THE GLEN HIZMET

MOVEMENT AND ITS

TRANSNATIONAL ACTIVITIES

THE GLEN HIZMET

MOVEMENT AND ITS
TRANSNATIONAL ACTIVITIES
Case Studies of Altruistic Activism
in Contemporary Islam






Edited by
Sophia Pandya & Nancy Gallagher







BrownWalker Press
Boca Raton
The Glen Hizmet Movement and its Transnational Activities:
Case Studies of Altruistic Activism in Contemporary Islam

Copyright .c+. Sophia Pandya & Nancy Gallagher
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, with-
out written permission from the publisher.

BrownWalker Press
Boca Raton, Florida USA
.c+.

ISBN-+c: +-o+.,,---c (paper)
ISBN-+,: -s-+-o+.,,---o (paper)

ISBN-+c: +-o+.,,-s- (ebook)
ISBN-+,: -s-+-o+.,,-s-, (ebook)

[Link]

Front cover: Ebru tulip.
Photo taken by Nancy Gallagher, Nigde, Turkey.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

The Gulen Hizmet movement and its transnational activities : case
studies of altruistic activism in contemporary Islam / edited by
Sophia Pandya and Nancy Gallagher.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN -s-+-o+.,,---o (pbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN +-o+.,,---c
(pbk. : alk. paper)
+. Religious life--Sufism--Case studies. .. Sufism--Doctrines--Case
studies. I. Pandya, Sophia, +o,- II. Gallagher, Nancy Elizabeth,
+.-

BP+s...Gs .c+.
.-.o'--dc.,
.c++c,s
\
Table of Contents


Introduction: The Hizmet Movement Abroad
Sophia Pandya ................................................................................................ +

SECTION I: INTERFAITH DIALOGUES
+. The Characteristics and Appeal of the Hizmet Movement
Michael J. Fontenot & Karen A. Fontenot ................................................... +
a. The Hizmet Movement in the Dialogue between Muslim
and Christian Religious Traditions
Pim Valkenberg ............................................................................................ ,
. Humanism in Islam and East Asia:
Glens Vision in Dialogue with East Asian Religious Cultures
Heon C. Kim ................................................................................................
. Hizmet Intercultural Dialogue Trips to Turkey
Nancy Gallagher ........................................................................................... -,

SECTION II: HIZMET, WOMEN, AND GENDER
. Creating Peace on Earth through Hicret (Migration):
Women Glen Followers in America
Sophia Pandya .............................................................................................. -
6. Framing Womens Issues in The Fountain Magazine
Fran Hassencahl ......................................................................................... ++-
;. Gender and Leadership in the Glen Movement:
Women Affiliates Contributions to East-West Encounters
Margaret Rausch ......................................................................................... +,,
8. Using the Glen Movement to Broaden Discussions in the
West concerning Muslim Women
April L. Najjaj .......................................................................................... +o+



THE GLEN HIZMET MOVEMENT
\i
SECTION III: SCHOOLS AROUND THE WORLD
q. Glen-Inspired Schools in Australia and Their Funding
emen Polat ................................................................................................ +-+
+o. Promoting Multicultural Harmony in Nigeria:
The Glen-Inspired Schools
Hasan Aydin & Stephen K. Lafer ............................................................. +
++. The Role of Education in Kosovo:
The Contribution of the Glen Movement
Jeton Mehmeti ............................................................................................. .+,
Contributing Authors .......................................................................... ..,

+
Introduction:
The Hizmet Movement Abroad

SOPHIA PANDYA


This volume of essays on the Glen, or Hizmet (service) movement,
a Turkish, Sufi Muslim, and humanitarian civil society group,
analyzes the recent activities of its participants to practice their form
of Islam and carry out their collective projects at the international
level. It adds to the newly burgeoning discourse by focusing on the
ways in which members challenge ideological and sectarian
boundaries. The Glen movement is the largest and most powerful
religious movement in Turkey. The last few years, Hizmet
participants, outside of Turkey, have sponsored at least five hundred
(I have been told the number has now reached one thousand)
schools, organized Glen-inspired institutes that host lectures,
cooking classes, Turkish language classes, art programs, interfaith
activities, charitable events, lecture series, and womens coffee
nights. They have organized business groups, student associations,
and trips to Turkey for academics, journalist, businesspeople, leaders
in law enforcement, and other prominent persons. For the past three
years (.cc, .c+c, and .c++) in Southern California, Hizmet
participants have put on a large and popular cultural festival, the
Anatolian Cultures and Food Festival. The Glen movement may
well be the largest and the most successful transnational Muslim
outreach movement of the contemporary age. Given that in recent
years, Islamic movements have been commonly (and unfairly)
associated with pubic spectacles of violence, the activities of this
increasingly prominent group should be better known in the West.
Turkey is poised to join the European Union, a move the group
supports, and in many ways it is a western country, although the
West does not often embrace it as such. Turkeys dominance in the
Middle East is on also the riseit is a stable country with a
democratic form of governmentespecially today when many
Middle Eastern autocrats are being foisted from office through
grassroots protests. Turkeys prominence as a regional power is
illustrated by the role it played in .c++ during the uprising in Syria,
calling for extensive reforms in Syria, and hosting refugee camps in
Turkey for those Syrians fleeing from Bashar al-Assads repressive
THE GLEN HIZMET MOVEMENT
.
government and the heavy handed violence of his military. Shedding
light on the international activities of this significant Turkish
movement offers new ways to understand a facet of Turkeys global
influence, and new ways to understand Muslim activism.
While much previous scholarly attention has focused on the
theological and philosophical ideas of Fethullah Glen (b. +,s), the
movements inspirational figure, more attention should be paid to
the ways in which participants have interpreted and carried out
Glens messages, in particular his ideas regarding service, education,
and interfaith activities at the global level. Here I turn to discuss
terminology, historically contextualize the movement, consider the
objectives and results of some of the endeavors of those involved at
the international level, and present an overview of the chapters in
this book.
+


Definitions
While all terms are reductive, it is worth considering some of those
commonly used to label this group, even though I have already used
some of the adjectives I am about to problematize. Here I offer a
word of caution for those using the terms religious, Muslim,
political, and Islamist, when referring to the movement, although
followers are certainly religious, Muslim, and although some critics
have argued that the movement ultimately has political goals. The
group does not proselytize Islam, and while it certainly promotes
specific Islamic principles, members are trying to achieve positive
social change by furthering universal values of tolerance, dialogue,
and peace through their educational and other secular service
activities. They are not attempting to spread Islam to non-Muslims,
and other than interfaith dialogue, the activities they carry out abroad
are social, cultural, or educational in nature. Of course, the very
hizmet, or service, that they are carrying out through these activities is
part of their religious practice, but the activities themselves are not
religious. As for the political nature of the movement, Graham E.
Fuller notes that it is the most wealthy movement in Turkey
possessing powerful institutions; yet he argues that it can only be
considered to have political goals if we consider any attempt to
transform society to be a political project, otherwise the movement
is more correctly described as a social or moral project (Fuller
.ccs, o, ). While there is a political dimension to all religious
movements, because the group promotes a secular form of
government, it cannot be called Islamist.
INTRODUCTION
,
The Movements Name
Glen has said he does not like the term the Glen movement,
because of the emphasis on his person, preferring the Hizmet
movement, because this stresses the service of those involved
(Ebaugh .c+c, +.). Glen has spoken of the importance of
individual service, in the form of helping other people, as a key
component of Muslim life. This helping of others is thought to be
personally purifying and a tool to avoid sin, since the individual will
be engaged in altruistic activities and have little time left to commit
egotistical deeds. Working hard in this way is also believed to help
with ones fate on judgment day (Agai .cc,, oc). Known to be
restless himself, Glen encourages participants to accomplish as
much as they can so that they can contribute in every way to the
goals of the movement (Agai .cc,, oc). Indeed, scholars, such as
Fuller, have compared the participants work ethic to that of early
Calvinists (.ccs, -), and it is hard not to agree that some parallels
exist, although there are limits to the resemblance. Offering high
quality, scientifically focused education for youth is one of the
movements key objectives, and indeed service, work, and education
have become imbued with religious meaning (Agai .cc,, s-oc).
Nonetheless, the term the Glen movement is currently widely
used in the extant academic literature, for greater recognition. The
contributors to this volume have used both the Hizmet
movement, and the Glen movement, in light of these
perspectives.

Personal History with the Group
My own experiences with the movement have taken place over the
last decade. In +, I met several Turkish women who were
graduate students in Santa Barbara, CA, when I was also in graduate
school, and because of my interest in mystical Islam, they invited me
to their homes for weekly readings (in English) of the works of Said
Nursi (+s---+o+). A Sufi, philosopher and religiously inspirational
figure, Nursi argued that there was no contradiction between science
and religion, and that there was no need to consider Eastern
civilization at odds with Western civilization (Aras and Caha .cc,,
+.). For several years, we would drink strong Turkish tea, nibble on
cookies, and discuss a passage selected for that week. I later found
out that thousands of people in Turkey were also meeting in small
groups (dershanes) to read Nursi. His work, Risale-i Nur (Letters of
Light), became quite popular in the +cs onward in Turkey. The
THE GLEN HIZMET MOVEMENT

Nur movement, inspired by Said Nursi, led in part to the develop-

development of the Glen movement. However, it is important not
to consider Glens Hizmet movement as an extension or
branch of the former; there is no institutional relationship.
Participants see the Hizmet movement as unique, and Nursi as only
one of the figures out of many that helped to shape Glens thought.
The Glen movement is now quite independent, and classical Nur-
inspired movements are still in practice.
Involved in dissertation writing, I did not become aware of the
Glen movement until .cc, when some of these same friends began
to speak of a Glen-inspired institute in Southern California they
were attending, founded in .cc,.
.
One reason that I had not been
exposed to Glens work through my reading group is that while
Nursis work has been well known and long translated into English,
the bulk of Glens work has only been translated into English in the
last decade. One had moved to a group home in my neighborhood
with other participants. These group homes, I discovered, are known
as iik evler, literally houses of light, or Glen-inspired student
dormitories.
,
My friend told me that living there helped her to re-
main pious while living abroad. Participants seemed a little over-
worked as they balanced their many activities at the institute with
full-time work and personal lives. At the time, it seemed as a friendly
outsider, the focus had suddenly changed, and I began to be occa-
sionally invited to small events held at the institute that my friends
frequented. From my perspective, in recent years the California-
based group has become even more organized and ambitious, hold-
ing larger events, such as the Anatolian Cultures and Food Festival,
and Friendship Dinners held at elegant hotels. They also began send-
ing scholars, businesspeople and media personnel on paid trips to
Turkey.

The Movement in History
Various scholars have written about the historical stages of this
movement (Lorasd .cc-, +-+- and Yavuz .cc,b, ,c--). M.
Hakan Yavuz, a prominent political scientist, observed that it
evolved from building a religious community to creating a global,
faith-inspired educational system (.cc,b, ,c-,+). Berrin Koyuncu
Lorasd, also a political scientist and an authority on political
thought in Turkey, described three periods: +oo-+sc, its emergence
in Turkey; +sc-+, its expansion; and +-.cc., its retreat
(Lorasd .cc-, +).

Its inspirational figure, Fethullah Glen,

INTRODUCTION

known to his supporters as Hocaefendi (respected religious leader),

was born in Eastern Anatolia in +,s. A preacher since +,, he gave
speeches in coffee houses, taught at the Kestanepazar Quranic
School, encouraged the founding of schools, held educational
summer camps for students, and established reading groups and
house of light dormitories (dershanes and isik evler). From the outset,
Glen, like Nursi, was also concerned with reconciling religion and
science, and believed educating Turkish youth in both subjects would
create a modern Muslim who would be spiritual and moral, and
also capable of participating in the modern, globalizing world
(Lorasd .cc-, +o).

During these early years the movement was

cautious in its relationship to the State, and promoted state security
in defense against the rise of leftist groups (Yavuz .cc,b, ,+).
The second stage witnessed the expansion of the movement in
Turkey and abroad, with Glen bringing together people from a
variety of backgrounds, rich, poor, Turks, Kurds, and even non-
Muslims (Aras and Caha .cc,, ++). In Turkey, the movement
established several institutions such as Zaman newspaper in +so, a
Radio channel, Bur FM, and a plethora of other financial, and high
quality educational institutions including several universities
(Lorasd .cc-, +o). The interfaith movement began in the +cs as
well, during a decade that witnessed widespread corruption, an
economic meltdown, and heightened public insecurity. Glens
answer to these crises was to advocate all forms of dialogue. In this
spirit, he met with the Pope, the Greek Patriarch, and other religious
leaders (Fuller .ccs, s). As a member explained, the point of
interfaith dialogue is to find the cures for societys ills. We want to be
able to engage the heart and the mind. We can only fly with two
wings, heart and mind.
o
By +-, The Fountain magazine, published
in English, was also founded. The Glen movement had become
large, influential, and powerful, and had begun to establish a network
of Glen-inspired schools in Turkey and abroad (including Ethiopia,
Yemen, the US, and many other locations; those abroad have been
called Peace Islands, (Lorasd .cc-, +s). These schools, which
focus on science and technology and are often taught in English,
have attracted the children of elites of those countries, turning out
promising graduates (Aras and Caha .cc,, +o). Those students of
Glen-inspired high schools in Turkey have consistently
outperformed their peers (Yavuz .cc,b, ,). Until this period, the
Hizmet movement remained largely apolitical. However, the
secularist Kemalists remained suspicious of Glens motives,
THE GLEN HIZMET MOVEMENT
o
regardless of his attempts to convey his support for the State and the
military. In fact, critical of extremist Islamic governments such as
Iran and Saudi Arabia, Glens policy was to remain as neutral as
possible politically (Aras and Caha .cc,, +,).
Nevertheless, the third stage began around + when Glen
began to face intense legal confrontations and a critical military.
Some Kemalists were deeply uncomfortable with the movements
strong external connections, fearing a threat to a secular Turkey
(Yavuz .cc,b, ). After leaving to the United States where he
currently resides, he stopped speaking of his loyalty to the State, and
changed his focus to the promotion of human rights and democracy
(Lorasd .cc-, +s-). Lorasd characterizes this period as a
retreat because of Glens relocation abroad and new focus. Yet,
since the movement has continued to expand during this period, in
Turkey, and particularly at the global level, this term is inadequate.
Indeed, the movements external prominence increases every year,
and thus a better descriptive name for this period would be the
Hizmet movement abroad, the title of this introduction.

Hizmet Organization and Funding
Glen-inspired projects abroad, such as the wide-reaching network
of educational institutes, Turkey trips for scholars and other
prominent public figures, interfaith events, friendship dinners, and
charitable activities, require substantial financial resources. The
Turkish value of hospitality and generosity explains part of the
movements ability to raise funds (Ebaugh and Baskal .c+c, o-sc).
These projects are dependent on fundraising carried out in circles of
Turkish businessmen, professionals, and other working peoples
participating in the movement, and on average +c percent of ones
yearly income is donated, with a smaller group able to donate over .c
percent (Ebaugh .c+c, ). There is no fixed rule; people give what
they can. One friend in California told me that if she or her husband
receive a phone call from another follower asking for funds for a
project, if they have any means of giving it at all, they simply give
iteven if it means accruing credit card debt. Those that give and
are able to be otherwise active are admired by others, and indeed
frivolous spending on flashy cars, etc. is not generally approved of in
the movement. Participation does seem to involve a degree of
Weberian asceticism; however, another member laughed when I
spoke of the lack of Mercedes Benz and BMWs at events, and said
that he would, in fact, purchase a BMW, because of its safety record
INTRODUCTION
-
and utilitarian form, when he could afford to. After chuckling about
his desire for that luxury car, he acknowledged that the movement
does espouse the idea of living a reserved, simple, life. Clearly, each
participant is a distinct individual, and diversity exists within the
community. No formal membership to the group exists but rather
informal networks (circles) of those who are willing to donate.
Ebaugh notes that the circles are structured around physical location
and careers, and that those who donate also engage in mutually
beneficial networking (Ebaugh .c+c, s-).

Goals of Hizmet while on Hicret (hijrah or migration)
What are the goals of these international outreach activities, and
what is achieved? This is a matter of some dispute, and certainly a
few Turkish secularists fear that Glen and Hizmet participants
ultimately aim (through all of their projects) to create an Islamic state
like Iran in Turkey, endangering the very character of the modern
republic.
-
This fear is wildly unfounded and smacks of paranoia:
Glen himself is highly critical of revivalist Islamic regimes (Yavuz
.cc,b, .), and participants have repeatedly stated that they have no
plan to create a Turkish theocracy. The group has no history of
militancy or the use of any form of jihadist rhetoric; Glen himself
disapproves of violence used towards any political goal (Ebaugh
.c+c, +.-). The ongoing annual roundtable Abant Platforms (+s-
present), organized by Hizmet participants, bringing together various
Turkish intellectuals of diverse backgrounds, have resulted in a series
of declarations that promote the compatibility of Islam with a
secular, democratic state, and support human rights and pluralism
(Akyol .ccs, os-o and Yavuz .cc,b, ). Suspicious of religious
groups, Turkish Kemalists, inspired by Mustafa Kemal Atatrk
(+ss+-+,s), founder of modern Turkey, believe the State should be
uncompromisingly secular.
s
This secularism was and is understood as
modern, in the sense that Talal Asad, an influential anthropologist
who writes on the concepts of secularism and modernity, offers
when he notes that the term modernity is commonly associated
with contemporary developments in the Western world and (so-
called) Western undertakings such as secularism, capitalism,
democracy, human rights. He argues that it is something that
certain people in power seek to achieve, something that often
devalues local culture and values (Asad .cc,, +.-+). The practice of
Islam, then, has been seen as detracting from modern (i.e.
Western) projects both by Orientalist scholars and by those in power
THE GLEN HIZMET MOVEMENT
s
at the governmental level promoting a secularist view (Yavuz and
Esposito .cc,, xvi-xvii). In Turkey, secularism, as a national
undertaking, has been used to justify the marginalization and
oppression of those practicing Islam in the public realm. The well
known theory of contesting modernities, put forth by the late
sociologist Schmuel N. Eisenstadt, applies well to the Glen project.
Participants alternatively seek to create a society that values religion
and indigenous Anatolian culture, but which can participate fully in
the globalizing world and in many of the same facets of modernity
that Asad describes, including the pursuit of democracy, capitalism,
and human rights (Eisenstadt .ccc, +-). This movement, thus,
offers and promotes a different form of modernity, both in Turkey
and abroad, in which the West is not The Great Satan, and
spirituality is not marginalized.
According to Lorasd, the movement has two primary goals.
The first is to create a new generation of moderate, spiritual Muslims
able to engage with democracy and the contemporary world. The
second is to expand the influence of Turkish culture at the global
level, to create allies abroad, and even to make Turkish a world
language (.cc-, +--s). She notes that Glen wants Turkey to once
again become a global power as it had been during the Ottoman
period (+oc). These latter comments seem to contrast with other
types of discourse presented by followers and by much of Glens
message of interfaith dialogue, tolerance, and global peace, although
a form of Turkish-Ottoman nationalism undoubtedly does play a
role in this picture, as other scholars have noted (Yavuz .cc,b, .+).
One participant, responding to this line of thought, noted that she
does not believe Glen wants to spread Turkishness just for the
sake of gaining power for Turkey, but rather in order to promote
Sufi Islam as found during the Ottoman times as a model for other
communities, because of its mystical emphasis, focus on love and
piety, promotion of dialogue and tolerance, and ability to synthesize
with modernity, all of which Glen believes would be of benefit to
Muslims and all of humanity.

Thus the Ottoman past is not trum-

peted as uniquely glorious in a nationalistic way, but used as an ex-
ample from which Glen drew since he and other Turks were famil-
iar with it, and because Ottoman Sufism reflects values he wished to
highlight as truly Islamic and humanitarian. Another follower added
that since Atatrks era, the Ottoman past has been ignored, despite
its positive contribution as a model of peaceful coexistence between
groups. Graham E. Fuller calls this a cultural lobotomy aimed at
INTRODUCTION

erasing Ottoman history from Turkish memory (Fuller .ccs, +-). He

also describes the Ottoman Empire as one of the most successful
and stable models of a multiethnic and multicultural empire of its
time (). Sociologist Helen Rose Ebaugh notes that Glen believes
that just as Turks played a pivotal and religious and cultural role
under the Ottomans for centuries, Turkey is now poised to lead the
Muslim world into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries with em-
phasis on dialogue, science and education (Ebaugh .c+c+, ,,). G-
len, then, idealizes the Ottomans not for their muscle but because
they lived in accordance with Islam (Yavuz .cc,b, ,+). This Islam
is pious, intellectual, mystical, engaged in every area of life, and ex-
traordinarily focused on activity in the public realm: charity, inter-
faith work, networking, and politics. The participant went on to
mention that he believes Glen emphasizes Ottoman pride to instill
confidence in the Turkish community, so that members can feel
more self-assured when they go abroad. He also pointed out that he
sees change occurring in the discourse on the importance of Turk-
ishness, or the great Ottoman past, in the movement, amongst
those participants like himself that have gone abroad.
+c
Clearly, as
the group gains global prominence, its message will have to become
more universal if it wants to attract peoples from other areas of the
world, and members are likely quite aware of this issue, and indeed I
have noticed a greater emphasis on universality in recent years.
Several other goals may also be identified. Many Hizmet
participants that I have met speak of wanting to have Muslims and
Islam accepted by non-Muslims abroad, especially in the post-
September ++
th
environment in which Islamophobia has become
well-rooted. Some also wish to promote positive images of Turkey
and the greater Anatolian region, as well as enhance the tarnished
image of Islam. They speak of building bridges between communities
through intercultural/interreligious dialogue, in order to promote
peace and understanding, and to counter stereotypical images of
Muslims and Middle Easterners. Indeed, education, interfaith
dialogue, and charitable activities are emphasized by Glen as
forming part of the individual Muslim duty of hizmet, or service.
Glen encourages participants to take part in hicret, (hijrah or
migration) in order to reach others more effectively, as the Prophet
Muhammad did when he left Mecca for Medina, and as the earliest
Muslims did when they went abroad to spread Islam. This hicret
entails living abroad and being active promoting the movements
goals, and indeed those participants that I have met in the US have
THE GLEN HIZMET MOVEMENT
+c
spoken of carrying out hizmet while on hicret. Yet, other outcomes of
these international activities, intentional or not, are to favorably
position the Turkish immigrant communities abroad, and to create a
network of allies through its events, trips, and dinners, which of
course generate social capital that can be used to support the
movements humanitarian goals. These events also enhance the
visibility of their activities, and clearly, the group would like to be
known. For those that will not be returning to Turkey because of
religious persecution (women are not allowed to wear headscarves at
Turkish universities and many Turkish secularists consider the
movement to be a cult or worse), creating and maintaining a
friendly relationship with communities in the new host country is an
understandable priority.

Issues of Gender
A few comments on gender roles are merited here. The movement
has been accused of being male oriented (Lorasd .cc-, +os).
When in Turkey, I did notice some truth to that claim: some of the
Glen-inspired schools I visited had many more male pupils than
females, and few females are in high ranking leadership positions in
the movement. While Glen has promoted womens education and
participation in the public realm, he has also often emphasized the
importance of their domestic roles as socializing agents of children
(Ebaugh .c+c, +.+). However, a point in the Abant Platform
Declarations states that women should not be restricted by
traditions that are presented as religiously based (Fuller .ccs, o).
While gender relations in this community certainly reflect the
patriarchal culture of Turkey and a socially conservative, family-
values type of worldview, my concern is that to characterize the
movement in this way serves to devalue and make invisible the
enormous and active contribution of women followers, many of
whom are utterly knocking themselves out to build bridges
between communities, carry out charitable work, and to create a
more peaceful world in Glens vision. Indeed, many of the women
Hizmet participants that I have met or interviewed in California have
or are working toward degrees in science, computer science, or
engineering, which are male-dominated fields. In fact, some women
have chosen to work outside of Turkey in these fields, in part,
because they would not be able to work in Turkey while wearing a
headscarf. Others are working in a variety of sectors or taking a
temporary break from their careers to raise small children. Often
INTRODUCTION
++
Glen-inspired institutes where followers meet have a womens
wing, where women meet comfortablyin a women-centered
spaceto discuss their own projects, organize events, or make items
to sell for fundraising purposes. One woman follower, familiar with
criticism regarding the lack of womens leadership, said that in fact
she had been invited by local Glen leaders to participate at a higher
level, but that because of her commitments to career and family she
did not feel comfortable taking on further responsibilities, although
she might in the future. As the movement itself is relatively young,
those participants I have come across are under forty, many raising
very young children without extended family to help, which makes
life quite busy for both men and women. Those I interviewed in
California told me that gender roles are changing as the group settles
and adapts to the greater U.S. culture. Men help out their wives more
at home than they did in Turkey and events are often not gender
segregated. As the Hizmet communities settle in a variety of
international locations, local culture will doubtless influence and
shape them in differing ways, especially for the subsequent
generations.

Review of Chapters
This volume contains eleven chapters, which are organized into
three sections, titled Interfaith Dialogues, Hizmet, Women and
Gender, and Schools around the World. In the first section, the
first chapter is about the international appeal of the movement.
Michael J. Fontenot and Karen A. Fontenot discuss the ways in
which the movement offers a form of revitalized Islam that is
attuned with developed industrial societies. As noted by Fontenot
and Fontenot, despite its origins, the movement has attracted
extensive support outside of Turkey: in the United States, Canada,
Europe, Australia, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Here, the
authors shed light on the criticism of this phenomenon. The second,
by Pim Valkenberg, looks at the interfaith activities of this
movement, and describes how followers understand their roles as
bridge builders between Muslim communities and other religious
communities in the West. Valkenberg also looks at points of
comparison between the movement and certain Catholic religious
communities. The third, by Heon C. Kim, analyzes Glens
humanism in dialogue with East Asian cultures, and suggests that
Glens dialogic vision of humanism may create an alternative path
for humanity in the globalized age. The fourth, by Nancy Gallagher,
THE GLEN HIZMET MOVEMENT
+.
discusses the impact of the Hizmet-sponsored trips to Turkey. To
date, more than occc Americans have traveled to Turkey at the
invitation of Hizmet institutes and have returned to support the
activities of the Turkish immigrant circles. While appreciative of their
carefully organized tours, trip participants have also offered
forthright criticisms of aspects of the movement.
In the second section, titled Hizmet, Women, and Gender, the
fifth chapter, by Sophia Pandya, focuses on female followers of the
movement in the United States. She looks at the ways in which
women understand their contributions and involvement in the
movement, and also at ways in which carrying out their hicret in the
U.S. has reshaped communal gender norms for both men and
women. Her informants told of the freedom from tensions in Turkey
they felt in the U.S., and about exploring new ways to be Muslim
women. The sixth, by Fran Hassencahl, analyzes the depiction of
women in the English-language Fountain magazine, which is aimed at
international readers. Circulating in the U.S., Europe, and other
regions, this magazine is run by the Hizmet community. The seventh
chapter, by Margaret Rausch, examines womens roles in Hizmet
activities in the U.S. She looks at the way in which leadership is
understood in the movement to be connected to hizmet, or service,
and that this form of service-oriented leadership furthers spiritual
understanding. Both women and men take part in role-modeling as a
means of demonstrating their commitment to the Hizmet
community and to help lead others. April Najjaj writes the eighth
chapter, in which she discusses ways Western scholars can talk
about women in Islam through a case study of movement. She
discovers commonalities in the ways in which men and women
transnationally navigate gender norms, as they renegotiate roles and
priorities to meet the transforming demands.
The third section is titled Schools around the World. Here, the
ninth chapter examines the funding and organization of Hizmet
schools in Australia. eman Polat explores the reasons behind the
opening of sixteen private Turkish schools in Australia. She exam-
ines issues of funding and curriculum, and argues that the schools in
Australia are excelling in the arts and social sciences and offer uni-
versal humanistic values. Despite suspicions that Glen-inspired
schools have often attracted, Australias system of public-private
funding for schools has resulted in a successful neoliberal economic
collaboration. The tenth focuses on schools in Nigeria. Hasan Aydin
and Stephen K. Lafer note the ways in which the Glen-inspired
INTRODUCTION
+,
Nigerian Turkish International Colleges (NTIC) have become central
educational institutions in Nigeria. Here they discuss the roles these
schools play in issues of sectarianism, class, and ethnic rivalries in
Nigeria. The eleventh, by Jeton Mehmeti, treats the role of education
in Kosovo. Mehmeti considers the phenomenon of student dormito-
ries in Glen-inspired schools in Kosovo, where the movement has
offered tutorial assistance, and organized interfaith and intercultural
dialogues that are popular with parents and students of diverse back-
ground.

Conclusion
Taken together, these essays explain how the international move-
ment is organized, structured, and institutionalized in many parts of
the world. Several of the essays address criticisms and evaluations of
the movement and suggest new directions for further research. The
Hizmet movements scope, methodology, and goals differ signifi-
cantly from those of other Islamic revival movements, and indeed,
the contributions of its participants have created networks of inter-
faith groups, first-rate educational institutions, and spaces for inter-
cultural dialogue, as well as the celebration of many aspects of Turk-
ish culture abroad. The impact of these activities is only now being
assessed. Jacob K. Olupona, distinguished scholar of indigenous
African religions, writes about the connections between globalization
and transnational immigrant communities, has noted that immigrants
can transform the local into a new cohesion that retains a non-
Western memory within a Western environment (Oluponu .cc., s).
Wherever immigrant groups of Hizmet participants travel to perform
their service abroad, be it in the U.S., the Balkans, Yemen, or Africa,
they will both shape their new local and be shaped by it. The fol-
lowing chapters shed light on these transformations.


References
Agai, Bekim. The Glen Movements Islamic Ethic of Education.
In Turkish Islam and the Secular State: The Glen Movement. Edited
by M. Hakan Yavuz and John L. Esposito. Syracuse, NY: Syra-
cuse University Press, .cc,.
Aras, Bulent and Omer Caha. Fethullah Gulen and His Liberal
Turkish Islam Movement. In Revolutionaries and Reformers: Con-
temporary Islamist Movements in the Middle East. Edited by Barry Ru-
bin. Albany: State University of New York Press, .cc,.
THE GLEN HIZMET MOVEMENT
+
Asad, Talal. Formations of the Secular: Christianity, Islam, Modernity. Stan-
ford: Stanford University Press, .cc,.
Aykol, Mustafa. The Context of the Glen Movement: The Excep-
tional Story of Turkish Islam. In Islam in the Age of Global Chal-
lenges: Alternative Perspectives of the Glen Movement. Speaker Biog-
raphies and Conference Proceedings. Washington D.C.: Rumi
Forum, .ccs.
Ebaugh, Helen Rose. The Glen Movement: A Sociological Analysis of a
Civic Movement Rooted in Moderate Islam. Heidelberg: Springer,
.c+c.
and Zachary Baskal. The Turkish Islamic Culture of Giving.
In The Glen Movement: A Sociological Analysis of a Civic Movement
Rooted in Moderate Islam. By Helen Rose Ebaugh. Heidelberg:
Springer, .c+c.
Eisenstadt, Shmuel N. Fundamentalist Movements in the Frame-
work of Multiple Modernities. In Between Europe and Islam: Shap-
ing Modernity in a Transcultural Space. Edited by Almut Hfert and
Armando Salvatore. Bruxelles: P.I.E.-Peter Lang, .ccc.
Fuller, Graham E. The New Turkish Republic. Washington D.C.: Unit-
ed States Institute of Peace Press, .ccs.
Lorasd, Berrin Koyuncu. Globalization, Modernization, and De-
mocratization in Turkey: The Fethullah Glen Movement. In
Remaking Turkey: Globalization, Alternative Modernities, and Democra-
cy. Edited by E. Fuat Keyman. Lanham: Lexington Books, .cc-.
Narli, Nilufer. The Rise of Islamist Movement in Turkey. In Revo-
lutionaries and Reformers: Contemporary Islamist Movements in the Middle
East. Edited by Barry Rubin. Albany: State University of New
York Press, .cc,.
Olupona, Jacob K. Globalization and African Immigrant Religious
Communities. In Religion and Global Culture: New Terrain in the
Study of Religion and the Work of Charles H. Long. Edited by Jen-
nifer I. M. Reid. New York: Lexington Books, .cc..
Yavuz, M. Hakan and John L. Esposito. Introduction, Islam in
Turkey: Retreat from the Secular Path? In Turkish Islam and the
Secular State: The Glen Movement. Edited by M. Hakan Yavuz and
John L. Esposito. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, .cc,.
Yavuz M. Hakan, Islam in the Public Sphere: The Case of the Nur
Movement. In Turkish Islam and the Secular State: The Glen
Movement. Edited by M. Hakan Yavuz and John L. Esposito. Sy-
racuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, .cc,a.
INTRODUCTION
+
. The Glen Movement: The Turkish Puritans. In Turkish
Islam and the Secular State: The Glen Movement. Edited by M.
Hakan Yavuz and John L. Esposito. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse
University Press, .cc,b.

Notes

+
Many thanks to Dr. Nancy Gallagher for her assistance with this project.
.
The Pacifica Institute has several branches in California. I am most famil-
iar with the Irvine branch. To see a list of branches and activities taking
place, see [Link].
,
M. Hakan Yavuz notes the transformation from Nursis reading groups, or
dershanes, to Glens house of light student dormitories, iik evler (Yavuz
.cc,b, +, ,.-,).

Yavuzs historical stages are similar: his first stage he places between +-c-
+s,, the second from +s,-+-, and the third from +- until the present
(Yavuz .cc,b, ,c-,).

For more on the Glen, see Helen Rose Ebaugh, Fethullah Glen: His
Life, Beliefs and the Movement that he Inspires, in The Glen Movement: A
Sociological Analysis of a Civic Movement Rooted in Moderate Islam (Heidelberg:
Springer, .ccc).
o
Conversation, January .s, .c++, Southern California. Informants will re-
main anonymous for their own privacy.
-
For more on the history of the emergence of revivalist groups, see Nilufer
Narli, The Rise of Islamist Movement in Turkey, in Revolutionaries and
Reformers: Contemporary Islamist Movements in the Middle East, edited by Barry
Rubin (Albany: State University of New York Press, .cc,). He writes: Is-
lamism in Turkey has grown as a response to social, economic, and political
discontent, the causes of which include foreign influences, urbanization,
modernization, and secularization (+,,). I prefer the term Revivalism to
Islamism to refer to the Glen movement because the latter commonly
refers to an ideology promoting a Muslim state which this group does not
promote.
s
For a longer discussion of secularism in the Turkish context, see Yavuz,
M. Hakan and John L. Esposito, Introduction, Islam in Turkey: Retreat
from the Secular Path? In Turkish Islam and the Secular State: The Glen Move-
ment, edited by M. Hakan Yavuz and John L. Esposito (Syracuse, NY: Syra-
cuse University Press, .cc,), xv-xxiii.

Conversation, Dec. +o, .c+c, Southern California. Informants will remain

anonymous for their own privacy.
+c
Conversation, January .s, .c++, Southern California. Informants will
remain anonymous for their own privacy.

SECTION I

INTERFAITH DIALOGUES
+
+
The Characteristics and Appeal of the
Hizmet Movement

MICHAEL J. FONTENOT & KAREN A. FONTENOT


The Hizmet (service) movement associated with the Turkish theolo-
gian M. Fethullah Glen is probably the most powerful Islamic re-
form movement operating in the world today. Inspired by the exam-
ple of an earlier Muslim reformer, Bedizzaman Said Nursi (+s-
+oc), and both generalized and further developed by Glens own
activities, it aims to align Islamic thought with the requirements of
advanced industrial societies. Promoting religiously inspired modern-
ization, it offers a revitalized form of mysticism that is wedded simul-
taneously to traditional Muslim practice and to the scientific and
technical methods that have so clearly lifted the material level of
Western society.
While business people and students form the core of the move-
ment,
+
Glen also appeals to a much wider audience within Turkey.
He promotes a particularly sophisticated view of Turkish identity,
claiming that it was forged in pre-Anatolian times, then shaped and
honed by the Ottomans into a multinational, multicultural civiliza-
tion of extraordinary cosmopolitanism. That interpretation, which
satisfies ethnic pride while avoiding a narrow nationalistic definition,
resonates with many Turks. Furthermore, he has taken a very strong
stand against the use of terror (see Glen .cca); moderate Turks
who are unsympathetic to Islamic extremism and secular republican-
ism find Glens positions very attractive.
The Hizmet movement has also attracted numerous non-Muslim
supporters. It is difficult to estimate how many people are involved,
but supporters are active in the United States, Canada, Europe, Aus-
tralia, Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
As a revisionist religious movement, it has faced opposition
within Turkey from secularists and literalist Muslims since its very
beginnings in the +ocs. But because of its rising inuence outside of
as well as within Turkey, it has come under increased scrutiny and
has been subjected to increasing criticism by an array of new oppo-
nents. Some see it as an imminent pan-Turanian and pan-Islamic
threat to the Turkish secular state, Israeli security and US interests;
.