The House of Service

The Gulen Movement and Islam's Third Way

David Tittensor

Religion and Global Politics

Provides critical insight into the student-teacher relationship in the Gülen movement
Showing how the Gülen movement is not only an NGO but a social business

The House of Service

The Gulen Movement and Islam's Third Way

David Tittensor

Description

David Tittensor offers a groundbreaking new perspective on the Gülen movement, a Turkish Muslim educational activist network that emerged in the 1960s and has grown into a global empire with an estimated worth of $25 billion. Named after its leader Fethullah Gülen, the movement has established more than 1,000 secular educational institutions in over 140 countries, aiming to provide holistic education that incorporates both spirituality and the secular sciences.

Despite the movement's success, little is known about how its schools are run, or how Islam is operationalized. Drawing on thirteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in Turkey, Tittensor explores the movement's ideo-theology and how it is practiced in the schools. His interviews with both teachers and graduates from Africa, Indonesia, Central Asia, and Turkey show that the movement is a missionary organization, but of a singular kind: its goal is not simply widespread religious conversion, but a quest to recoup those Muslims who have apparently lost their way and to show non-Muslims that Muslims can embrace modernity and integrate into the wider community. Tittensor also examines the movement's operational side and shows how the schools represent an example of Mohammad Yunus's social business model: a business with a social cause at its heart.

The House of Service is an insightful exploration of one of the world's largest transnational Muslim associations, and will be invaluable for those seeking to understand how Islam will be perceived and practiced in the future.

The House of Service

The Gulen Movement and Islam's Third Way

David Tittensor

Religion and Global Politics

Preface
Abbreviations
Note on Transliteration and Turkish Pronunciation
Introduction

PART ONE: The Gülen Movement in Context
1. Islam in Turkey: Continuities in Spite of Change
2. All is Not What it Seems: A Critical Appraisal of Modern Turkey
3. The Development of a Vision

PART TWO: The Gülen Movement in Practice
4. Voices from Within, Voices from Without: Movement Teachers and Students Speak for Themselves
5. Divergence Between the Mission and the Message: Interrogation of a Double Standard
6. Placing the Gülen Movement in the Global Order: The Need for a New Typology
Conclusion - A Singular Movement with a Modern Day Mission

Notes
Bibliography
Index

The House of Service

The Gulen Movement and Islam's Third Way

David Tittensor

Religion and Global Politics

Author Information

David Tittensor has a PhD in Politics from Monash University, Australia, and is presently a Research Fellow at the Centre for Citizenship and Globalisation at Deakin University. His research interests include transnational Muslim movements, Turkish politics and society, and faith-based organizations and development.

The House of Service

The Gulen Movement and Islam's Third Way

David Tittensor

Religion and Global Politics

Reviews and Awards

"The House of Service is noteworthy for at least two reasons. On the one hand, the author s ability to free himself of Western and Christian cultural paradigms concerning NGOs, on the other hand, the adoption of an uncompromisingly critical approach to his object of study. These two methodological exigencies combine to produce a highly stimulating and original work."--Journal of Contemporary Religion

"Tittensor s work is a key contribution to the growing critical scholarship on this global Muslim movement and a reasonable defense of the legitimacy of its approach to da'wa." --Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations

"This well-balanced analysis makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the very complex and, as yet largely mysterious transnational Islamic movement founded by the Turkish cleric, Fethullah Gülen...The House of Service, with its rich historical analysis, ample bibliography and useful index, is among the most commendable sources in English on the Gülen movement." --The Middle East Journal

"A balanced, insightful study of what has come to be known as 'the Gülen Movement.' Neither gullible cheerleading nor carping criticism of the movement inspired by Fethullah Gülen, Tittensor's work roots Gülen's thought and the movement's orientation in the DNA of centuries-old Anatolian society. Following Nursi and generations of Turkish Muslims before him, Gülen is attempting a negotiation of globalization and modernity within an Islamic frame of reference." --Thomas Michel, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, Doha, Qatar

"Now found in some 110 countries, the Gülen School movement is one of the largest and most dynamic Muslim-led international educational movements in the world. In this carefully researched and well-written book, David Tittensor provides a balanced analysis of Gülen Movement ideals, organization, and institutional history. The result is a book that should be read by everyone interested in the contemporary reformation of Muslim social ethics, as well as the far-reaching-and hopeful-changes taking place in Muslim-led education." --Robert Hefner, Director of the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs, Boston University

"...[T]his timely and scholarly book presents an objective analysis of the influential Gulen movement, which is generally described in controversial terms." --International Journal of Middle East Studies