The Gülen; or Hizmet; movement in Turkey is the country’s most powerful and affluent religious organisation. Its central tenet; advanced by its founder; the charismatic Sunni preacher Fethullah Gülen (b. 1941); is that Muslims should engage positively with modernity. A prime means of advancing this philosophy has been education: at hundreds of Gülen-run schools and universities; not only in Turkey but also worldwide; instructors aim to cultivate the next generation of Muslim bankers; biologists; software engineers and entrepreneurs. But how does the Gülen movement resolve the sometimes conflicting positions of Sunni Islam and contemporary science – for example; on evolutionary theory? Drawing on sustained ethnographic research conducted among Gülen communities in Turkey; Caroline Tee analyses their complex attitudes towards secular modernity. She focuses on education; science research and industry to explore how pious Muslim practitioners engage in science at high levels; arguing that the Gülen movement’s success in this critical area of modernity has facilitated its rise to prominence in recent decades. Considered against the backdrop of Turkish politics; and particularly the acrimonious power-struggle between the Gülen movement and its erstwhile ally; Turkey’s ruling AK Party; Gülenist engagement with modern science is revealed as a key source of its influence and success.
#260107 in Books 2016-10-31Original language:English 9.20 x .70 x 6.10l; .0 #File Name: 1781791295256 pages
Review
