Description
Book SynopsisIn 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.
Table of Contents1 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
