Thursday, January 26, 2012

Fethullah Gülen's latest book Yaşatma İdeali launched in İstanbul

Jumbo Editorial Team

Renowned Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen's latest book, “Yaşatma İdeali,” (The Ideal to Let Others Live), was launched at a forum in İstanbul, Turkey, on January 24 The event, organized by the Journalists and Writers Foundation (GYV), was held at the Ceylan Intercontinental Hotel.

Gülen, in his message to the participants of the gathering dwelled on the importance of self-sacrifice for others.

“As you will agree, a person who only thinks of himself is not a human at all, but a human with a deficiency. The way real humanity can be achieved is through self-sacrifice for others. The value of a person in the eyes of God can be measured by the level of their benevolence. The most obvious sign of a high level of benevolence is sacrificing one's personal pleasures and joys for the happiness of others,” Gülen observed in his message.

A panel discussion sharing the name of Gülen's book was organized for the event. Professor Mehmet Altan, also a journalist and writer, presided over the panel. Delivering a speech to the panel, journalist Şahin Alpay talked about the contribution made by Gülen's followers through the opening of schools all around the world. He said these schools are of great benefit to humanity and will play a significant role in raising new generations.

The Gülen movement is a group of volunteers engaged in interfaith and intercultural dialogue, inspired by the ideas of Fethullah Gülen, whose teachings promote mutual understanding and tolerance between cultures. Now residing in the US, Gülen has pioneered educational activities in a number of countries, along with efforts to promote intercultural and interfaith activities around the world.

“Recently, the identity of the individual has been highlighted while being a human being has been placed on the back burner. We should not forget humanitarian values just for the sake of promoting individual identity. People are thirsty for dialogue, but despite this we have become a society in which we are alienated from each other. I have learned much from the speeches made here. It is obvious that I will learn much from the book, too,” Media Association President, Salih Memecan, remarked.

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