SAYLORSBURG, Pa. -- Fetullah Gülen has been called the world's top public intellectual and the face of moderate Islam. He has held court with Pope John Paul II and received praise from former President Bill Clinton.
"You're contributing to the promotion of the ideals of tolerance and interfaith dialogue inspired by Fetullah Gülen and his transnational social movement," Clinton told audience members during a video address at the World Rumi Forum in 2010.
Yet others have branded Gülen a wolf in sheep's clothing and a modern day Ayatollah Khomeini. CBN News recently took a closer look at the the life of the reclusive imam who directs a global Islamic movement from the Pennsylvania mountains.
Gülen's story takes him from a small town in Turkey to founder of a multi-billion dollar Islamic movement bearing his name.
Shortly after he left for America, a series of secretly recorded sermons featuring Gülen aired on Turkish television. In one of them, he told his followers:
"You must move in the arteries of the system without anyone noticing your existence until you reach all the power centers...You must wait for the time when you are complete and conditions are ripe, until we can shoulder the entire world and carry it..."
Meanwhile, the Gülen movement continues to expand its influence through the construction of schools worldwide, including in America.
Currently, there are about 125 Gülen schools spread out over 25 states. One school in Philadelphia receives some $3 million annually in taxpayer money.
"They work through the education system. Their main tool is educating kids," Cohen told CBN News.
Fethullah Gulen:
Exclusive: World’s ‘Most Dangerous Islamist’ Alive, Well, and Living in Pennsylvania
Paul Williams, PhD
An Islamic Armed Fortress Emerges in the Pocono Mountains The most dangerous Islamist in the world is neither Afghani nor Arab.
He comes from neither Sudan nor Somalia.
And he resides in neither the mountains of Pakistan nor the deserts of the Palestinian territories.
This individual has toppled the secular government of Turkey and established madrassahs throughout the world. His schools indoctrinate children in the tenets of radical Islam and prepare adolescents for the Islamization of the world.
More than 90 of these madrassahs have been established as charter schools throughout the United States. They are funded by American taxpayers.
One of these charter schools – Tarek ibn Zayed Academy (TiZA) in Minnesota – is so radically Islamic and subversive in nature that the Minnesota Department of Education issued two citations against it and the American Civil Liberties Union is suing it. Dozens of his universities, including the Faith University in Istabul, train young men to become lawyers, accountants, and political leaders so that they can take an active part in the restoration of the Ottoman Empire and the Islamization of the Western World. He also allegedly operates compounds to train jihadis in the tactics of guerilla warfare.
This individual has amasssed a fortune – over $30 billion – for the creation of a universal caliphate. His name is Fethullan Gulen and he resides not in the wilds of southern Turkey – but the mountains of Northeastern Pennsylvania.
From his fortess headquarters, located on 28 acres at 1857 Mt. Eaton Road in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, Gulen plots the overthrow of secular governments and oversees the spread of education jihad throughout Asia, Europe, and the United States.
Gulen is surrounded by an army of over 100 Turkish Islamists, who guard him and tend to his needs. The army is comprised of armed militants who wear suits and ties and do not look like traditional Islamists in cloaks and turbans. They follow their hocaefendi's (master lord’s) orders and even refrain from marrying until age 50 per his instructions. When they do marry, their spouses are expected to dress in the Islamic manner, as dictated by Gulen himself.
The Saylorsburg property consists of a massive chalet surrounded by numerous out buildings, including recreational centers, dormitories, cabins for visiting foreign dignitaries, a helicopter pad, and firing ranges.
Neighbors complain of the incessant sounds of gunfire – including the rat-tat-tat of fully automatic weapons – coming from the compound and the low flying helicopter that circles the area in search of all intruders. The FBI has been called to the scene, the neighbors say, but no action has been taken to end the illegal activity. Sentries stand guard at the gates to the estate to turn away all curiosity seekers.
Within the sentry hut are wide screen televisions that project high resolution images from security cameras. Before the hut is a sign that reads “Golden Generation Worship and Retreat Center.”
It’s hard for the local residents to understand that the Muslim who operates this compound is not an American political or intelligence official – but rather a radical Islamist from Turkey.
Gulen fled Turkey in 1998 to avoid prosecution on charges that he was attempting to undermine Turkey’s secular government with the objective of establishing an Islamic government. Since his arrival in Pennsylvania, the Department of Homeland Security has been trying to deport him. But in 2008 a federal court ruled that Gulan was an individual with “extraordinary ability in the field of education” who merited permanent residence status in the U.S.
The ruling remains quizzical because Gulen has no formal education or training.
Gulen, according to the Middle East Quarterly, was a student and follower of Sheikh Sa'id-i Kurdi (1878-1960), also known as Sa'id-i Nursi, the founder of the Islamist Nur (light) movement. After Turkey's war of independence, Kurdi demanded, in an address to the new parliament, that the new republic be based on Islamic principles. He turned against Atatürk and his reforms and against the new modern, secular, Western republic. How powerful is Gulen? And why is he such a threat to America and the Western world?
Consider this.
Turkey is now ruled by the Justice and Democratic Party (Adalet ve Kalkinma, AKP)- - a party under the Gulen’s control. Abdullah Gul, Turkey’s first Islamist President, is a Gulen disciple along with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Yusuf Ziya Ozcan, the head of Turkey’s Council of Higher Education.
Under the AKP, Turkey has transformed from a secular state into an Islamic country with 85,000 active mosques – one for every 350- citizens – the highest number per capita in the world, 90,000 imams, more imams than teachers and physicians – and thousands of state-run Islamic schools.
Despite the rhetoric of European Union accession, Turkey has transferred its alliance from Europe and the United States to Russia and Iran. It has moved toward friendship with Hamas, Hezbollah, and Syria and created a pervasive anti-Christian, anti-Jewish, and anti-America animus throughout the populace.
Speaking on Monday at the inauguration ceremony of "TRT al Turkiye," the new channel of the state run TV station TRT, Prime Minister Erdogan said Turkey will always be on the side of Muslims wherever they are.
Gulen’s tentacles stretch throughout the country since his followers, known as Fethullahists, have gained control of the country’s media outlets, its financial institutions and banks, and its business organizations. According to Bayram Balci, a Turkish scholar, the Gulen schools that have been established throughout the world seek to expand “the Islamization of Turkish nationality and the Turification of Islam” in order to bring about a universal caliphate ruled by Islamic law.
Several countries have outlawed the establishment of Gulen schools and cemaats (communities) within their borders – including Russia and Uzbekistan. Even the Netherlands, a nation that embraces pluralism and tolerance, has opted to cut funding to the Gulen schools because of their imminent threat to the social order. But Gulen’s activities in the United States, including the establishment of an armed fortress in the midst of the Pocono Mountains, have escaped national press attention.
In his public statements, Gulen espouses a liberal version of Sunni/Hanafi Islam and promotes the Muslim notion of hizmet – altruistic service to the common good. Despite the paramilitary training at his Pocono fortress, Gulen has condemned terrorism and called for interfaith dialogue. He has met with Pope John Paul II, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomeos, and Israeli Sephardic Head Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron.
In private, Gulen has stated that “in order to reach the ideal Muslim society ‘every method and path is acceptable, [including] lying to people.’”
In a sermon that was aired on Turkish television, Gulen said:
You must move in the arteries of the system without anyone noticing your existence until you reach all the power centers … until the conditions are ripe, they [the followers] must continue like this. If they do something prematurely, the world will crush our heads, and Muslims will suffer everywhere, like in the tragedies in Algeria, like in 1982 [in] Syria … like in the yearly disasters and tragedies in Egypt. The time is not yet right. You must wait for the time when you are complete and conditions are ripe, until we can shoulder the entire world and carry it … You must wait until such time as you have gotten all the state power, until you have brought to your side all the power of the constitutional institutions in Turkey … Until that time, any step taken would be too early—like breaking an egg without waiting the full forty days for it to hatch. It would be like killing the chick inside. The work to be done is [in] confronting the world. Now, I have expressed my feelings and thoughts to you all—in confidence … trusting your loyalty and secrecy. I know that when you leave here—[just] as you discard your empty juice boxes, you must discard the thoughts and the feelings that I expressed here.
Why has the federal government opted to turn a blind eye to Gulen and his mountain fortress?
Why have Gulen’s madrassahs been kept under the radar screen of Hoimeland Security?
Why have the CIA and FBI allowed Gulen to wreck havoc and topple secular governments without interruption or intervention?
The questions beg answers.
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Paul L. Williams is the author of The Day of Islam: The Annihilation of America and the Western World, The Al Qaeda Connection, and other best-selling books. He is a frequent guest on such national news networks as ABC News, CBS News, Fox News, MSNBC, and NPR. Visit his website at http://thelastcrusade.org.
Fethullah Gulen - global brand franchise
Fethullah Gulen’s discourse cherishes and his life exemplifies values like empathic acceptance, altruistic service of one’s community and humanity in general, complementary roles of the intellect and the heart, sincerity, holistic view of the human, deepening faith and love of the creation.
He is noted for his pro-democracy, pro-science, pro-dialogue and non-violence stances in critical junctures of the history of his society. In July 2008, Fethullah Gulen was listed among the top hundred public intellectuals in the world by Foreign Policy magazine .
Fethullah Gulen.org
Fethullah Gulen Movement.net
Fethullah Gulen's Website
Qualifications
Extensive knowledge and teaching experience in Islamic scholarship. Proficient author with more than sixty books translated into many world languages. Recognized as the world's top public intellectual in Foreign Policy / Prospect poll in 2008. Years of service as an imam, preacher, and civil society activist with acclaimed competence as a speaker on Islam, education, and dialogue in Turkey.
Education
Classical education in Islamic scholarship at various divinity schools (Kurşunlu, Kemhan, Taşmescid) under a number of Turkey's renowned Sufi scholars and masters, such as Ramiz Gülen, Muhammed Lütfi, Haci Sıtkı, Sadi Efendi, and Osman Bektaş (1951–1956)
Compulsory elementary education (1946–1949)
Home schooling along with memorization of the whole Qur'an and mastering recitation skills (before 1946)
Employment
Imam / Preacher
* Voluntary Imam / Preacher, Erzurum, Amasya, Tokat, Sivas (1955–1958)
* Deputy Imam, Üçşerefeli Mosque, Edirne (1959–1961)
* Imam / Lecturer, Iskenderun, while serving compulsory military service (1961–1963)
* Member of the Public Hall, Erzurum (1963). Convened conferences and lectured on Rumi
* Qur'an Teacher / Imam, Dar'ul Hadis Mosque, Edirne (1964)
* Senior Preacher (Merkez Vaizi), Kırklareli (1965)
* Senior Preacher, Izmir (1966–1971)
* Director / Teacher, Kestanepazarı Boarding Qur'anic School (1966–1971)
* Senior Preacher, Edremit (1972–1974)
* Senior Preacher, Manisa (1974–1976)
* Senior Preacher, Izmir, Bornova (1976–1980)
* Voluntary Preacher, Istanbul, Izmir, and throughout Turkey (post-retirement service) (1986–1989)
Speaker
* Delivered a series of talks in Turkey and Europe (1975–1977)
* Talks on social, cultural, and religious matters recorded and broadcast every week on www.herkul.org (2003– present)
Honorary President / Civil Society Leader
* Founder member of the Journalists and Writers Foundation (1994)
* Participated in interfaith gatherings and promoted dialogue through a number of events organized by this foundation. (1994–1998)
* Honorary president of Rumi Forum, Washington D.C. (1999–present)
THE GULEN INSTITUTE
The Gülen Institute was established in October 2007 as a non-profit organization and a joint initiative of the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work and the Institute of Interfaith Dialog.
The perspectives of the institute are inspired by the life and works of the distinguished contemporary scholar and civic leader Fethullah Gülen. Visit Fethullah Gulen Forum for updates on Mr. Gulen and Gulen Movement.
Dialog of Civilizations Platform on January 23, 2010
Luncheon Forum: Dr. Robert Pape
"Occupation, violence and religion: A look at dynamics of conflicts in the light of Afghanistan troop surge"
Gulen Institute welcomes Dr. Robert A. Pape, a distinguished political science professor, from the University of Chicago at a luncheon forum.
This luncheon will take place during the Dialog of Civilizations Platform on January 23, 2010. After Dr. Pape's speech, there will be a session where high school students participate as panelists. Their topic is 'Improving Family Relations".
OPENING REMARKS: Harris County Judge Ed Emmett 
SESSION: Social Conflicts and Peaceful Coexistence
SESSION: Substance Abuse and Youth
HIGH SCHOOLS SESSION: Improving Family Relations
SESSION: Public Role of Women around the World
SESSION: Poverty and Social Justice
Hon. Kofi Annan at the Gülen Institute
April 12, 2010
Secretary-General of the United Nations, 1997-2006
Nobel Peace Prize Recipient
Speech Topic: The Global Compact: Challenging Business to Become Leading Actors in Sustainable Development
Gülen Institute's Youtube Channel
Fethullah Gulen Conference.org
International Conferences on Islam in the Contemporary World: The Fethullah Gülen Movement in Thought and Practice
Fethullah Gülen is a Turkish Muslim scholar, thinker, author, poet, opinion leader, educational activist, and preacher emeritus. He is regarded as the initiator and inspirer of the worldwide social movement of human values known as the Hizmet (Service) Movement or the Gülen Movement.>
2005 Islam in the Contemporary World: The Fethullah Gülen Movement in Thought and Practice
November 12-13, 2005, Rice University, Houston, TX, U.S.A.
2006 The Second International Conference on Islam in the Contemporary World: The Fethullah Gülen Movement in Thought and Practice
March 4-5, 2006, Southern Methodist University, Dallas,
2006 The Second Annual Conference on Islam in the Contemporary World: The Fethullah Gülen Movement in Thought and Practice
November 4-5, 2006, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, U.S.A.
2007 The Third Annual Conference on Islam in the Contemporary World: The Fethullah Gülen Movement in Thought and Practice
November 3, 2007, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio,
2009 The Fifth International Conference on Islam in the Contemporary World: The Gülen Movement in Thought and Practice
March 6-7, 2009, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S.A.
NOTE: There is no information on the Fourth International Conference on the website
Fethullah Gulen Forum is an online discussion board of issues related to Fethullah Gülen. By creating active discussions, FG Forum aims to offer in depth analysis on Fethullah Gülen and the Gülen Movement.
Recent Articles
* Defamation of Gulen as a Smoke Screen Abdullah Ademoglu. April 5, 2010
* Responses to Soner Cagaptay Fethullah Gulen Forum. March 13, 2010
* Fethullah Gülen: Spiritual Leader in a Global Islamic Context Salih Yucel, PhD- Journal of Religion and Society. February 4, 2010
* Fethullah Gülen and Al-Ghazzali on Tolerance J. B. Schlubach, Ph.D.. January 7, 2010
* Fethullah Gulen's Thoughts on State, Democracy, Politics, Terrorism and ... Zeki Saritoprak, PhD.
* “Fethullah Gülen's Grand Ambition”: A Biased, Selective, Misleading, Misrepresentative and Miscalculated Article Dogan Koc. January 29, 2010