By Ghulam Mohiyuddin, New Age Islam
14 June 2012
Fethullah Gulen is a Turkish Islamic Imam at the centre of a popular and growing movement, with millions of disciples who follow his teachings of tolerance, interfaith dialogue, and education. Some have even started a chain of successful quality schools in the U.S. and several other countries, with an emphasis on math and science. Yet Gulen himself remains shrouded in mystery.
Over the past decade scores of quality schools have popped up all over the U.S. and in several other countries, all sharing some common features. Most of them are high-achieving academically; they stress math and science, and one more thing: they're founded and largely run by immigrants from Turkey.
Fethullah Gulen is the spiritual leader of a growing and increasingly influential force in the Muslim world -- known as "The Gulen Movement" -- with millions upon millions of disciples who compare him to Gandhi and Martin Luther King. Gulen promotes tolerance, interfaith dialog, and above-all, he promotes education. For example there is the Harmony School in Houston, part of a rapidly expanding chain of 36 charter schools in Texas. They serve mostly underprivileged students and they all emphasize math and science. The education in these schools gets high marks, as students get state-of-the-art technology and extensive one-on-one tutoring. Harmony school has 20,000 students, and 30,000 more are on a waiting list hoping to be admitted. Many of the teachers are Turkish.
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