Anatolian Islam in the social thought of Fethullah Gulen

Undoubtedly, Fethullah Gulen is one of the Muslim intellectuals and social leaders whose thoughts have received attention in the last few decades. He introduces a new version of Islam, which is known as moderate Islam or social Islam among Western thinkers. Gülen interprets Islam by a Turkish reading, in which Islam finds a special link with Turkish identity. His innovative reading of Islam, while emphasizing individual morality and spirituality pays special attention to interpretation, tolerance and dialogue with other religions and supports the establishment of a comprehensive pluralist. By revising and redefining the words and terms of Sufism, he places service as a faith-inspired concept at the center of his work, which leads to the form of modern Sufism. Modern Sufism is the expansion of the concept of individual Sufism to the community and the promotion of social participation in today's modern world.In order to understand Gülen's reading of Islam, we first explain his interpretation of Turkish or Anatolian Islam by his intended concepts. In the meantime, we examine the concept of Jihad in more detail due to Gulen's new interpretation of that. Finally, we discuss the causes of the backwardness of Muslims from Gulen's point of view and in the framework of his understanding of Turkish Islam.It can be said that Gülen's social Islam is a type of secular Islam that is known as Rahmani Islam among Muslim thinkers. His Rahmani Islam, by displaying a gentle and non-violent face of Islam to the world and linking that with modernity, has five major features: selective and minimal view of Islam, distortion and conversion of the concepts of political Islam such as Jihad, ethics based on Universal and secular values, emphasis on tolerance, accepting the theory of religious pluralism and establishing a pluralistic society by support of Western democracy.