Honorary President Fethullah Gulen

A Brief Biography of Fethullah Gulen

Fethullah Gulen is a Turkish Muslim scholar, thinker, author, poet, opinion leader, educational activist, and preacher emeritus. Mr. Gulen was born into a humble family in Erzurum, Turkey, in 1941 and currently resides in Pennsylvania. 

He is regarded as the initiator and inspirer of the worldwide social movement of human values known as the Hizmet (Service) Movement or the Gulen Movement. This social phenomenon defeats easy categorization, focusing on education where secular curricula are taught by teachers who aspire to “represent” high values of humanity. Volunteer participants in the movement, consisting of students, academicians, business owners, professionals, public officials, white-collar and blue-collar workers, farmers, men and women, young and old, contribute to multiple ways of service, which crystallize in tutoring centers, schools, colleges, hospitals, a major relief organization, publishing houses, and media institutions, both in Turkey and in more than a hundred countries of the world.

Honorable Fethullah Gulen is also Peace Islands Institute’s source of inspiration and Honarary President. East West Institute 2011 Peace Award recipient, 2008 Forbes Magazine’s top intellectual, writer of over 60 books, and a role model for millions of people from different walks of life. His vision and mission of peace have been applauded by many officials and civic leaders of different countries and respected opinion leaders like Pope John Paul II, Hon. Bill Clinton, Hon. Abdullah Gul (President of Turkey), Hon. R.T Erdogan (Prime minister of Turkey), Hon. Hillary Clinton, Hon. Madeleine Albright, Hon. Mr. Kofi Annan, The Head of Orthodox Christianity, Patriarch Bartholomew I, Prof. John Esposito, Monsigneur Georges Marovitch, Chief Rabbi of Turkey Isak Haleva.

As members of PII, we believe the world needs his vision of love, action with compassion, understanding, and dialogue to live together, and overcome the obstacles that threatens the future of humanity. His acceptance to become our honorary president has inspired and empowered us to fulfill the mission of Peace Islands Institute. We would like to take this opportunity to thank the highly esteemed Mr. Fethullah Gulen, for being our honorary president.