By Victor Gaetan
In a video posted on his Web site last December, the Turkish Islamic
scholar Fethullah Gulen called on God to curse Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Gulen, who has lived in exile in the United States
since 1999, declared in a sermon broadcast on Turkish television,
“Those who don’t see the thief but go after those trying to catch the
thief: may God bring fire to their houses, ruin their homes, break their
unities.” This went far beyond the normally secular bounds of political
debate in Turkey.
But to fixate on Gulen's lack of political polish is to miss the point. Gulen and Erdogan have been described in the West as political rivals, but there has always been more at stake in their clash than earthly affairs. Whereas Erdogan may frequently indulge in Islamist political rhetoric, it is Gulen that has tried to make actual contributions as an Islamic intellectual and develop a genuinely modern school of Islam that reconciles the religion with liberal democracy, scientific rationalism, ecumenism, and free enterprise. Regardless of who wins the battle for Turkey's political future, it is vital that Gulen's religious legacy be preserved.
But to fixate on Gulen's lack of political polish is to miss the point. Gulen and Erdogan have been described in the West as political rivals, but there has always been more at stake in their clash than earthly affairs. Whereas Erdogan may frequently indulge in Islamist political rhetoric, it is Gulen that has tried to make actual contributions as an Islamic intellectual and develop a genuinely modern school of Islam that reconciles the religion with liberal democracy, scientific rationalism, ecumenism, and free enterprise. Regardless of who wins the battle for Turkey's political future, it is vital that Gulen's religious legacy be preserved.
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