Science Talk

Ramabriga · Guest

Islamic scholar voted world's No 1 thinker

* Robert Tait in Istanbul
* The Guardian,
* Monday June 23, 2008
* Article history

Link to this video
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2008/jun/23/gulen.movement

Does the movement inspired by Fethullah Gülen represent a modern brand of Islam, or a subtle
attempt to infiltrate religion into secular Turkey? The Guardian's religious affairs
correspondent, Riazat Butt, reports from Istanbul

A hitherto largely unknown Turkish Islamic scholar, Fethullah Gülen, has been voted the world's
top intellectual in a poll to find the leading 100 thinkers.

Gülen, the author of more than 60 books, won a landslide triumph after the survey - which is
organised by the British magazine, Prospect, and Foreign Policy, a US publication - attracted
more than 500,000 votes.

The top 10 individuals were all Muslim and included two Nobel laureates, the novelist Orhan
Pamuk, who is also Turkish, at No 4, and the Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi, in 10th.

The result surprised organisers, who attributed it to a sustained campaign by Gülen's
followers, known as the Gülen Movement, after Turkey's biggest-selling newspaper, Zaman,
publicised the poll.

Prospect's editor, David Goohart, admitted to not having previously heard of Gülen and said his
supporters had "made a mockery" of the poll. But he said the result flagged up significant
political trends in Turkey.

"The victory of Gülen draws attention to the most important conflict in Europe, played out in
Turkey between the secular nationalist establishment and the reforming Islamic democrats of the
AK [Justice and Development] party," he said.

The AKP, which is allied to Gülen, is contesting a case brought by Turkey's chief prosecutor to
shut it down and ban it from politics for allegedly trying to usher in Islamic rule, in breach
of the country's secular constitution.

A Gülen supporter, Bulent Kenes, who is editor-in-chief of Today's Zaman newspaper, denied the
poll had been hijacked. "There are many people who promote Gülen's ideas, which contribute to
world peace by urging international dialogue and tolerance."

Gülen, 67, is known for a modernist brand of Islam. He was cleared of trying to topple the
state in 2006 after being charged over footage in which he apparently urged civil service
supporters to await his orders to overthrow the system. He said the film had been doctored.

Gülen, who has lived in the US since 1998, is credited with establishing a global network of
schools which preach Islam in a spirit of tolerance. He has been praised in the west for
promoting dialogue and condemned Osama bin Laden as a monster after September 11.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2008/jun/23/gulen.movement

** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

jg · Guest

Ramabriga wrote:

Polly the Parrot · Guest

On Sat, 28 Jun 2008 21:43:02 GMT jg <jg@nospam.com> wrote: