Hizmet in Transitions: European Developments of a Turkish Muslim-Inspired Movement

ISBN-13: 9783030937973 / Angielski / Twarda / 2022

Paul Weller

Opis

In this open-access monograph, Paul Weller explores how the movement known as Hizmet (meaning “service”) is undergoing a period of transitions in Europe. Inspired by the teaching and practice of the Turkish Islamic scholar, Fethullah Gülen, Hizmet has been active in Europe (and other continents) for several decades. It has always been subject to some degree of contestation, which has intensified following the July 2016 coup attempt in Turkey, for which the current Turkish government holds Fethullah Gülen and Hizmet as responsible – a claim they strongly deny. In Turkey, thousands of people associated with Hizmet have been imprisoned. In Europe, pressures have been brought to bear on the movement and its activities. In charting a way forward, Hizmet finds itself in a significant transitional period, the nature and possible future trajectories of which are explored in this volume. The book is informed by a comprehensive literature review and a recent research project which includes primary research interviews with key Hizmet figures in Europe and beyond. It contends that to properly understand Hizmet in Europe, one has to situate it in its interactive engagement both with its diverse European national contexts and with Fethullah Gülen’s teaching and practice. 

Spis treści

1 Introduction 

1.1 The Focus of the Book 

1.2 A Religious Studies Approach and the “Politics of Naming” 

1.3 Situating in the Author’s Previous Research and the Wider

Literature 

1.4 Evidence, Aims and Methods 

References 

Part I Hizmet in Turkish Origins and European Development

2 Turkish Origins and Development 

2.1 Hizmet: The Emergence of a Phenomenon

2.2 Turkey’s Need for More Schools, Not More Mosques 

2.3 Turkey’s Deep Fissures, Need for Dialogue and Hizmet

Responses 

2.4 Relief of Poverty 

2.5 Business Links 

2.6 The Media 

2.7 Spread to “Turkic” Republics of the Former USSR and to

the Western Balkans 

References 

Contents

xviii Contents

3 Hizmet in European Hijrah 

3.1 Hizmet at European Level and Across Europe

3.2 Hizmet in the Netherlands 

3.3 Hizmet in Germany 

3.4 Hizmet in Belgium 

3.5 Hizmet in the United Kingdom (UK) 

3.6 Hizmet in Switzerland 

3.7 Hizmet in France 

3.8 Hizmet in Spain 

3.9 Hizmet in Italy 

3.10 Hizmet in Denmark 

3.11 Hizmet in Some Other European Countries 

References 

Part II Hizmet in Turkish De-centring and European

Transitions 

4 Pivotal Issues in Pivotal Times 

4.1 The AKP and Hizmet: Walking in Tandem? 

4.2 Mutual “Infiltration”? 

4.3 The MV Mavi Marmara Incident: A Sign of Things

to Come 

4.4 From Gezi Park to 15 July 2016 

4.5 Hizmet Trauma in Turkey and Europe 

4.6 Three-Layered Hizmet: Challenges and Opportunities 

References 

5 New Foci for Old Questions 

5.1 Changing Contexts 

5.2 Seen as Terrorists and Challenging Terrorism 

5.3 Turkishness and Beyond 

5.4 Charisma, Structures and Transparency 

5.5 Relating to Civil Society, Politics and the State 

5.6 Relating to Other Muslims 

5.7 Gender in Transition 

References 

Contents xix

6 Continuing Values, Different Expressions and Future

Trajectories 

6.1 Contextual Transitions 

6.2 Education to Tackle Ignorance 

6.3 Dialogue to Tackle Conflict and Promote Inclusive

Integration 

6.4 Helping to Relieve Poverty Developing into Supporting

Human Rights 

6.5 Meeting Needs and Keeping the Balance

6.6 Hizmet in Europe With and/or Without Fethullah Gülen 

6.7 Confident Engagement, Islamic Self-Criticism and

Human Focus 

6.8 From Copy-Paste into Contextual Reinvention

References 

O autorze

Paul Weller is Non-Stipendiary Research Fellow in Religion and Society at Regent’s Park College, University of Oxford, from which base he conducted the research that informs this book, and where is he is Associate Director (UK) of the Oxford Centre for Religion and Culture and an Associate Member of the University's Faculty of Theology and Religion.