Social Theology and Islamic Civilization (An Examination of the Views of Muhammed Fethullah Gülen)

Fethullah Gülen is a theorist of social theology whose theories are mainly focused on the application of Islam to the modern condition. He emphasizes on issues such as service, job, education, and, in general, the construction of a social world based on Islamic concepts. Thus, his reading of Islam is in contrast with a political reading of Islam, since he organizes the implementation of Islam as a social phenomenon, regardless of a governmental path. In this paper, I seek to explore and examine Fethullah Gülen’s views by reference to theoretical issues in civilizational studies. Gülen is an intellectual who claims to have provided theories about the Islamic civilization. He tries to present a prescription for the encounter between the Islamic world and Western modernity, which preserves the identity of the Islamic civilization and is efficient as a solution for problems in the Islamic world, while having as a consequence as few conflicts between the Islamic world and the West as possible in order to secure both this-worldly and afterlife happiness. The main difference between Gülen and many other Muslim intellectuals is the way he approaches social activity and practice, and this has turned him into a figure who is both a Muslim intellectual and a social leader, who tries to put his thoughts about the reconciliation between Islam and modernity into practice.