Y. Yildirim and S. Kirmizialtin 

Two of the main values the Gülen movement would like to pass on to youth are tolerance and hard work. The schools, and teachers working in them, endeavor to exhibit these characteristics themselves. Gülen’s followers have established educational institutions all over the world. These institutions concentrate on teaching universal values, but do not specifically teach religion. Students with different religious convictions attend these schools; in some countries there may not be a single Muslim student. Students and graduates have proven to be well-prepared in the sciences and are also known for their high moral standards.

Gülen’s vision

The contemporary world often sees science and religion as incompatible. As Michel (2003) put it, “Secular educators saw religion as at best a useless expenditure of time and at worst an obstacle to progress.” Conversely, this perception of a dichotomy between religion and science resulted in some religious scholars leading to religion being viewed as “a political ideology rather than a religion in its true sense and function” (Gülen 1996a, 20). Gülen’s writings have pointed out time and again that science and religion are perfectly compatible, and in fact must be combined for science to have meaning.

Gülen proposes an educational system that combines technical and moral training. He sees the competition between secular and religious educational institutions as having caused a crisis in Turkish society, since graduates of such restricted schools lacked an integrated perspective on the future (Michel 2003, 72). In the early twentieth century, the Turkish education system included medreses - institutions of religious training, tarikats - Sufi orders, and secular schools. Medreses did not offer an education appropriate for the contemporary world; Michel (2003) describes them as lacking “the flexibility, vision, and ability to break with the past [and] to enact change” (72). While tarikats had been traditionally concerned with developing spiritual values, Gülen perceives them as looking backwards. Secular schools, on the other hand, exhibit an inflexibility of ideas (Gülen 1996c, 11) and are designed to provide a value-free, job-oriented education that is too short-sighted to look to the future (Michel 2003, 74).

Gülen is especially concerned with what he sees as the lack of ethical values in the world. He perceives today’s people constitute “generations with no ideals” (Gülen 1996c, 51-52). The main value taught in today’s schools is that of material success. Current educational systems have taught people to search for new ways to dominate nature and other human beings (Gülen 2003). This has resulted in the worsening of the imbalances both between humanity and nature and among individual humans. Gülen’s teachings carry the assumption that some major global problems such as weapons of mass destruction and environmental pollution are created by scientists who do not take responsibility for the consequences of their work (Agai 2003, 59). To Gülen, harmony between humans and nature and an understanding between peoples will only be achieved when “the material and spiritual realms are reconciled” in the upbringing of young generations (Gülen 2000).

Gülen envisions a “Golden Generation,” that is well-educated in the sciences and well-rounded in moral training. The prototype of the Golden Generation is the teacher of the movement who works to bring on a “Golden Age” (Agai 2003, 57). The Golden Generation has the defining characteristics of faith and strong ethical values, which drive them to apply science for the benefit of humankind (Agai 2003, 57). In stark contrast to the typical Western view of political Islam, where Islamic activism is a reaction against modernism (Yavuz and Esposito 2003), in Gülen’s vision, the Golden Generation will participate in modernity and help to shape it (Agai 2003, 58).

Gülen’s ideal person is zul-cenaheyn, “one who possesses two wings,” exhibiting a “marriage of mind and heart” (Gülen 1996c, 12). Consolidation of different educational currents should result in a holistic system that trains individuals of “thought, action and inspiration” who are able to cope with the changing demands of the world (Gülen 1996c, 12). These individuals, then, would use their knowledge and training for the service of humankind.

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