project is inspired by the faith and morality, and discipline plays big role.
Their essentials are making sacrifices, taking responsibility and living in idealism. Muslims are constantly reminded of the fact that it is not enough to avoid
sins. Rather than that, engagement is necessary to create a more humanly world.
Hence, moral consciousness can be raised only by participating in action. According to him a Muslim should be an investor who understands the service on
others as a holy assignment. Besides, the power of God’s love is reflected in the
spirit of Gulen’s Sufi training, and he tries to educate the perfect and universal
person (Turkish: insan-ı kamil and arabic: al-insān al-kāmil), and being a morally
straight person is only possible by having a morally qualitative behaviour.
In this connection, the institutions of the movement and particularly the
schools and teachers play a big role. They are models for the pupils with their behaviour without making available a formal religious instruction in the classroom.
This position can be called an “Activist-Pietism”. Gawrych describes this method
of the education, which could be described as the method of the Prophets, as the
center way of absolute balance between materialism and spiritualism, between
rationalism and mysticism, between worldliness and excessive asceticism between
this world and the following. The most important thing with Gulen’s method is
that it pleads for a secular education, although it gives big value to Islamic morality (Gawrych 2004: 650; Agai 2004).
The experts and observers want to see the aim of Fethullah Gulen and The
Hizmet Movement in that sense. Experts like Saritoprak, Kim and others state
that Gulen’s secluded life and his pietistic world view as well as the moral education and position of the Hizmet Movement show that Gulen and the Hizmet
movement do not want to be get rich by their activities materially, and do not
want any political power or win any fame in the world. According to them and
also to the state authorities he, and the pupils who have been in his near vicinity
do not have any worldly possessions, and he lives unmarried. Consequently, his
achievements are not material, but from spiritual nature and are all-embracing
(Saritoprak 2007: 641; Kim 2008a: 185).
Within the scope of his hizmet thought, Gulen developed a new model of
human-being: hizmet insanı (the man who serves). Besides, he always underlines
the importance of the central state of the human as it was treated in the Sufism,
and explains the good moral and attributes of his model as well as the signposts
of this perfection process. His doctrine is: “Serving people means serving God”
(Turkish: Halka hizmet, Hakk’a hizmettir) (Aslandogan 2007: 672). However,
the good actions in Islam contain a wide spectrum of matters. Thus, for example
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teachers serve people by giving lessons, education. There is no limit to serve God.
One can never sit down contented. As soon as work is done, one must hurry up
to get into the next project. Gulen names a sort of ideal person as “a man of action” (aksiyon insanı ), too .
Hizmet insanı is described as “the traveller of the truth” and his activities as
searching for the truth (Ünal and Williams, 2000: 24). With this idea Gulen has
been stressing truth emphatically and pulling the attention to respect between
God, cosmos and humanity. One could reach the biggest advantage of humanity,
the model of the universal or perfect and ideal human being with that (Gulen,
2001a). However, Gulen sees, that the lack of knowledge is the problem`s most
serious part, and the solution is to be searched in the education which has always
been “the most important kind of service”. Besides, it is also a good way to create
a “dialogue with other civilizations”, too (Gulen 2004b :198).
Moreover, Gulen’s aim with education is to reshape society consequently creating a new “golden generation” (Turkish: altın nesil). Equipped with the facilities
of science and religion, this generation should be in the state to solve dilemmas of
the future society (Vicini 2007: 436; Akdag 2010).
Now what are the bases and methods of his educational theory? And what is
the role of Islam and his new human model as educators?
Gulen’s philosophy of education: religious or secular?
According to Gulen, education means formation and teaching means providing of knowledge. In this connection education encloses teaching as well as moral
and ecclesiastical formation. Therefore, to educate and to teach are “holy” activities and the educators and teachers are the “saints” (Pahl 2008: 14).
In his works Gulen stresses the meaning of education: “Straining for the education is a process of perfection thereby we earn the spiritual, intellectual and
physical dimensions of our beings which are the highest position for our human
being.” (Ünal und Williams 2000: 34).
Of course there is a historical background of Gulen’s thoughts. During his
years as a preacher in the mosques of Turkey, he stressed the relevance of education as the core of modernization and the social rise. He continually stressed that
peace, social justice and consideration for different cultures and religions can be
reached only by educated people (Ebaugh and Koç 2007: 543).
The Islamic bases of Gulen’s theory of education
Gulen assumes that education is based on three basic premises: 1. Education is constructed on a manifestation of the God’s name Rabb (pedagogue and
supporter). 2. It is about the ability to reach the line of true humanity (al-insān
al-kāmil). 3. And it is a matter of becoming a profitable element for society and
this devotion leads to good actions (Atay 2007: 205).
Besides, Gulen ascribes more than only a theoretical role to Islam. His educational project presents a new public form and a new way of life. According
to many academics he would thereby like to provide an Islamic ethos which is
revealed as “a basic” idea of Islam (Vicini 2007: 436). That is the reason why he
has given big value on the verses of the Koran and hadīth, which reveal and affirm learning as a religious duty and lift it on the same level such as prayers and
charity, while he built his educational philosophy (Afsaruddin 2005). Besides, the
roots of Gulen’s education are to be found in the deep Islamic tradition of Rūmī
and Nursi, which define dignity as an inherent quality and therefore it survives
conferring to the Koran (Graskemper 2007: 625).
In his widespread writings Gulen stresses common values such as spirituality, honesty, relief, self-discipline, correctness, compassion, patience, tolerance
and the necessities of leadership like realism, responsibility and long sightedness,
which should be the attributes of the prophet. These are also taught in the schools
of the Hizmet Movement as ethics. The pupils could thereby be equipped with a
good character and they could devote themselves to life according to these human
attributes and moral values. These moral values would be: love to mother and
father, respect and honesty. Gulen looks at them as generally suitable values and
assumes this from the fact that Muslims, Christians and Jews share them (Michel
2003: 217).
The Hizmet movement follows the convictions of Gulen who sees the education as prominent utility for social changes and a renewal of the community.
However, religion is properly understood only by extensive knowledge and only
by a suitable education through which the community becomes stronger and
could be able to improve. Besides, science and technology are absolutely compatible with Islam in his opinion. Knowledge of physical sciences and the universe is
indispensable (Fuller 2008: 57). Agai describes this method as “Islamic ethos of
the education”, which is seen as “Islamic eager education” and secular knowledge
harmonizes with spiritual knowledge and Islamic ethics (Agai 2003: 51).
In this perspective education gets in a process of mediation of religious knowledge which is not reduced to inter-mediation from a person to another. Rather,
it is a matter of forming the personality of the pupils (Ünal and Williams 2000:
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312; Michel 2003: 78). According to Gulen, education opens the way to knowledge of the universe and this knowledge indicates individuals to a perfect apprenticeship of truth (Allah-universe-human). With this he tries to attach science,
religion and dialogue (Haughey 2008).
It is noteworthy with this background that neither the Koran nor the books
of Nursi and Gulen are taught in the schools of the Movement. No religious
education is aimed at the facilities, although their sponsors are motivated by Islamic thoughts. This is the case, because in his early career Gulen acknowledged
that a concentration on religious lessons is infertile in a secular society, and science lessons could serve religious needs and form a base for social stability. He
thought that, if children were skilled by a scientific, computer-aided education,
they would accept values like nonviolence and helpfulness for their country and
for their community and then also accept the essential apprenticeships of Islam
and those of all other religions (Bonner 2004: 94).
In this sense, Hermansen notes that teachers devoted themselves to the moral
education of students, who were presented as true mentors, i.e. as big brothers
and sisters (in turkish abiler and ablalar). But she emphasizes also that the accent
on religious subjects and methods which was typical for the Protestant missions
has never been a subject for the schools of the Hizmet movement (Hermansen
2007: 67). Neither the teachers of these schools declare their Islamic identity,
nor do they inform the sciences from a religious perspective (Krause 2007: 170).
Indeed, in the course of the years the discourse has partially reinterpreted Islamic
values as universal values (Solberg 2005).
Under this moral code of behaviour a model function is understood, to which
self-control belongs, such as in avoiding of smoking or consuming alcoholic beverages etc. (Clement 2007: 582).
Besides Gulen’s model is stamped by moral bases such as; profound ideas,
clear thoughts, intensive feelings, cultural recognition and spiritual values. These
ideas should also be based on the high qualities of education and a mixture of
modern secular education with traditional spiritual values. According to him, one
has the biggest opportunity to become a better Muslim with this kind of education. And it contains not only religious education, but also scientific education as
well as the secular arts of education. Morality and discipline exist not least of the
willingness to make sacrifices, the sense of responsibility, idealism and diligence,
and these global values are carried out in the educational projects of the Hizmet
Movement (Krause 2007: 171; Levinskaya 2007; Saritoprak 2007).
The Sufi character of Gulen’s philosophy of education and the teacher as
spiritual mentors
At the other side, Gulen suggests pursuing an ethos of self-control and selfrestraint as well as a life style according to the good manners described in Islamic
morality education. He describes the Sufi as the “model of the self-cultivation”
(Yavuz 2003:34). In his model spiritual education is very important, for the personal faith and “self-cultivation” indicate that there has to be an engagement to
the “education of the inside”. The aim is to set up a practical method of selfrealization, which is based on cleaning of the mind and searching for religious
fulfilment in new secular life forms in daily life and to build up healthy relations
within the whole society (Toguslu 2007; Ozdalga 2003b).
Actually, this method to transmit knowledge in a fine manner and by examples, does not contradict to the classical Sufi methods of Yasawī and Naqšbandī
and within the scope of a good education the schools of the movement practice
this method as a principal purpose of education without any specific orientation
(Özdalga 1999; Aras and Caha 2000; Helminski 2000: 32; Michel 2002; Aslandogan and Cetin 2006).
According to Gulen, further success of education is hidden in the heart and
mind of the teacher, and it is taken up by the pupils. Therefore, teachers are with
their modest, tolerant, personable and intelligent behaviours at school or in their
private life models for the children and in this system they take a central position.
For this purpose, school administrations choose teachers who are equipped with
these attributes (Boyd 2006). For instance, the movement recruits its teachers
from the circle of its graduates in Denmark.
But how do these teachers lead their pupils? Do their methods deal with the
Sufi Iršād (spiritual and moral education)? Furthermore, can one see the teachers
as muršid (spiritual and moral masters)?
Concerning education, the key concepts for The Hizmet Movement are morality, identity and tamsil (acting as a model). The role of teachers consists of
supporting pupils by development and forming their character. In this sense, he
educates them spiritually (iršād). The concept refers normally to lead the pupils
in the learning process of Islamic methods traditionally. Nevertheless, as it was
mentioned above, the Movement has extended this proposal by lessons in secular
schools, rather having it done according to a specific ethics. In this sense Agai
even states that being an idealistic teacher (especially in schools of The Movement) is a kind of religious service (Agai 2003: 59).
For Gulen, a school is basically a sort of holy place with the teacher as a
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“holy road guide” (Gülen 1996e: 36). In this connection we can compare Gulen’s
convictions about the teacher with the muršid figure of the Sufism, who acts as
a spiritual leader, teacher and instructor with his competence in all areas. Therefore, these leaders should be trained with spiritual and religious sciences. Besides
taking care of their own perfection, the teachers have to worry about their pupils’
perfection and love them (in a metaphorical sense). However, it is not enough for
a school to make the character development of pupils only dependent on a good
model, because character-education is not only dependent on a good model, but
also dependent on what the pupils learn in their life and lessons. From numerous perspectives learning is a process in which active knowledge is developed and
methods are prescribed. Although learning mostly begins with observation, the
observation should - if possible - generally be carried out by actions to confirm
the learning (Nelson 2007).
According to Gulen, education should be embedded in values, and the teachers must live these values. The reform process must start with the person itself,
and who wants to reform the world, must reform himself first. This apprenticeship is based on the Sufi understanding man ‘arafa nafsahū fa qad ‘arafa rabbahū
which has become known as hadith and means “who knows himself, knows God”
(Sakhawi 1956; al-‘Attār 1933).
Today Gulen interprets this phrase anew and stresses that education is a manner of “self-reform” and that it leads everyone to improved and changed social
and cultural connections. That is why Gulen could be labelled as “socially deliberated Sufi”. Besides, that is what makes the Gulen model unique: the “inside
education” which causes the social and global change. In the second step the
self-reform leads to transforming and reforming the social and cultural context.
And this transformation will be from an internal manner of learning to an external manner of service in the world. This agrees not only with Sufi ideals, but also
with the images and lifelong efforts of Gulen himself. Accordingly Boyd stated
that the Hizmet movement stands under the influence of Sufism (Boyd 2006).In
addition, Gulen introduced active contents of Sufism in modern education and
interprets concepts like yaqīn (Erken 1995: 102).
Gulen’s educational philosophy and model could be entitled as ‘ulamāintellectual model too, which includes not only the internal mobilization of new
social and cultural actors, but also represents a new liberal version of the action.
In this sense Nelson finds similarities in his philosophy with what Russell (1967)
and Hübner (1999) maintain (Nelson 2005). Gulen claims that most people
inform, but only a few can educate completely (Gülen 2004a: 208).
Criticism of Gulen’s education model
Although Gulen’s model of education is seen successful by many graduates,
neither his understanding of education, nor the schools and other institutions of
the movement remain spared by criticism. For instance, the roots, the contents,
the training period possibilities and the aims of the schools as well as their ruling,
popularity and results in the state exams etc. are being criticized.
On the one hand, the compatibility of his model with modern values and
systems is criticized. Because, as Yavuz and others argue, Gulen’s system in every
conceivable manner is taken up in the west, until the problem of the individual is
solved. Because Gulen’s model concentrates on the common aspect of education
and its intention is highly municipal. In parallel, Yavuz states that Gulen’s education system is not necessarily promoting the freedom of will and individualism,
but rather encouraging a collective consciousness (Yavuz 1999: 598; Boyd 2006).
Doubts in the view of Hizmet movement and its educational activities also exist in Turkey. For example, there is scepticism that the philosophy of the schools
of the Hizmet movement would be oriented in the ideas of the Nurcu community and, therefore, be a religious philosophy. Secular observers consequently fear
those movements which intend to create a religious state. However, this fear has
mostly decreased upon the critics visiting one of the institutions of the movement
and their closer observation (Borelli 2008: 13).
Because of his Islamic background and his attempts to reconcile religion with
science, he is sometimes seen as an Islamist and his system as an Islamic one (Bakar 2005; Celik-Kirk-Alan 2007: 259). Turam wants to recognize the prioritizing
and politicizing of the national connection in the educational project of Gulen,
and she speaks of representing a pragmatic Islam which is a product of national
culture or of the culture of the nation (Turam 2003: 190).
Another aspect of the critic is that the schools would have reached a high level
of education and threatened to intervene in the politics up to the state-system
(Turgut 1998: 6). Some people criticize that Gulen and the Movement try to
educate the elites of the society (Aras and Caha 2000; Solberg 2005; Ergil 2010:
332-333). It is partially spoken about in Turkish media that Gulen exercises
missionary activities by his schools as other European and American missionary
schools do (Turgut 1998). The last reproach against the movement concerns the
financing of the constantly rising number of the schools in and beyond Turkey.
Although the transparency of the institutions financial systems causes no problem for hundred thousands of donors in Turkey, many critics see a sore point in
them (Ashton 2005).
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The critics and the objections, asserted by critics are firmly taken into account
and treated by experts with a certain care and are sufficiently answered. They
recommend general qualities of the Hizmet Movements schools’ pupils’, such as
hard-working, diligence, honesty etc. and the success of educational science. But
their spiritual influence is difficult to be measured. There is a loose network and
primarily they are equipped with common values and methods. Although the
founders and governors of these schools arise from the fissile community of the
movement, they are open to all people. They work together with and/or for the
government authorities and local communities in respective locations.
The institutions are competitive and stand for high academic and independent standards. Their members and teachers are highly qualified. Hence, as Fuller
states, these educational institutions are the opposite of fundamentalist schools.
The teachers are disciplined, the sciences and humanity are estimated, intellectual openness is promoted and character education is the only form of morality
instruction (Fuller 2008: 57).
One of the most important aspects of the schools is that they are mostly
secular. In every country in which they exist they follow the local curriculum.
They teach no religious topics, except good morality values, which can be found
in every good school and up to a certain degree in every social conservatism.
But in all cases these schools follow secular educational models. Gulen’s untiring endeavour in rising education chances for boys as well girls in Turkey, are
spectacular and have caused a big rise in the number of girls in secondary and
university education.
Conclusion
Gulen’s thought of education is designed to equip the character of the students
with internal qualities like consciousness of self-control, tolerance etc.. An essential component of this moral education necessarily encloses relations with the
society and as a natural conclusion a special vision of integration. Not only the
academic help, but also the transmission of cultural or ethical messages are useful,
and traditional Turkish moral values such as being respectful towards parents etc.
are included. Gulen’s aim of education can be named as “serving to humanity”.
The educational institutions of the movement basically fight against the lack
of experience by means of science lessons and create high educational standards.
Besides that, it is a matter of forming the heart and the soul as well as the creation
of opinions and character of individuals. By extending their competence they
become able to understand the time they are living in and interpret affairs and
events, and become able to provide useful services for others.
In that sense the success of education is hidden in the heart and mind of the
teacher, and it is taken up by the pupils. Therefore, teachers are with their behaviours at school or in their private life, models for the children and in this system
they locate in the centre. It means, tamsīl (modelling) which is one of the key
concepts of Gulen’s theory of education, effecting the role of teachers to support
pupils’ developments and to form their character. In this sense, they educate them
spiritually (iršād) too.
But the schools of the Movement have nevertheless extended this proposal
by lessons in secular schools, rather than having it done according to a specific
ethics. It is a kind of religious service for them. In comparison with the muršid
figure of Sufism, teachers must act as spiritual leaders and instructors with their
competence in all areas physical and metaphysical, religious and non-religious.
The reform process must start with the person itself, and who wants to reform
the world, must reform himself first. Besides taking care of their own perfection, the teachers have to worry about their pupils perfection and love them in
a metaphorical sense. This is a big responsibility for teachers. They must live the
moral values which base on religious and global common values. Gulen’s model
is stamped by moral bases such as profound ideas, clear thoughts, intensive feelings, cultural recognition and spiritual values. These ideas should also be based
on high qualities of education and a mixture of modern secular education with
traditional spiritual values.
NOTES
1 Paper presented at the conference of Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences,
Vilnius, Sept. 2013.
2 Muhammed M. Akdag, studied Islamic science at the University of Selcuk in Turkey
and wrote his Master Thesis at the Social Science Institute of the same university on
Islamic Sufism. He received his PhD. from the University of Tubingen at the faculty of
philosophy in Germany on “Fethullah Gulens new human model Hizmet Insani compared with the al-insan al-kamil (perfect and universal human) concept of classical Sufism.
3 Interview with Nejat Asanovski, the Director of International School in Copenhagen. Jan. 2011.
4 In the Sufism one calls muršid also pīr or sheikh. And these mean the master, teacher,
spiritual leader and mentor. See Glassé and Smith 2003 : 331.
5 A similar perception is found in aphorisms of the antique philosophy like «Gnothi seauton» or «Scito (nosce) teipsum», which concerns a much-cited demand in the
antique Greek thinking. See Houédard 1990; Mouraviev 2006, 3/I, S. 295.
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NON-THEMATIC ARTICLES
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Vol. 2, No. 3, Spring 2015, 73-91
Hizmet en Afrique : les acteurs transnationaux du
mouvement Gülen
ERKAN TOGUSLU, [email protected]
Résumé Mouvement transnational d’inspiration religieuse, le mouvement Gülen est présent
en Afrique depuis les années 2000 sur les plans humanitaire, économique et social, et notamment dans le domaine de l’éducation. Cette présence suscite l’intérêt du chercheur soucieux de
comprendre les dynamiques socio-religieuses à l’œuvre dans cette émergence des classes moyennes
et qui sont à l’origine de son caractère transnational. Par le biais d’entrepreneurs musulmans et
turcs, les proches du mouvement ouvrent des écoles, fondent des maisons d’éditions, des centres
culturels, des associations d’hommes d’affaires. Le mouvement Gülen est ainsi présent dans 50
pays africains. Quel type d’expérience, quel type d’idées le mouvement véhicule-t-il auprès des
musulmans de la région via ses écoles, ses publications, ses médias ? De quelle manière le mouvement réconcilie-t-il les valeurs religieuses, la modernité, la globalisation et le monde musulman ? En se faisant le médiateur des valeurs globales dans une phase de rupture idéologique, un
médiateur qui a fait le choix de l’entrepreneuriat, de la démocratie, du marché et de l’individu
plutôt que du fondamentalisme, et qui encadre les ambitions de ces nouvelles classes, les développe et les met en pratique. La réussite du mouvement tient dans cette alliance de la piété et
de l’esprit d’entreprise, dans cet enracinement patriote et cette ouverture transnationale, toutes
choses qui caractérisent le renouveau des valeurs musulmanes à l’ère de la globalisation
Mots clés : Entrepreneuriat, Afrique, Tuskon, Kimse Yok mu
Introduction
Le mouvement Gülen ou Hizmet (Service) joue un rôle indéniable dans la vie
sociale, éducative et politique des nouvelles élites jeunes musulmanes de la Turquie de ces dernières années. De nouvelles recherches sont menées pour étudier
son émergence, son implantation, sa vision de l’éducation, ses écoles, ainsi que
son leader charismatique (Yavuz 2013 ; Tittensor 2014 ; Toguslu 2012 ; Valk-
74
enberg 2015, Barton, Weller and Yılmaz 2013; Çelik, Leman & Steenbrink 2015).
Mon ambition est de retracer l’émergence du mouvement dans les pays africains et
d’exposer ainsi les sites d’analyses transnationaux propres à cette géographie. Ces
sites sont significatifs pour décrire le visage transnational des mouvements sociaux et
religieux (Vertovec 1999 ; Mandaville 2011 ; Grodz and Smith 2014). La présence
simultanée des activistes musulmans dans la sphère économique, éducative et humanitaire crée une sorte de formation sociale s’étendant par delà les frontières dans
une société de réseaux (Castels 2009). Ces réseaux transforment la formation sociale
des groupes, des identités et des relations, qui engendrent à leur tour de nouvelles
appartenances, de nouvelles loyautés. La coexistence d’identités et d’appartenances
multiples maintient des hybridités. Comme l’a remarqué Clifford, ces communautés
renforcent en leur sein la solidarité et la connexion basée sur l’ethnie, la culture et la
religion. C’est cette connexion entre différentes localités qui fait la différence (Clifford
1994). Être conscient de cette appartenance à des localités multiples définit le désir
de se rattacher à d’autres semblables en réactivant le lien entre ici et là-bas (Vertovec
1999 ; Gilroy 1993). Les entreprises transnationales, les cadres, les entrepreneurs, les
instituteurs, les professionnels, les écoles, les associations, les ONG composent une
sorte d’acteurs et d’élites dont les intérêts sont globaux plus que locaux et nationaux. Étudier les acteurs économiques, les écoles et l’aide humanitaire du mouvement
Gülen dans la zone Afrique permet de mieux comprendre les réseaux transnationaux
à travers l’articulation entre économie, éducation et religion. Les trois dimensions
se croisent dans le processus transnational : le mouvement démographique, les organisations et les institutions, et enfin les références et les symboles. Ce processus
multidimensionnel et multilocal distingue les relations de pouvoir, les constructions
identitaires et culturelles, les interactions économiques et l’organisation des réseaux.
Les pratiques transnationales ne se déroulent pas dans un espace imaginaire
(Smith & Guarnizo 2006), et ne rendent pas non plus le cadre national absolument
caduc. La mobilité spatiale, les liens sociaux, les échanges économiques qui ignorent
les frontières nationales nécessitent une analyse plus approfondie afin que puisse être
décrite la formulation de la métaphore du transnationalisme sans frontière et sans
limite. C’est la raison pour laquelle les pratiques transnationales peuvent relier des localités différentes en donnant corps à des rapports sociaux-religieux spécifiques établis entre plusieurs d’entre elles. Smith et Guarnizo soulignent la plus grande conceptualisation de la localité, qui permet de tracer la multiplicité des lieux et des espaces.
Appadurai défend l’argument selon lequel les acteurs reproduisent leurs localités
dans leurs pratiques socio-culturelles en interaction avec l’environnement incorporé
(Appadurai 1996 : 185). D’où le fait que les sujets humains deviennent souples,
flexibles, et non plus isolés et bornés à l’opposition de la conception traditionnelle
qui considère le local dans un environnement figé, linéaire, polycentrique et polynucléaire (Smith 2010). Au sein de ces espaces et localités non linéaires, cet article
examine les activistes transfrontaliers dans la mesure où leurs activités impliquent
Hizmet en Afrique
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une déconnection de leur pays de naissance, des contraintes physiques locales et des
environnements sociaux. Si ces acteurs sont ancrés socialement et culturellement
dans leur pays, alors la question est : comment définir les limites-possibilités des
activités transfrontalières ?
En d’autres termes, cet article essaie de montrer si ces acteurs et le processus dans
lequel ils s’inscrivent sont éphémères, ou si nous sommes en présence d’une nouvelle
caractéristique de la société globale.
Un mouvement transnational et translocal : la présence du mouvement en
Afrique
Né en Turquie dans les années 1960 autour de Fethullah Gülen grâce aux efforts de quelques étudiants et petits commerçants, le mouvement est aujourd’hui
transnational et actif dans le monde entier avec ses hommes d’affaires, ses écoles et
ses centres culturels (Ebaugh 2010). Le mouvement a progressivement pris corps en
une multitude d’organes abritant des entités et organismes différents par leur taille
comme par leurs objectifs : écoles, associations d’hommes d’affaires, organisations
humanitaires, hôpitaux, revues, maisons d’éditions, etc. J’ai pu, par le biais de la
Fondation des journalistes et écrivains1, une fondation qui revendique son affiliation
directe à Fethullah Gülen, accéder librement à l’ensemble des activités qui ont eu lieu
dans les pays africaines. Les données sur lesquelles je m’appuie ont été fournies par
les différentes fondations et associations, par la direction générale des écoles, ainsi
que par les responsables des programmes Ayna au sein de Samanyolu TV, les visites
que j’ai effectué au Sénégal, Congo, Afrique du Sud. J’ai fait des interviews avec les
personnes qui travaillent dans ces pays y compris au Mali, au Kenya et au Nigeria.
Aujourd’hui, le mouvement regroupe des acteurs hétérogènes. La déterritorialisation du mouvement a été repensée conséquemment à son ouverture à d’autres lieux
dans plusieurs pays et dans des contextes différents. Cette différenciation renforce
le caractère transnational et translocal du mouvement. Au-delà d’une frontière nationale, le mouvement met en pratique de nouveaux réseaux indépendants les uns
des autres et qui sont au service de la circulation du savoir, des pratiques, d’un répertoire, d’une mémoire. Cette approche transnationale est à analyser sous divers aspects
comme l’économie, l’éducation, les medias et le dialogue interculturel. Ces changements bousculent aussi bien les frontières que l’identité du mouvement2.
Issus des classes moyennes conservatrices de province, les membres du mouvement recherchent une ascension sociale et culturelle très souvent par le biais de la
réussite scolaire ou par le commerce. Une nouvelle élite naît par le biais de cette mobilité éducationnelle et politique, avec notamment pour conséquence l’intégration
des entrepreneurs turcs au sein du marché mondial (Başkan 2010). Grâce aux com-
76
merçants et aux hommes d’affaires, à ses fondations et ses medias (journaux, hebdomadaires, magazines), le mouvement Gülen crée des espaces d’opportunités pour la
mise en visibilité et la mobilité sociale de ses sympathisants et entrepreneurs.
L’éducation, l’économie, l’aide humanitaire représentent l’essentiel des champs
d’activité du mouvement en Afrique3. Ces trois axes sont privilégiés dans cet article
qui s’attardera essentiellement sur l’aspect économique et éducatif du mouvement,
tout en passant en revue, néanmoins, les autres initiatives prises par les membres, de
manière à décrire le Hizmet dans ses multiples aspects. Cette multiplicité des acteurs
et des réseaux nous montre la complexité des relations, des liens et des motifs par
lesquels les acteurs transnationaux mettent en œuvre des projets socio-éducatifs et
humanitaires. Dans son étude sur les réseaux musulmans à Istanbul, Jenny White
examine les liens entre “la culture locale, les relations interpersonnelles et les réseaux
communautaires” (White 2002 :27) afin d’explorer la mobilisation des ressources.
Dans le cas du mouvement Gülen, les différents domaines dans lesquels le mouvement s’investit ne sont pas unifiés au sein d’une structure commune et hiérarchisée.
Les activités s’effectuent plutôt à travers les liens personnels, les réseaux informels et
formels en conservant une sensibilité et attachement aux principes et idées édictées
par Gülen (Mandaville 2011, Leman 2015). La structure non hiérarchique, les différents réseaux formels et informels jouent un rôle déterminant dans l’ascension du
mouvement et sa transnationalisation.
Les acteurs économiques : les hommes d’affaires
Le premier pilier de ce processus de transnationalisation du mouvement est constitué par les hommes d’affaires, le champ économique ayant en effet un rôle pionnier dans l’émergence du mouvement à l’échelle de la planète.
Ce champ contient, pour citer Bourdieu, des agents, des intérêts, des demandes,
des préférences, c’est-à-dire tout ce qui, proprement, constitue la pratique économique (Bourdieu 1997). Ce sont en effet les agents économiques qui déterminent
la structure du champ économique. Ce champ relationnel va s’endurcir avec
l’accumulation du capital économique et culturel, toujours selon Bourdieu. Le capital économique – revenu et patrimoine – va de pair avec le capital culturel. Ce capital
culturel implique dans le cas présent la religion ainsi que les codes et traditions locales anatoliennes. Cet « Islam de marché » que Haenni interroge en Égypte, en Indonésie et en Turquie se rapproche beaucoup du mouvement (Haenni 2005). Telles
sont les nouvelles valeurs libérales liées à la culture de la consommation très répandue
en Turquie, comme en témoignent les défilés de mode en foulard, ou encore les cafés
et hôtels islamiques (Göle 2010). Cette quête de la réalisation de soi ne se résume
pas à une simple recherche du gain et de plaisirs éphémères, mais, au-delà de cette
définition restrictive de l’individu libéral, il s’agit de s’élever contre l’hégémonie de
l’individualisme, d’un modèle vidé de toute éthique, et de promouvoir au contraire
Hizmet en Afrique
77
un modèle où la réalisation de soi suppose un mouvement vers l’autre, et s’appuie
de fait sur des valeurs telles que l’altruisme, la dévotion, le sacrifice du soi, la bienfaisance. Il s’agit d’être à la fois riche et cultivé, tourné vers autrui, et d’apporter à
la sphère économique les valeurs religieuses qui lui font défaut. Nous examinons
les activités de ces hommes d’affaires selon une approche wébérienne afin de rendre
compte de la rationalisation au sein de l’organisation économique qui transforme
ainsi les modes de vie et les pratiques religieuses et sociales4. Nilüfer Göle considère
que ces hommes d’affaires forment une nouvelle élite naissante (Göle 1997)5. Nous
soutenons que cette nouvelle élite entrepreneuriale peut jouer un rôle essentiel dans
le processus de la transnationalisation du mouvement.
Sur le continent africain, le mouvement prends le relais de ces hommes d’affaires
en ouvrant des institutions scolaires, des centres culturels, des associations. Animés
à la fois par l’esprit capitaliste et par des valeurs traditionnelles et religieuses, ces
hommes d’affaires sont à la tête de petites et moyennes entreprises (PME) en voie
d’expansion. Ces PME souhaitent entrer dans le réseau de l’économie globale en
étendant le rôle des communautés religieuses à de nouveaux espaces et en favorisant
l’émergence et la circulation des nouveaux capitaux en provenance d’Anatolie. Ces
petites et moyennes entreprises jouent un rôle décisif dans la connexion des villes
anatoliennes au niveau économique à l’échelle mondiale.
Ces hommes d’affaires qui constituent aujourd’hui un réseau important de petits
et de grands commerçants, créent des structures associatives destinées à promouvoir
leurs initiatives à l’extérieur de la Turquie. Différentes associations ont ainsi vu le
jour dans les années 1990. Ces associations d’hommes d’affaires liées au mouvement se retrouvent aujourd’hui réunies au sein de la Confédération des hommes
d’affaires et industriels turcs, la TUSKON (Türk sanayici ve iş adamları konfederasyonu) (Uyarıcı 2015). Créée en 2005, elle rassemble plusieurs associations régionales
et locales qui entretiennent des relations soutenues avec des pays d’Afrique et d’Asie6.
Divisée en fédérations régionales en Turquie, la TUSKON représente plus de 35 000
hommes d’affaires (soit environ 100 000 entreprises) actifs dans 165 associations
locales et régionales (Uyarıcı 2015). C’est un réseau de commerçants et d’industriels
religieux et conservateurs.
Les membres de la Confédération organisent des activités diverses – voyages domestiques et à l’étranger, séminaires, formations –, dont les plus importantes sont assurément les ponts de commerce international. Leur analyse permet de mieux comprendre la relation au mouvement sur le continent africain. Plusieurs ponts ont été
organisés par TUSKON. L’un des plus importants est le Pont mondial des affaires
internationales, qui s’est tenu à Istanbul du 14 au 20 juin 2013. Il a réuni 4.500
hommes d’affaires : 2.200 Turcs et 2.300 étrangers issus de 136 pays. Par ailleurs,
23 ministres dont 14 secrétaires d’Etat représentant au total 40 pays ont assisté à
l’évènement.
78
Le premier pont de commerce avec les pays africains remonte à 2006. De 2006
à 2009, l’événement est organisé annuellement au niveau régional avec la participation des hommes d’affaires africains. Le sommet de 2007 a ainsi rassemblé environ 2
000 hommes d’affaires turcs pour accueillir plus de 40 pays africains représentés par
26 ministres.7 L’édition suivante fut plus importante encore, avec 2 600 hommes
d’affaires turcs et 45 pays africains invités. Lors de ce sommet Turquie-Afrique, les
contrats signés ont atteint un volume de 3 millions de dollars (Özkan and Akgün
2010). En 2013, TUSKON rassemble ses membres pour la septième édition du
pont de commerce avec l’Afrique, un événement auquel participeront 350 hommes
d’affaires venus des quatre coins du continent africain.
Certains programmes spécifiques se poursuivent par ailleurs avec différentes
régions d’Afrique, à l’instar de Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa
(COMESA). En mai 2013 s’est tenu à Istanbul le Forum d’investissement et de
commerce Turquie-Nigeria. 420 hommes d’affaires y ont participé, dont 300 Turcs
et 120 Nigérians. Un groupe d’hommes d’affaires béninois a rencontré dans le cadre
d’un forum des membres de TUSKON pour envisager des investissements au Bénin.
Le président du Bénin y a assisté. Un autre forum consacré au Ghana a bénéficié
d’une organisation digne d’un sommet, avec la participation de ministres aux côtés
des hommes d’affaires. 68 Ghanéens et 500 Turcs y ont participé. L’année suivante,
en 2012, 27 entreprises turques ont participé à la foire commerciale qui s’est tenue
dans la capitale du Ghana autour du thème de la construction, du bâtiment et du
textile. Des commerçants et hommes d’affaires de Bolu se sont rendus en Afrique
du Sud afin d’envisager les opportunités économiques sur le terrain. Des entrepreneurs turcs ont visité le Niger pour la première fois grâce à TUSKON et au réseau
des écoles du mouvement. Les PME nigérianes ont pu participer à un salon des
initiatives organisé à Istanbul. 22 responsables de PME sont ainsi allés à la rencontre
d’hommes d’affaires turcs. Des hommes d’affaires maliens entament des contrats
dans le domaine de la construction avec des hommes d’affaires de Van dans l’est de la
Turquie. L’association des hommes d’affaires d’Adana organise un voyage à Kinshasa,
au Congo.
Toutes ces réunions, forums et organisations sont l’occasion de connaître les marchés turc et africain, les investissements possibles, les projets et collaborations envisageables. Grâce à l’aide fournie par TUSKON qui établit des relations avec les pays
d’Afrique, les hommes d’affaires turcs peuvent s’implanter sur le marché africain.
Tous ces évènements sont également l’indice de la stratégie globale, de l’ampleur
commerciale et de la mobilité des hommes d’affaires turcs en Afrique. Ces activités,
visites, forums et échanges ont été l’occasion de renforcer les relations établies depuis
l’arrivée du mouvement en Afrique, d’approfondir les liens et de définir les objectifs.
Des centaines d’hommes d’affaires africains viennent chaque année en Turquie bâtir
de nouveaux projets dans différentes secteurs. A travers les associations d’hommes
Hizmet en Afrique
79
d’affaires, le mouvement met en place des visites commercial-touristiques en Afrique
qui aboutissent à des accords de coopération dans différents secteurs économiques.
Afin de favoriser le volume d’échange, les hommes d’affaires locaux et internationaux
sont triés et invités en fonction de l’offre et de la demande. Dans cette dynamique, les
écoles jouent un rôle très particulier. Elles contribuent en effet de manière essentielle
au développement des relations bilatérales avec la Turquie.
Les informations sont ainsi issues des écoles ouvertes par les gens du mouvement implantées en Afrique qui endossent en quelque sorte le rôle d’ambassadeur,
établissant un lien, un pont entre la Turquie et les pays d’expatriation, notamment
dans ceux où il n’existe pas de représentation diplomatique turque. Cette tâche est
simplifiée par le fait que la plupart des parents d’élèves de ces établissements sont des
entrepreneurs et des hommes d’affaires. La prise de contact entre partenaires potentiels est ainsi d’autant plus facile, renforcée par ailleurs par la bonne réputation des
écoles à travers le monde et donc de la confiance dont elle jouit. Elles constituent
pour toutes ces raisons une référence pour TUSKON. Les élèves et les personnels
des écoles aident à l’organisation des forums en assurant la traduction pendant les
rencontres. Les expériences relayées par les écoles encouragent les entrepreneurs turcs
à prendre des initiatives à l’étranger et les établissements bénéficient en retour des
aides des entrepreneurs. Nous ne défendons pas l’idée que les entrepreneurs turcs
sont motivés par l’intérêt économique et personnel, mais plutôt celle selon laquelle
un environnement social favorable est de nature à encourager les investissements.
Les décideurs ne subordonnent pas leur action à la seule poursuite du gain, mais
au contraire, les relations sociales interviennent à toutes les étapes des actes à portée
économique. Chaque activité économique crée ainsi une sociabilité et une solidarité
de groupe qui génère une sorte d’attente, un statut et des émotions .
Ecoles du Mouvement: le relais éducatif et culturel
L’ouverture des écoles privées constitue un tournant dans la promotion du mouvement à l’échelle nationale et globale (Yavuz 2013). La privatisation du système
éducatif dans les années 1980 permet au mouvement de créer des établissements
éducatifs, d’abord en Turquie, puis à l’étranger. A partir des années 1990, des écoles
sont ouvertes dans les républiques turcophones de l’ancien empire soviétique (Clement 2013), puis en Extrême-Orient et en Afrique (Mohamed 2013). Aujourd’hui, le
mouvement dirige des écoles sur les cinq continents.
Hors de Turquie, les écoles offrent une éducation dispensée en anglais et en français, mais le turc y est également enseigné. Les sciences exactes peuvent être enseignées en anglais et les sciences sociales en français, selon les pays. Le français et
l’anglais sont ainsi les deux langues enseignées à l’école de Bedir au Niger. Au collège
Horizon, au Mali, l’anglais est enseigné dès la 4e année. Tous les établissements scolaires du mouvement mettent l’accent sur l’enseignement de l’anglais, de la langue
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turque, de l’informatique et des sciences. La différence vis-à-vis des collèges français
réside dans la place accordée l’anglais, qui a le statut de langue d’enseignement, et
celle accordée à la langue et à la culture turques. Au Burkina Faso, ces mêmes types
d’enseignement s’observent. Le groupe scolaire Yavuz Selim à Dakar au Sénégal comprend sept écoles de filles et de garçons allant du primaire au secondaire.
Les instituteurs qui enseignent dans ces écoles sont pour la plupart issus du mouvement. Après avoir passé leur vie dans les établissements formels ou informels du
mouvement, ils se portent volontaires pour exercer le métier d’instituteur dans ces
établissements lointains. Comme ils l’expliquent eux-mêmes, cette idée est mobilisatrice pour les membres qui développent un sentiment de devoir et de dette envers
le Hizmet. Les professeurs turcs enseignent plutôt les sciences exactes, tandis que les
professeurs autochtones enseignent plutôt les sciences sociales et les langues. Le choix
d’un enseignant s’effectue selon des critères tels que la compétence, le mode de vie
et l’attachement aux valeurs nationales et religieuses (Balcı 2003 : 164). L’inscription
des élèves est systématiquement précédée d’un test de niveau. Les salles de cours sont
petites et les classes ne comptent pas plus de 20 élèves en moyenne. Les enseignants
turcs sont choisis pour leurs qualités, leur compétence spécifique, leur compétence
en anglais et leur connaissance du mouvement.
La réussite est au centre des missions des écoles ouvertes par le mouvement. Elles
sont très sélectives et favorisent l’esprit de compétition entre les élèves. L’objectif, la
mission, est de les préparer à l’université et aux olympiades scientifiques. Comme l’a
souligné si justement Bayram Balcı, ces établissements sont à l’image des copies des
Anadolu Liseleri (« Lycées anatoliens », dont l’anglais est la langue d’enseignement)
et des Fen Liseleri (« Lycées scientifiques ») de Turquie. Les écoles organisent un
concours régional afin de sélectionner les meilleurs élèves. L’enseignement se fait en
anglais. Balcı donne les détails du fonctionnement du système scolaire des écoles ouvertes en Asie Centrale (Balcı 2003 :160-172). Fort de leur orientation et de la qualité de leur enseignement, ces écoles offrent une meilleure préparation pour l’entrée à
l’université. Les matières les plus importantes sont constituées par les sciences dures.
Les élèves y acquièrent globalement une bonne compétence linguistique, une solide
culture générale et un niveau très élevé en mathématiques. L’enseignement en anglais
contribue au succès des écoles turques. Cet aspect et la qualité de l’enseignement
expliquent l’engouement des parents pour les écoles du mouvement.
Les écoles appliquent des frais de scolarité compris entre 1 000 et 3 000 dollars,
frais qui varient en fonction de la situation sociale de l’élève (rabais sur critères sociaux) et la situation économique du pays. Lorsque la situation financière des parents
est précaire, les entreprises proches du mouvement financent les écoles, pourvoyant
à l’ensemble de leurs besoins. Puis les entreprises sont encouragées à investir dans
la région. Ils créent des contacts avec les sociétés d’accueil à travers la référence aux
écoles présentes dans la région (Özdalga 2000). Les petits commerçants gagnent par
Hizmet en Afrique
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là la confiance grâce laquelle ils vont pouvoir effectuer des investissements. Il y a
également une connexion entre le monde économique et le monde éducatif : ainsi,
nombreux sont les hommes d’affaires turcs qui contribuent au financement de ces
écoles lors même qu’ils n’appartiennent pas au mouvement. Les diplômés issus de ces
écoles disposent d’un excellent niveau scolaire et connaissent, outre la langue locale,
le turc, le français, l’arabe ou l’anglais : ils constituent ainsi un vivier de compétences
au sein duquel puisent naturellement les entreprises turques présentes. La création
d’une première école est ordinairement suivie d’autres, qui aboutissent à la constitution de groupes scolaires intégrés dans le tissu social.
Par exemple, au Sénégal, il y existe sept écoles du mouvement, au sein desquelles
1 200 élèves sont scolarisés. Le plus grand, qui se trouve à Dakar, a ouvert ses portes
en 1997 ; il comporte une école primaire, un collège et un lycée. Lors de notre visite
des nouveaux bâtiments du lycée de Dakar, des hommes d’affaires venus des quatre
coins de la Turquie étaient déjà présents. Implantées en 1997, les écoles promeuvent
le dialogue entre la culture turque et la culture sénégalaise. Elles invitent les hommes
d’affaires à investir au Sénégal, et organisent chaque année des voyages scolaires dans
les villes de Turquie afin de faire connaître la culture, les coutumes et traditions turques et pour permettre, réciproquement, aux Turcs de faire connaissance avec leurs
coreligionnaires sénégalais.
Comme dans les autres établissements fondés par des proches du mouvement,
les écoles Yavuz Selim sélectionnent les élèves à l’issue d’un examen d’entrée. Cette
sélection, de même que la qualité de l’enseignement dispensé, le choix d’une langue
internationale comme langue d’enseignement, mais aussi l’aspect simplement matériel (immeubles neufs, laboratoires, manuels) sont de nature à séduire des parents
souvent exigeants. L’intérêt pour le mouvement Gülen a ainsi été à l’origine d’un
colloque sur le Hizmet organisé au Sénégal en 2013. Si les écoles sont autofinancées, les nouveaux projets comme l’ouverture d’un nouvel établissement sont pris en
charge par les hommes d’affaires turcs installés sur place. Ce soutien, qui n’est pas
seulement financier mais également social, permet ainsi la d’assurer la gestion financière d’une école, conçue à la fois comme projet éducatif et projet humanitaire. Par
l’intermédiaire des associations locales d’hommes d’affaires présentes en Turquie, les
écoles trouvent des aides qui répondent aux besoins formulés.
Si l’on observe des disparités au plan de la méthodologie et de la pédagogie
des écoles du mouvement, ces dernières suivent néanmoins les mêmes modalités
d’ouverture, de gestion et de mission. Cette forme de mimétisme est un phénomène
qui ne se limite pas au seul plan du personnel enseignant, mais concerne plus généralement les institutions : financement, relation avec le monde économique, référence à la Turquie, type d’enseignement, offices, traitement des questions liées à la
religion-culture. Les écoles ouvertes dans divers pays ont adopté les systèmes préexistants, améliorés localement par le biais de méthodes, qui, du reste, ne dérogent en
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rien aux principes éducatifs généraux du mouvement (Aslandoğan & Çetin 2007 ;
Agai 2003). Toutefois, on ne peut parler d’une méthode proprement gülénienne. Ce
mimétisme renforce l’idée que les écoles se sont multipliées en Afrique durant les
cinq dernières années selon une stratégie visant à transplanter un même projet éducatif, avec une collaboration étroite entre pays voisins et un fort lien avec le monde
économique. Les expériences communes expliquent aussi ces similitudes renforcées
par l’intervention d’hommes d’affaires qui partagent leur moyens d’entreprise en
contexte africain. La référence à la Turquie, à sa culture et à sa civilisation est ici essentielle pour montrer sur quelle base identitaire les écoles du mouvement fonctionnent.
Balcı souligne à cet égard l’importance du rôle de la turcité dans la définition donnée à l’islam et à l’éducation. Il voit ainsi dans les enseignants engagé dans ces écoles à
l’étranger de véritables « hussards de la turcité ». Aussi bien durant la première phase,
qui a vu l’émergence des écoles Hizmet en Turquie, en Russie et dans les ex-républiques soviétiques, que dans la deuxième, qui correspond à leur développement, la
turcité est placée au premier plan. Mais après l’ouverture vers d’autres pays, en Afrique, dans le Pacifique ou aux États-Unis, qui correspond à une troisième phase, ce
caractère s’atténue, même si les écoles conservent l’enseignement de la langue turque,
ainsi que des symboles de la turcité, tels que le drapeau et l’hymne national, avec
toutefois une volonté marquée de s’adapter à la spécificité de la culture locale, dans
une optique de symbiose. Ainsi à Dakar, où l’enseignant que nous avons interrogé
connaissait particulièrement bien la culture locale, les coutumes sénégalaises et la
forme particulière que revêt l’islam dans ce pays rendent plus aisé une acclimatation
de l’identité et de la conscience turques.8 Les écoles témoignent ainsi de l’évolution
de cette conception de l’éducation basée sur l’islam et la turcité vers une ouverture
globale. Au sein de ce processus, la transformation opérée remet en cause au moins
partiellement la turcité. La tension entre ces deux nécessités, entre le global et le local,
s’accroissent de manière graduelle de sorte que les écoles transmettent, adaptent et
échangent réciproquement les cultures en arguant de la nécessité de l’expérience historique et de la complexité des rapports sociaux croissants. Cette dynamique transfrontière est également liée aux relations avec le pouvoir et au positionnement du
mouvement Hizmet dans le processus d’implication au sein du tissu social. Dans
certains cas, les pratiques de ces acteurs globaux développent une sorte d’identité
transnationale qui n’est pas sans limites (Glick-Schiller 1997). La dynamique de
mobilisation du mouvement est à comprendre à la lumière de cette expansion des
réseaux éducatifs à l’international.
L’assimilation des écoles du mouvement à la Turquie, devenue une sorte
d’étiquette, réfère à une politique univoque des établissements scolaires du mouvement : une sorte de « soft diplomatie culturelle » mise en œuvre au travers de la formation d’une élite locale. Cette dernière connaît ainsi la culture et l’histoire turques
à travers notamment les excursions organisées par les groupes scolaires. Ainsi au sein
Hizmet en Afrique
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des groupes scolaires Yavuz Selim à Dakar et Şafak à Kinshasa, les élèves découvrentils la civilisation ottomane et plus largement turque par le biais d’images et de noms
affichés sur les murs et les portes; ce cadre matériel leur permet d’élaborer en toute
liberté un lien avec la Turquie. La mise en scène des images liées à la Turquie et celle,
plus générale, de la formulation de l’identité turque créent un environnement dans
lequel les élèves se familiarisent avec la Turquie. Et de même que cette présence symbolique est amplifiée par la réputation des écoles du mouvement, le succès, notamment économique, de la Turquie fonctionne ici comme un atout de la diplomatie
turque dans la région (Agai 2003 ; Balcı 2003). L’Etat turc est généralement favorable à l’ouverture du mouvement à l’international et considère les écoles ouvertes par
les proches du mouvement comme des écoles turques, comme une exportation du
modèle turc (Turam 2004). Jusqu’à une date récente, le mouvement définissait ces
écoles comme des écoles turques. Néanmoins, depuis quelques années le lien entre
les écoles et le mouvement est délibérément souligné dans les conférences sur la pensée de Fethullah Gülen organisées au Nigeria et Sénégal.
Le réseau des écoles est dans une double logique de former une élite nationale d’une part, et, de l’autre, d’aider les élèves socialement défavorisés. Les établissements tentent ainsi de répondre aux exigences de la politique sociale en distribuant des bourses selon des critères sociaux et de réussite. La création des écoles
et l’investissement dans le domaine de l’éducation fait naître ainsi une nouvelle élite
inspirée des valeurs portées par le mouvement.
Aide humanitaire
La nouvelle dialectique adoptée par les acteurs transnationaux ne peut pas être
analysée dans le contexte national. Les formes évidentes et conventionnelles d’une
telle activité sont les ONG internationales. Leur nombre a rapidement augmenté ces
dernières années. Les ONG créent des espaces alternatifs pour réclamer des droits,
des besoins spécifiques, des politiques non conventionnelles. Les zones où les ONG
sont impliquées deviennent, de par cette activité même, des zones transfrontières.
Ces dernières années, l’aide humanitaire prend en effet au sein du mouvement
une ampleur internationale. Le développement d’entreprises turques sur le sol africain engendre en retour de nouvelles initiatives du mouvement, à caractère social
cette fois-ci, comme la construction d’hôpitaux et l’organisation de missions d’aide
humanitaire. A cet égard, la plus grande structure à avoir vu le jour a été créée des
membres bénévoles du mouvement, avec pour but de pouvoir intervenir dans des
zones touchées par la famine. C’est en effet sous ces auspices qu’a été fondée en 2002
l’association humanitaire Kimse Yok Mu9, avec pour objectif de combattre la pauvreté. Organisation en forte croissance, Kimse Yok Mu est liée à l’émission télévisée
éponyme sur Samanyolu TV, qui s’attelle à faire prendre conscience au téléspectateur
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de la situation critique de ces « gens qui n’ont pas eu de chance et qui sont dans le
besoin, malheureux et désespérés ». Le titre, Kimse Yok Mu, est une expression turque qui signifie « N’y a-t-il personne pour s’en soucier ? ». Le succès de l’émission
entraîna la création de l’association, devenue désormais, pour le mouvement Gülen,
la structure principale en matière d’aide et de secours humanitaires (Michel 2012).
Au regard des reportages solidement documentés sur les écoles et les centres pour le
dialogue gérés par des membres ou des sympathisants du mouvement, la littérature
relative à la lutte contre la pauvreté semble indigent, alors que c’est peut-être là, pour
les sociétés modernes, l’ennemi le plus important, identifié en tant que tel par Said
Nursi à l’orée du siècle dernier déjà (Michel 2012).
La démarche humanitaire du mouvement se cristallise autour de la lutte contre
la famine. Elle vise notamment à développer des projets socio-éducatifs destinés à
répondre à des questions urgentes comme la sècheresse, la pauvreté, les maladies.
Les aides s’étendent également aux victimes de guerre et de catastrophes naturelles,
et plus largement à toute personne victime d’un sinistre ou de violences liées à un
conflit armé. L’action du mouvement consiste en l’espèce à prodiguer des soins, à
distribuer une aide matérielle, et à placer les orphelins.
A partir de 2007, Kimse Yok Mu orienta ses programmes d’aide vers l’Afrique et
les zones de conflits. Durant les années 2010, les principaux pays bénéficiaires étaient
la Tanzanie, la Somalie et le Soudan. Après avoir œuvré dans un premier temps en
Ethiopie et au Kenya, l’association est aujourd’hui présente aux côtés des populations
du Niger, de l’Ouganda, de la République centrafricaine, du Cameroun, du Sénégal,
de la Guinée, du Congo, du Burkina Faso, du Tchad, du Togo, du Ghana, du Libéria, de Madagascar, du Bénin et de la Mauritanie. Enfin, depuis mars 2006, Kimse
Yok Mu mène une campagne spéciale au Soudan, en faveur du Darfour.
Avec une association des médecins, ils développent des stratégies de lutte contre
le paludisme, en collaboration avec des écoles établies en Tanzanie. Trente médecins
ont ainsi fait le voyage depuis la Turquie, apportant avec eux le matériel sanitaire
nécessaire à l’opération. La population locale a ainsi pu bénéficier d’examens médicaux, mais aussi d’opérations chirurgicales, qui ont été réalisées au sein de l’hôpital
national de Muhimbili, dans la capitale tanzanienne. En 2012, au Niger, face à la persistance de la sècheresse, les responsables des écoles turques font appel aux entrepreneurs et humanitaires turcs qui prennent en charge la construction de puits artésiens,
véritables réservoirs d’eau pour la population locale. Le forage et l’installation des
pompes sont effectués par des entreprises turques en collaboration avec l’association
humanitaire Kimse Yok Mu. Au Congo, l’association Şafak (Aube), qui à l’origine des
écoles du même nom à Kinshasa, met en place divers projets d’aide humanitaire,
dont notamment la distribution d’aide alimentaire à destination des populations
nécessiteuses. Aube œuvre actuellement à la création d’un hôpital dans la capitale, où
une forte population souffre de problèmes sanitaires. Dans le cadre de ce projet, des
Hizmet en Afrique
85
médecins originaires de la ville turque d’Adana se sont mobilisés pour distribuer des
médicaments, mais aussi pour examiner les malades (15 000 patients examinés à ce
jour). Comme le montrent ces exemples, les écoles ne fonctionnent pas uniquement
comme des établissements scolaires classiques, mais servent également de point de
distribution pour les aides, et plus généralement de points de rencontre. Les fêtes religieuses constituent également des occasions pour la mise en œuvre d’aides ici aussi
abritées par les écoles du mouvement ; sont ainsi distribués des repas chauds durant
le mois de Ramadan, ainsi que des paquets de viande lors de la fête du Sacrifice (Aïd
al-kabir).
L’association est également à l’origine de projets de forages de puits, au total 383
sur l’ensemble du continent, dont 109 sont d’ores et déjà en cours de réalisation dans
5 pays.
Dans le cadre de ses projets d’aide sanitaire, Kimse Yok Mu mobilise ses membres
et sympathisants en Turquie afin de construire des hôpitaux dans divers pays du
continent : au Kenya (Malindi ; capacité de 22 lits), en Ouganda (Jinja ; 24 lits), en
Ethiopie (Harar ; 26 lits), ainsi qu’en Somalie (Mogadiscio ; 60 lits).10
L’association a par ailleurs sollicité le concours de plus de 300 médecins qui ont
effectué bénévolement des examens médicaux au bénéfice de populations nécessiteuses dans sept pays africains. Enfin, près de 14 000 patients au Soudan, au Tchad,
au Cameroun, au Niger et en République centrafricaine ont pu bénéficier gracieusement d’une opération de la cataracte.11
Islam : la quête entrepreneuriale
Il convient de souligner ici d’emblée que l’islam s’inscrit dans l’espace non-dit
dans les activités éducatives, économiques et caritatives du mouvement. La circulation des hommes et des idées a permis aux communautés musulmanes locales de faire
connaître de nouvelles idées et pratiques venant de Turquie, ainsi que l’islam sous sa
forme turque.
Balcı souligne que les résultats de son enquête montrent que les motivations des
enseignants et responsables des établissements scolaires du mouvement en Asie centrale relèvent de l’esprit missionnaire (Balcı 2003: 219. Le terme ne semble pas absolument approprié s’il s’agit de dire que les écoles ont pour mission un prosélytisme
indirect, – la conversion est la finalité de tout prosélytisme, et le définit comme tel.
Et si on ne peut guère parler de prosélytisme ici, fût-il ouvert, il ne saurait être pertinent de chercher une connexion entre Hizmet et islamisation. Il existe un tropisme
académique qui convoque l’islamisation et la relative missionnaire quand les initiatives appréhendées sont le fait de musulmans. Soares et Osella proposent à travers le
concept d’islam mondain (Soares & Osella 2009)12 une approche anthropologique al-
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ternative qui rompt avec l’association, ailleurs posées, entre islamisme non-politique
et islamisation de la société à travers des pratiques et des micro-pratiques quotidiennes. Les auteurs développent notamment l’idée selon laquelle la notion d’islam
mondain n’est pas seulement compatible avec la modernité dans sa production et
sa participation, mais aussi que cette compréhension spécifique de l’islam rejoint le
pragmatisme d’une économie néolibérale (Otayek and Soares 2007).
Dans cette optique, le mouvement, – qui opère en Afrique dans deux domaines
importants : l’économie et l’éducation – contribue à une plus grande participation des musulmans dans la production de la modernité, dans le cadre du marché
néolibéral. Ce sont des musulmans mondains qui agissent dans le monde séculier,
animés par une motivation et une inspiration d’essence religieuse. C’est la pratique
quotidienne qui s’inscrit dans la vie d’un musulman ordinaire, qui croit en Dieu et
pratique un culte. Le caractère performatif de la croyance aboutit ici, non pas à un
projet islamiste, mais à des actes mondains (à des projets et des réalisations en faveur
d’autrui). Le momentum se tourne d’ailleurs vers une mobilité ascendante qui se
nourrit d’un « islam proactif, ouvert et accusant une orientation économique marquée » (Haenni 2005 :9). Dans ce momentum, les gens du mouvement sont partie
prenante dans la circulation des individus, des biens et des idées. Cette flexibilité
de circulation des idées, du capital, des hommes et des femmes contribue à la haute
mobilité des membres du mouvement, tout comme des projets éducatifs, économiques et religieux au sein de l’espace africain. Cette mobilité intrinsèquement liée à
la modernité nous permet de mieux repenser la problématique de l’islam et de l’êtremusulman dans l’espace public.
Dans le cas des écoles du mouvement, des concepts tels qu’islamisation, langage
islamiste, réforme et post-islamisme se révèlent non pertinents pour rendre compte
de la présence et de l’action des membres du mouvement Hizmet en Afrique. Les
concepts qui au contraire permettent de cerner au mieux le phénomène relèvent
d’un champ « a-islamiste » qui, de ce fait, remet en cause le discours de l’islamisation
parmi les musulmans. C’est précisément ce qui explique la différence radicale qui
existe avec des mouvements islamistes comme la communauté Tabligh en Europe,
qui, elle, vise l’islamisation des non-musulmans. Dans le cas de Hizmet, il s’agit au
contraire de préserver et d’approfondir sa foi en s’acquittant de ses obligations religieuses (morales) dans la vie séculière, selon un mode que Marty qualifie de « religioséculier » (Marty 2003). Les élèves et les parents choisissent les écoles du mouvement
pour des raisons diverses, et parfois aussi simples que la réussite scolaire. Les gens
œuvrent avec le mouvement parce que, sur un plan pragmatique, ils cherchent des
solutions simples à des problèmes socio-économiques, et que, sur un plan moral,
leurs motivations sont aussi d’ordre civique. Il s’agit d’une représentation de la moralité basée sur des valeurs humaines. Les manuels scolaires et le contenu des cours
sont d’ailleurs exempts de tout contenu religieux. Kömeçoğlu interprète ce comportement qui exclut délibérément la référence au discours religieux comme inscrivant
Hizmet en Afrique
87
le religieux dans le champ du non-dit, de la doxa dont parlait Bourdieu (Kömeçoğlu
2000 :170). Les enseignants n’ont pas directement recours à la religion, leur discours
n’est pas religieux, mais la moralité de leurs actions et de leur comportement l’est ;
consciemment ou inconsciemment les élèves en viennent à imitent le modèle qui
leur est donné. Cette méthode de transmission des valeurs postule que l’exemplarité
et l’imaginaire social qu’elle crée sont des vecteurs autrement plus efficaces que les
cours et les discours. Ce langage spécifique d’essence religieuse ne s’appuie pas sur les
mots, mais s’incarne dans la pratique de valeurs universelles (Tittensor 2014). Selon
Özdalga, l’objectif principal de ce type d’éducation est de donner aux élèves une
bonne éducation sans pour autant leur inculquer une idéologie spécifique (Özdalga
2000). Le caractère distinctif du mouvement, c’est la réussite de ses écoles. Le mouvement avance vers une éthique (Agai 2003) plutôt intramondaine présente dans le
discours de Gülen, comme dans celui des autres membres du mouvement. Ainsi,
pour les enseignants des écoles du mouvement, les élèves apprennent, en dernière
analyse, à devenir des citoyens responsables. Les valeurs éthiques ne sont donc pas
transmises à travers la persuasion et l’imposition de dogmes, mais par l’exemplarité
de la vie de tous les jours, dans la façon de travailler, de se comporter, c’est-à-dire
dans leur conduite quotidienne (Özdalga 2000).
Conclusion
La forme propagée par les membres du mouvement relève d’un mode entrepreneurial (Haenni 2005) qui se concrétise dans des projets mobilisant des ressources
éducatives-économiques et ne réclamant aucun programme politique ultérieur. Cette
quête entrepreneuriale suggère de nouveaux modes d’action et de répertoire, pour
reprendre Charles Tilly (1978). Elle insiste sur la compatibilité de la religion et de
la science moderne, et sur l’idée d’un être-musulman évoluant dans un espace séculier et qui, loin de vouloir affecter la forme du régime politique en place, inscrit
au contraire son action dans le cadre qui lui est offert. Comme l’a suggérée Bayat
pour les mouvements sociaux modernes (Bayat 2007), l’hétérogénéité des acteurs et
des activités dans le mouvement Gülen se trouve ventilée dans la fluidité de la vie
quotidienne et cette politique de la vie quotidienne (de Certeau 1994 ; Bayat 2010)
façonne elle-même le positionnement du mouvement. Les pratiques économiqueséducatives et humanitaires transnationales ne sont ni libératrices, ni subversives,
mais elles forment des structures, des modèles alternatifs (Glick-Schiller 1997 :160).
L’orientation du mouvement est très mobile. Le mouvement est constamment en
négociation avec l’évolution des conditions et les changements sociaux. La référence
mixte au patriotisme-libéralisme et au piétisme montre qu’il s’agit de la fabrication
d’un nouveau discours chez les activistes du mouvement, d’un discours au référentiel
double dont la nouveauté témoigne de la transformation d’un mouvement transnational qui utilise des repères locaux et globaux dans l’élaboration et la mise en œuvre
de ses activités tant éducatives qu’économiques.
88
NOTES
1 Fondée en Turquie en 1994, la Fondation des journalistes et écrivains (The Journalists
and Writers Foundation, JWF) est une organisation non gouvernementale dotée du statut
consultatif général auprès du Conseil économique et social des Nations Unies (ECOSOC).
2 Sur ce point, il sera intéressant de comparer le mouvement en Europe et dans le monde
musulman. Çelik, J. Leman & K. Steenbrink (2015), Weller P. & Yilmaz I. éds (2012),
Barton G., Weller P. & Yılmaz I. éds (2013).
3 Une idée chère à Said Nursi, père fondateur du mouvement Nourju, et l’un des savants
musulmans qui a le plus influencé la pensée de Fethullah Gülen. Cf. Ş. MARDIN (1989).
4 Cf. M. WEBER (1985 ; 1990). J’utilise les concepts de Weber pour expliquer cette
rationalisation au sein de l’économie et le phénomène lié de l’émergence d’un nouvel
entrepreneuriat turc. Le premier ouvrage constitue à cet égard ma référence principale. J’ai
par ailleurs eu recours à certaines notions développées par Colliot-Thelene dans ses analyses
de Weber sur des sujets qui se trouvent être liés à ma problématique. Cf. COLLIOT-THELENE C. (2001).
5 Le travail de Göle nous procure des nouvelles pistes afin de clarifier les conflits politiques
et sociaux au sein de la bourgeoisie turque dans la modernisation.
6 www.tuskon.org.
7 Interview d’un responsable de TUSKON.
8 Interview d’un enseignant dans un collège à Dakar, février 2013. On ne dispose pas à
ce jour d’une étude sur la répartition socioprofessionnelle des parents dont les enfants sont
inscrits dans ces établissements.
9 Association d’aide et de solidarité Kimse Yok Mu (www.kimseyokmu.org.tr/en/).
10http://www.kimseyokmu.org.tr/?p=content&gl=kampanya&cl=bolgesel_
kampanyalar&i=3502, consulté le 20/X/2013.
11 http://www.kimseyokmu.org.tr/?p=content&gl=haberler&cl=yurtdisi&i=3415>,
consulté le 20/X/2013.
12 Ils suggèrent que les concepts de « struggle, ambivalence, incoherence [et] failure »
soient introduits dans les études sur l’Islam contemporain afin que l’on puisse disposer
d’une plus ample description des musulmans et de leur pratique quotidienne.
Hizmet en Afrique
89
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Book Review and Notes
BOOK REVIEWS
Renewing Islam by Service: A Christian View of Fethullah Gülen and the
Hizmet Movement; Pim Valkenberg;
2015; The Catholic University of America Press, 394 pp.; ISBN : 978-0-81322755-9
The subject matter of this book in focus is of a theological nature: the divine
source of the Hizmet Movement. One
of the main questions answered is how
religion and religious ideals stemming
from Islamic values are implemented
and circulated in public life. It is a not
a biography of Gülen or the description
of the movement. The central attention
is given to the divine inspiration, but at
the same time besides this theological
approach, a sociological and historical
approach are also taken into consideration during the explanation of the
Movement and Gülen’s idea on education, dialogue and charity. Pim Valkenberg, professor of theology and religious
studies at The Catholic University of
America, introduces the readers the context within which the life and work of
Gülen need to be placed in order to be
properly understood: the development
of Turkey through the secularization,
an experiment with AKP (Development
and Justice Party) and the recent tensions between the government and the
Movement. In a chapter, the focus is on
the main fields in which it operates and
performs services: education, dialogue
and charity. He discussed the structural
organization of the movement, the financial aspect and resources, its media
outlets. He also pays attention to different networks in Hizmet. He shows that
93
how the activities of the Hizmet movement are connected with Gülen’s analysis
of the root causes of diseases of modern
society : poverty, ignorance and disunity
borrowed from Said Nursi. According to
Nursi, these are defined as three basic enemies of the humanity and also Muslims
have to fight with these in order to have
a just society.
The book also focuses on the modern-traditional-conservative character
of the Movement. It is an interesting
point to see how Gülen’s political outlook became quite liberal, emphasizing
democracy, freedom of the press, individual-collective rights. In his writings
and speeches, this openness started to include western values and other religions
as well. The notions of dialogue, peace
and tolerance between religions, cultures
and civilizations became more and more
central dimension of Gülen’s messages.
This combination of traditional Muslim
spirituality and modern Western values
explains the great attraction of the movement that Gülen inspired from many socially and economically prominent persons in Turkey.
Some notions such as altruism, asceticism, simplicity, living for others, living
together are cross religious borders. The
aim of the book is to show these crossing boundaries in Islam and Christianity. Before this comparison, the author
goes into details in Islamic tradition to
see where the Movement stands on. For
him, the movement is not only faith inspired movement, at the same time the
activities, the mission, the motivations
are faith based. The faith is at the central
of the Movement. People in the movement are solidly rooted in their own Islamic tradition. As an example, he draws
94
attention to two notions: pleasing God
by serving humankind (rıza-i ilahi) and
religious conversations (sohbetler). The
goal of seeking God’s pleasure is very
present in the Movement among the
participants. For Valkenberg, it is not a
personal engagement, but also for the
people involved in the movement it is
the finality, so the inspiration cannot
explain all of the engagements. One of
the forms of religious discourses is the
sohbets in which students receive instruction and basic knowledge on ethical codes and some Islamic texts. These
semi-religious gatherings function as a
source of spiritual renewal. He argues
that the idea of serving humankind is
Gülen’s core motivation and the three
fields of education, dialogue and charity
services in the Hizmet are essential for
the right understanding of the Movement. These notions lead to the specific issue of the character of the Hizmet
Movement. Valkenberg depicts many Islamic notions, concepts in the discourses
and life of people in the Movement.
He thinks that faith is not just a kind
of motivation and inspiration; it is more
than just a personal motivation. Faith is
the explanation of the self-committed
people’s thoughts on social religious issues. It is one of the root dynamics of
the Movement. In the main time, this
argument calls the question of secularity
post-secularity turn that has highlighted
at the intersection of esoteric-exoteric
language. While the esoteric discourse
is religious oriented, the exoteric has a
wider scope and semi-secular. Inside, the
core element is very religious, and this
core religious inspiration and motivation
is expected to be manifested as religious
in the public sphere.
Therefore, I think it is useful to use
the concept of religio-secular that a
combination of both religious and secular phenomena occurring especially in
public life. So, the secular outlook and
faith neutral manifestation does not
contradict with the religious purpose of
the people in the movement. It seems
very paradoxical that religious and secular go hand in hand in this context. For
Valkenberg, this may be understood as
having two different languages; esoteric
and exoteric. In the religio-secular perspective, the insider language overlaps
with outsider one. The outlook is manifested secular or/and religious. Recently,
many experts especially sociologists and
anthropologists have marshalled data
demonstrating the combination of secular-religious. So, the activities of the
Movement may expand the esoteric-exoteric or in other terms religious-secular
borders.
ERKAN TOĞUŞLU
KU Leuven (Belgium)
The Republic Unsettled: Muslim
French and the Contradictions of
Secularism; Mayanti Fernando,
Duke University Press, 2014; 328
pp.; ISBN: 978-0822357483
This monograph is an anthropological study that was conducted with pious
Muslim women living in France, notably
Paris. The book gives the reader detailed
ethnographic data from interviews with
the women whom the research focuses
on. The research was conducted between 2002 and 2004.
Fernando takes the 1989 headscarf
affair of France as a starting point to
understand how the practicing Muslim population in France “disrupts” the
secular (laic) imaginary of the republic.
Her claim is that the book has a different
approach to the matter in that from the
perspective of her interlocutors, pious
Muslim French citizens of North African
background, and how they deconstruct
established social and political narratives
and acknowledge the problems and contradictions that underlie these narratives.
Fernando asserts that her interlocutors
are aware that these narratives do not follow a certain historical linearity and are
the production of specific contextual factors. In summary, the main objective of
the book is to dialogically study Muslim
politics, ethics and social life in France
in relation to French secularity and how
this relationship is reflected as a new
Muslim subjectivity.
Fernando takes the issue in several
steps. First, she looks at how French institutions structure secularity and enable
its continuation somehow in discrepancy with Muslim daily life. Then, she
discusses how secularism or French laicite in itself has problems of not being
concise, fluid and changing. In relation
to this, she describes how these contradictions within laicite are reflected on
the Muslim French population. Finally
the mutual existence of secularism and
republicanism as two bodies reaffirming
one another happens to be amid the existing contradictions.
The book defines the young Muslims
in question as part of the Islamic revival
movement. This entails that they actively seek knowledge and information on
their religion to live it more consciously
and in their terms correctly as opposed
95
to the former generations who lived religion culturally as they had seen from
their community.
The dilemma these young Muslims
experience is that the state draws the line
as to where it is appropriate to express
religion and where it is appropriate not
to. This line defines what is religious and
what is secular. In contrast, the knowledge seeking Muslim youth, who want to
practice their religion in some cases blur
the spaces that are designated as secular
or religious. The 1989 headscarf issue is
given as a good example to this conflict.
The French-Maghrebi girls who want
to attend school with their headscarves
cause a controversy because schools are
defined as secular spaces by the state and
the headscarf is regarded as a form of religious expression, something that needs
to be confined to the private sphere. The
debates surrounding this case are discussed lengthily in the book.
The books argues the “us” and “them”
dichotomy is created by this secular and
republican discourse. Referring to Talal
Asad the book acknowledges religion
to be defined as a system of human belief that is quite different from science,
politics and common sense. Hence, religion is categorized as separate from the
domains of life that require these three
elements. But the religion in question in
the early modern ages of Europe, when
this was considered was Christianity. The
debate concerning the public visibility of
Islam and Muslims today is a consideration of whether Islam, like Christianity
can be secularized and categorized out of
the public sphere and as a private belief
system. This means that Muslims are to
disappear from the public sphere. “Visible” Muslims, on the other hand, are
96
designated as the “other”.
It suggests that by designating the
republican French values as the ultimate
best way of being in terms of progressiveness, this discourse inevitably pushes
anything that does not comply into the
category of the “other”. The other, in
turn, is faced with the duty to conform
to republican discourse. This phenomenon has been discussed deeply in other
works, but what this book offers is the
other’s perspective.
This study goes into how the practitioners of the Islamic revival try to
comply Islamic values with the republican values. Fernando explains that her
interlocutors deem some practices, like
female circumcision as backward and
un-Islamic. They grapple to “Islamically” explain how these practices are not
religious but culturally embedded in religion. By doing this they also reinforce
the category of what is universally acceptable and what is not. Hence by picking out so to speak backward elements
that are in Islam they try to re-situate the
religion into a universal frame.
Trying to embed Islamic norms into
a universal frame, Fernando’s interlocutors demonstrate their desire to be part
of the society. While on the one hand
the laic-republican argument on whether
Islam is compatible with its values, the
Muslim youth on the other hand strive
for their legal and political recognition
on the State’s part and want to actively
participate in social and political matters. These dynamics between the state
discourse and Muslim’s aims reconfigure the normative national citizenship
model.
The young Muslim women interviewed by Fernando both recognize that
they are autonomous beings with the capacity to own their own life and are also
willing to submit to God’s commands by
fasting and veiling etc. They link their
autonomous will to the will of God, thus
social and religious norms do not hinder
their authority on their lives but are actually a way to achieve it.
This understanding that one can submit to God and at the same time own
their agency as a participating citizen is
how the young Muslim women in Paris
reconfigure the normative citizenship
model. Consequently, referring back
to the 1989 headscarf issue this emerging Muslim youth do not see the headscarf as a violation of the secular public
sphere. Instead they see it as their right
by citizenship, self-expression and their
contribution to society.
“The Republic Unsettled” consists of
six chapters, which question the normativity of certain given concepts like race,
religious visibility, citizenship, secularism, culture, politics and authority. Although the headscarf affair and the visibility of Muslims in Europe have been
a much studied topic Fernando brings a
different spring to the topic by questioning these normative values. The book
indicates the discontinuity and instability of these concepts throughout history
and dynamics between them. By giving
a detailed ethnographic account of her
interlocutors Fernando gives voice to the
“minority”, and provides a micro level
approach to the long debated issue. She
not only critically engages with the concepts mentioned above but also with the
imaginations of her interlocutors, which
she sometimes finds that reinforces the
republican project. M. REYHAN KAYIKCI
KU Leuven
Major Themes of the Qur’an; Fazlur Rahman; The University of Chicago Press, 2009; 208 pp; ISBN: 978
0226702865
Fazlur Rahman is a well-known
scholar with a great influence in both
western and traditional (Muslim) circles. His thoughts such as “the Prophet
Muhammad as a socio-economical revolutionary” or his “Islamic hermeneutics/
usage of western hermeneutic methodology on Islamic religious sciences” received much attention and created new
insights. His book Major Themes of the
Qur’an had a very similar impact. This
book is divided in eight chapters. In
the introduction, Fazlur Rahman gave
a brief explanation of the basic idea of
this work namely, to present or reveal the
Qur’ânic doctrine -in a systematic wayto the topics in the Qur’ânic text: God,
Man as individual/in society, nature,
prophethood and revelation, eschatology, Satan and evil and finally the Muslim
Community. Aside from the purpose of
the work, he also gave a short explanation about the modern Western writing
on the Qur’ân referring to the history of
Qur’ânic translations (Arberry, Pickthall
and Yûsuf ‘Ali) and the Western literature regarding the sources and meaning
of the Qur’ân in three categories: (1)
works that seek to trace the influence of
Jewish or Christian ideas on the Qur’ân;
(2) works that attempt to reconstruct the
chronological order of the Qur’ân; and
(3) works that aim at describing the content of the Qur’ân, either the whole or
certain aspects. And works of NöldekeSchwally, Ignaz Goldziher, Richard Bell,
John Wansbrough and T.Izutsu fall into
the last category. On the other hand he
describes two problems of Muslim scholarship: (1) lack of a genuine quest for the
97
relevance of the Qur’ān today, which
prevents presentation in terms adequate
to the needs of contemporary man; (2) a
fear that such a presentation might deviate on some points from traditionally received opinions. Fazlur Rahman emphasizes that latter is inevitable and it must
be undertaken in order to confront the
problems that the Muslim community
is dealing with. We can define his methodology or historicism as the historical contextualization of Qur’ânic verses
as an element in order to establish the
meaning of historical events. The aim is
to search for a link between the historical
meaning of Qur’ânic verses and historical events. Despite the environmental/
historical setting of the Qur’ânic verses,
it will not lose its meaning or value. Nor
the verses will be freed from its historical context in order to adapt in every
context or time. So his approach belongs
to the full account of the historicity of
the Qur’ân. It certainly differs from the
apologetic approach of the major Muslim scholars.
I will try to summarize each chapter
in a few sentences to give a brief and
clear image.
God
Tawhîd, the necessity of one God or
the belief in and awareness of the unseen
is the main topic of the Qur’ân/revelation. In this chapter Fazlur Rahman refers to several Qur’ânic verses regarding
the attributes and characteristics in order
to explain ‘the imagination of God’ in
particular 2:3; 5:94 and 59:22-24. Furthermore, he describes the doctrine of
God as One, Originator, eternal, powerful, etc. and the frequent statements in
the Qur’ân about his attributes. He also
briefly discusses views from Greek philosophers to Hegel and the (pre-) orientalist thinkers. The most important part
98
of this chapter is clearly the warning for
(1) pantheism: suggesting that God is
everything and (2) relativism: suggesting
that God is in everything. Fazlur Rahman calls this as ‘the most attractive and
powerful of all spiritual drugs (p.11).
Especially when we say that God is concrete and that He cannot be narrowed by
interpretations or approaches that are intellectual and cultural abstractions.
Man as individual
According to Fazlur Rahman, the
Qur’ân does not endorse the doctrine of
a mind-body dualism found in the Greek
philosophy, Christianity or Hinduism
(p.12). There is not a single passage/verse
about this matter. Although it’s accepted
after al-Ghazâlî, in particular defining
al-nafs al-mutma’inna and al-lawwâma.
Next to the mind-body dualism, he refutes Biblical ideas such as the original
or ancestral sin and rejects ‘saviorship’
(p. 21). Although he emphasizes that the
Hadith literature is loaded with references, in contrast to the Qur’ân that is
clearly against intercession 2:233; 2:286
and 6:152. Next to the discussion of predestination/Qadr, Fazlur Rahman underlines the most important value stated
in the Qur’ân, namely Taqwâ: “the fear
that comes from an acute sense of responsibility, here and in the hereafter,
and not the fear of a wolf or of an uncanny tyrant, for the God of the Qur’ān
has unbounded mercy” (p.20).
Man in society
Man in society is one of the issues
emphasized by the Qur’ân. According
to Fazlur Rahman an ethical and egalitarian society or social order such as the
Muslim community is only possible with
faith and taqwa, whose aim is to command the good and forbid evil (p. 25).
Next to the social welfare, regarding the
distributive justice, wealth should not
circulate only among the rich 59:7 (p.
28). In particular the zakat is well emphasized. And finally the general equality/parity of men and women, in this case
there are examples of Muhammad’s first
wife owned a business and independent
economic personality (p. 32).
Nature
God manages the affairs of the world
from His throne, He sends down commands through angels and the Spirit and
these ascend back to Him with reports
(p.45). God created the Universe as ‘a
sign/âyât’: Qur’ânic term ‘tab’în al-âyât’
or the clarification of the signs of God (p.
50). The strongest sign in the Qur’ân is
‘sultân’ meaning that which overwhelms
without leaving any real alternative 4:90
and 59:6 (p.51). And this authority is
clearly attributed to God. Another important part of this chapter is the reason
why Muhammad did not have supranatural miracles, (1) they were out of date
and (2) revelation of 6:33-35 because
Muhammad was uneasy that miracles
were not available to him (p. 53).
Prophethood and revelation
Muhammad –like all other prophets- is a warner and giver of good tidings
and his mission is to preach constantly
and unflinchingly (p.58). Furthermore
Fazlur Rahman studies briefly the religious/spiritual experience of Muhammad, in particular the first revelation (p.
64).
Eschatology
This is the classical theme regarding
the frequently talk of the Qur’ân about
the joys of the Garden and the punishments of the Hell (cfr. God’s pleasure
exceeded His anger) (p.74). In contrast
to Muslim philosophers and other allegorists, Fazlur Rahman emphasizes the
psycho-physical effect of heaven and hell
(p.78).
Satan and Evil
This chapter discusses the principle
of (subjective and objective) evil and
personifies as Iblîs and Satan: (1) Evil
never forces nor can he force and (2) evil
leads to the destruction of the victim.
The only key to avoid this destruction is
taqwâ or the inner spiritual light (p.89).
Also the Jînn (as a creation parallel to
humankind) who disobeyed the command of God is briefly studied. He refuted the (symbolical) idea that the Satan is
something within the human being and/
or expressing bad characteristics (p.90).
Emergence of the Muslim Community
In particular Medina, Fazlur Rahman
underlines three developments that took
place in Medina such as (1) the Mosaic
Revelation is called ‘the Book of Moses’; (2) the recognition of three separate
communities namely Jews, Christians
and Muslims; (3) The Meccan terms
‘sects/ahzâb’ and ‘parties/shiya’ ’ were
replaced by (more) universal terms such
as ‘Ummah’ or ‘the People of the Book/
ahl al-Kitâb’ (p.100). And he ends this
chapter by discussing the position of the
Kâ’ba regarding the pilgrimage and the
direction of the prayer (qibla) (p. 101103).
Overall, the book is easy to follow and
understand. Rahman offers a systematic
understanding of the topics covered in
the Qur’ânic text. Also his contextual
approach as I mentioned in the introduction is original for understanding the
meaning/message of the Qur’ânic verses.
It is also important to note that he has a
holistic style and remains critical to both
orientalists and Muslim traditionalists.
M. SEFA GOREGEN
VUB
99
100
Call for Contributors
Hizmet Studies Review Issue : 4 (Spring 2016)
This issue welcomes studies from different disciplines, on radicalism and violent
extremism claiming a religious motivation in Europe and the world. The series will
examine some of the questions suggested below:
– What are the causes of homegrown violent extremism claiming an Islamic justification? What is the answer of Fethullah Gülen?
– How operative is “ideology” within the radicalization process? Where does it stand
the Hizmet movement?
– As an Islamically inspired movement, how Hizmet interprets Qur’an and Sunna to
encounter radicalization?
– What is the role of “idealism” and questions of theodicy in the radicalization
process? How people in the Movement interpret and implement this theodicy and
idealism?
– Whatever the triggers, what is the role of Islam and Islamic scholarship?
– What is Fethullah Gülen’s thelogical response to violent extremist ideology?
– What role if any doe faith-based Muslim movements and groups have in countering violent extremist narratives? What is the role of the Hizmet movement?
– How the movement preventing youth from radicalization?
The envisioned time frame for submissions is as following:
15.12.2015 – deadline for call for abstracts (about 750 words)
20.12.2015 – decision on abstracts
10.02.2016 – full paper submission
25.02 2016 – review process, feedback to authors
05.03.2016 – resubmission
Papers that cover one or more of the suggested topics above are invited. Please submit
a title and abstract of no more than 300 words, plus a name and short biography
(150 words maximum) of the presenter/s, institutional affiliation/s (if relevant), and
contact details to Merve Reyhan Kayikci ([email protected]).
101
Further Reading:
Capan, Ergun (edt), Terror and Suicide Attacks: An Islamic Perspective, Tughra
Books.
Gülen, Fethullah. Toward a Global Civilization of Love and Tolerance. Somerset, NJ:
Light, Inc.
Gülen, Fethullah. The Messenger of God: Muhammad, Tughra Books.
Keles, Özcan and İ. Mesut Sezgin, A Hizmet Approach to Rooting out Violent Extremism, Centre for Hizmet Studies, London. http://www.hizmetstudies.org/HizmetApproachtoRootingoutViolentExtremism.pdf
Kurucan, A and M Erol. Dialogue in Islam: Qur’an, Sunnah, History. London:
Dialogue Society.
Sleap, Frances and Sener, Omer. Weller, Paul, ed. Gülen on Dialogue. London:
Centre for Hizmet Studies,
Weller, Paul, and Ihsan Yılmaz. European Muslims, Civility and Public Life: Perspectives on and from the Gülen Movement. London: Continuum.
Yavuz, Hakan. Toward an Islamic Enlightenment: The Gülen Movement. New York:
Oxford University Press.
Deradicalisation by Default: The ‘Dialogue’ Approach to Rooting out Violent
Extremism, Dialogue Society.
Saritoprak, Z and Unal, A. ‘An Interview with Fethullah Gülen’. The Muslim World
vol. 95, no. 3. (Special Issue): 447–467
Unal, A and Williams, A (Eds). The Advocate of Dialogue: Fethullah Gülen. Fairfax,
Via: The Fountain.
102
103
104
Instr uctions for Authors
105
Technical guidelines
- Manuscripts are accepted in English and in French. Any consistent spelling and punctuation styles may be
used. Long quotations should be indented without quotation marks.
- Articles should be 5000–8000 words in length, unless they are Research Notes, which should be no longer
than 3000 words.
- References should follow the MLA style (MLA Handbook).
- Manuscripts should be compiled in the following order: title page; abstract; main text; acknowledgements;
references; appendices (as appropriate); table(s) with caption(s) (on individual pages); figure caption(s) (as a list).
No text should appear in the header or footer.
- Abstracts of 100–150 words are required for all manuscripts submitted.
- Articles should be typed on one side of paper, double-spaced with ample margins, and bear the title of the
contribution.
- Articles need to be ready for peer review. Therefore, there should not be any indication in the text or references, which identifies the author(s).
- Tables and figures need to be on separate sheets, not included as part of the main text. Captions should be
gathered together and typed out on a separate sheet. Tables should be numbered by Roman numerals and figures
by Arabic numerals. The approximate position of tables and figures should be indicated in the manuscript. Captions should include keys to symbols. Tables should be provided in an editable format (ideally using Word table
tool). They should not be inserted picture files.
- Name(s) of the author(s) and contact details (postal and e-mail addresses) should appear on a separate
cover sheet. Ensure that the full postal address, name, and e-mail contact of the author who will check proofs
and receive correspondence are on the front cover sheet. Please note that the e-mail address of the corresponding
author will normally be displayed in the article PDF (depending on the journal style) and the online article.
- An electronic version of the article should be sent to the Editor as an e-mail attachment.
- All correspondence regarding submissions should be sent to: Dr. Erkan Toğuşlu, Editor, Hizmet Studies
Review, Parkstraat 45, 3000 Leuven, KU Leuven, e.mail: [email protected]
- Section headings should be concise.
- Please supply a short biographical note (max 150 words) for each author.
- Please note that submissions that do not confirm to these guidelines will be returned to the author for correction and will not progress to peer review.
Research Articles; may be anywhere from 5,000 words to 8,000 words in length.
Research Notes; the journal publishes research notes of between 2,000 words to 3,500 words. These are shorter
than major articles and are restricted to straightforward presentation of initial research results. Research notes are
submitted in the same way as research articles, although authors should indicate whether their work is intended
as a research article or note.
Forum-Debate-Commentaries, no more than 1,500 words that further substantive discussion of significant
topics that may be appeared in the journal , may be published at the editor-in-chiefIs discretion.
Presentation and Submission Protocol
- Authors are expected to have checked their own papers for spelling and grammar before submission; authors
whose first language is not English are advised to engage assistance. Authors should remember that they are writing for an international audience and explain local concepts adequately.
- Papers submitted to HSR for publication should not be under review with another journal or editior of a
collection of essays and should not have been published elsewhere.
- Authors must sign a transfer of copyright form before publication.
- Authors will be kept informed regarding the process of their submission.
References should follow the Modern Language Association (MLA) system. They should be indicated in the
typescript by giving the author’s name followed by any relevant page number (Charles 219-42) or if there is more
than one author with the same name, add the first initial (T. Charles 15; B. Charles 43). The references sholud be
listed in full alphabetically at the end of the paper in the following standart form: www.hizmetreview.com
Proofs will be sent to authors if there is sufficient time to do so. They should be corrected and returned to the
editor within 48 hours. Major alterations to the text cannot be accepted.
I
106
Hizmet Studies Review (HSR) is a scholarly peer-reviewed international
journal on the Hizmet Movement. It provides interdisciplinary forum for critical research and reflection upon the development of Fethullah Gülen’s ideas
and Gülen Movement (Hizmet movement). Its aim is to publish research and
analysis that discuss Fethullah Gülen’s ideas, views and intellectual legacy
and Hizmet Movement’s wider social, cultural and educational activities. The
HSR publishes peer-reviewed articles, review essays and the journal aims to
keep readers informed with commentaries, practical notes and reviews of recently published books-articles on Hizmet Movement. We welcome theoretical papers; the case studies and fieldworks; particularly critical thoughts that
are neither hagiographic nor prejudiced but are well researched and aim to study the
subject matter. We welcome contributions from all disciplines.
HSR welcomes work covering a range of topics, and invites articles, reviews, critiques on Hizmet Movement and Gülen. This includes contributions
dealing with but not restricted to:
- Research on and analysis of Fethullah Gülen’s writings
- Gülen’s place in Islamic tradition
- Gülen’s views on a broad topics (education, dialogue, charity, citizenship, politics, science, Sufism)
- Hizmet movement’s nature and characteristics
- Comparisons with other religious-philosophical figures and movements
- Countering violence and terror
- Muslim integration in the West
- The role of women in public life and in the movement
- Charity activities
- The resolution of social, ethnic, and religious conflict
HSR appears biannually in Autumn and Spring.
HSR is edited at the KU Leuven in Belgium, at the Faculty of Social
Sciences, Gülen Chair for Intercultural Studies.

volume: 2 number: 3 autumn 2015

Transcription

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