February 28, 2013

History of the Educational Projects of the Gulen Movement

Helen Rose Ebaugh

Mr. Gülen, together with administrators of the Kestanepazari institution and with the support of local businessmen organized summer camps for middle and high school students, as well as university students. These camps taught secular education courses in areas such as history and biology but also provided religious discussions on issues such as the role of Islam in public debates. Mr. Gülen often evoked the life of Muhammad and the classical period of the Ottoman Empire as good examples of ways in which fidelity to the precepts of Islam promoted greatness.