M Fethullah Gulen

Fethullah Gülen (1941–2024 CE) was a Turkish Muslim scholar, preacher, and writer. He was born in Korucuk, near Erzurum in eastern Turkey, into a modest family, and received a traditional Sunni religious education in the Turkish Hanafi tradition. His thought owes a clear debt to Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, whose spiritual and reflective approach to faith and modern life left a deep mark on him. After early years teaching and preaching in mosques in eastern Turkey, he settled for a time in the Aegean coastal city of Izmir, where his sermons and circles began to attract a wide following. Over the following decades his teaching inspired a broad, faith-rooted civic and educational network known as Hizmet, the service movement, or the Gülen movement, which established schools, dialogue centers, and cultural institutions in many countries. As an author he wrote extensively, weaving together Qurʾanic reflection, hadith, and Sufi spirituality. His works translated into English include Reflections on the Qurʾan: Commentaries on Selected Verses, The Messenger of God: Muhammad, Key Concepts in the Practice of Sufism, Questions and Answers about Islam, and Toward a Global Civilization of Love and Tolerance. From 1999 until his death in 2024 he lived in Pennsylvania in the United States. He remains one of the most widely read and discussed Muslim figures of the contemporary period.