Calling to Good: Islamic Mentoring and Guidance in a Modern World

by M. Fethullah Gülen

“Call to good and prevent wrong”― amr bil ma'ruf wa nahy an al munkar . Depending on the translations within the Qur'anic contexts, “calling to good” may be rendered as promoting the right, just, honorable, righteous behavior, and virtue; whereas “preventing wrong” is forbidding what is evil, dishonorable, and vice. The Qur'an urges believers to embrace this duty individually and collectively and praises them when they practice this obligation (Al ‘Imran 3:104, 110). This duty is meant to encourage righteous behavior and discourage immorality and aims to remove oppression from society and instead establish justice. It should, ideally, be the distinguishing trait of a Muslim community as it applies to the moral, social, political, and economic facets of life. “Calling to good and preventing wrong” can be classified as a duty in the framework of teaching others about faith ( tabligh ). Literally meaning “to reach out” or “to convey,” tabligh is directed to raise the consciousness among people about their responsibility towards religion. It disseminates knowledge about living one's faith in a principled way. Therefore, any discourse, or any act, that conveys, communicates, reminds, promotes, or publishes the teachings and commands of God to the unknowing―or to the less informed―or any discourse or act, that discourages or prevents people from being wrong, unjust, or evil, comes under the meaning of this word, tabligh . Rooted deeply in the Qur'an, hadith, and commentaries of notable scholars, the book in your hands is a precious resource to comprehend the context and dynamics that make spiritual mentoring and guidance an important part of a faithful life. The content of the book consists of transcripts of a series of sermons M. Fethullah Gülen delivered early in his career as a preacher. While presenting extensive commentary based on examples from the time of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and Rightly Guided Caliphs, Gülen does so with awareness of the realities of the modern era, especially with regards to being free from political interests and keeping the scope as wide as possible so to embrace the whole of humanity. The book supports the idea that spiritual mentoring and guidance is an important duty and highlights some principles mentors should take into consideration. While being an essential reference for mentors and counselors in the Muslim community, the book offers many universal principles that all faith communities can benefit from and refer to in their services.

182 pages, Hardcover

Published December 1, 2023

About the author

Muhammed Fethullah Gülen was a Turkish Muslim scholar, preacher, and leader of the Gülen movement who as of 2016 had millions of followers. Gülen was an influential neo-Ottomanist, Anatolian panethnicist, Islamic poet, writer, social critic, and activist–dissident developing a Nursian theological perspective that embraces democratic modernity. Gülen was a local state imam from 1959 to 1981 and he was a citizen of Turkey until his denaturalization by the Turkish government in 2017. Over the years, Gülen became a centrist political figure in Turkey prior to his being there as a fugitive. From 1999 until his death in 2024, Gülen lived in self-exile in the United States near Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania.
Gülen said his social criticisms are focused upon individuals' faith and morality and a lesser extent toward political ends, and self described as rejecting an Islamist political philosophy, advocating instead for full participation within professions, society, and political life by religious and secular individuals who profess high moral or ethical principles and who wholly support secular rule, within Muslim-majority countries and elsewhere. Gülen was described in the English-language media as an imam "who promoted a tolerant Islam which emphasises altruism, hard work, and education" and as "one of the world's most important Muslim figures".
In 2003, a number of Gülen movement participants allied with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's right wing Justice and Development Party (AKP), providing the AKP political and sorely-needed administrative support. This political alliance worked together to weaken left-of-center Kemalist factions, but fractured in 2011. Turkish prosecutors accused Gülen of attempts to overthrow the government by allegedly directing politically motivated corruption investigations by Gülen-linked investigators then in the judiciary, who illegally wiretapped the executive office of the Turkish president, and Gülen's alleged instigations of the 2016 coup attempt. Gülen denied the accusations.
A Turkish criminal court issued an arrest warrant for Gülen in 2016, and Turkey demanded his extradition from the United States. U.S. government officials did not believe he was associated with any terrorist activity, and requested evidence to be provided by the Turkish government to substantiate the allegations in the warrant requesting extradition, frequently rejecting Turkish calls for his extradition.
Gülen was wanted as a terrorist leader in Turkey and Pakistan, as well as by the OIC and GCC.