The Gülen Movement in Turkey: The Politics of Islam and Modernity

by Caroline Tee

What is the Gulen Movement and why is Turkey's President Erdogan so convinced that the organisation and its charismatic leader were behind the failed military coup of 15th July 2016? The Gulen, or Hizmet, movement in Turkey was until recently the country's most powerful and affluent religious organisation. At its head is the exiled Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, who leads from a gated compound in the Pocono Mountains of the USA.The movement's central tenet is that Muslims should engage positively with modernity, especially through mastering the sciences. At hundreds of Gulen-run schools and universities, not only in Turkey but also worldwide and particularly in the United States, instructors have cultivated the next generation of Muslim bankers, biologists, software engineers and entrepreneurs. In this groundbreaking study, Caroline Tee, an expert on the Gulen Movement, analyses the complex attitudes of Gulen and his followers towards secular modernity. Considered against the backdrop of Turkish politics, Gulenist engagement with modern science is revealed as a key source of the influence the movement has exerted.

240 pages, Hardcover

Published December 6, 2016

Reviews

[Imran Ahmed · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a movement which has become the nemesis of long standing Turkish leader, Erdogan, there is little work available on it in English.

Caroline Tee's work was completed before the 2016 coup attempt blamed on Gulen and his followers by Erdogan and the AKP party. Indeed, this being the case perhaps adds to the credibility of the information in that her research was conducted in a less toxic atmosphere when Gulenists were more amenable to sharing.

The book is a general introduction to Gulen and his international movement - pre the onslaught by the Turkish state started in earnest in 2016. Though the information on the movement seems solid enough it is based mainly on discussions and observations - nothing empirical or scientific here. (Of course, it's a work of social science and not the physical sciences.)

The book will serve as a fine introduction to Gulen, the philosophical underpinnings of the movement and it's pre-2016 global infrastructure. In other words, it's a starting point for anyone interested in the subject. There are few or no deep dives here - nor were any promised.

I enjoyed learning about the movement through the author's work. I hope the author will follow up with another book once the battle between the Turkish state and the movement reach a modus vivendi.

[Fuad Karimli · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative read, though slightly repetitive at times