The Ramadan Fast, Jihad, and Hizmet in the World of Fethullah Gulen
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66362/iji.v1i5.24Keywords:
Jihad, Ramadan Fast, Hizmet, Fethullah Gülen, Darul Islam, SufismAbstract
This article examines the interconnected concepts of Ramadan fasting, jihad, and hizmet (service) within the intellectual and spiritual framework of Fethullah Gülen. It begins by situating fasting as a universal religious practice that cultivates self-discipline, spiritual awareness (taqwa), and moral restraint, emphasizing its role beyond physical deprivation. The discussion then reframes jihad primarily as an inner spiritual struggle, while acknowledging its historical complexity shaped by interpretation across Islamic traditions. Drawing on Sufi thought, particularly figures like Ibn al-‘Arabi and Rumi, the article highlights a mystical understanding of jihad that prioritizes self-purification, love, and openness to diverse paths toward God.
Building on this foundation, the study presents Gülen’s interpretation of jihad as a non- violent, service-oriented endeavor expressed through hizmet—altruistic action aimed at benefiting humanity. Gülen’s vision integrates spirituality with social responsibility, promoting education, interfaith dialogue, and global cooperation as means to address ignorance, poverty, and conflict. Ultimately, the article argues that true jihad, in Gülen’s thought, is the ethical and spiritual effort to transform both the self and society through compassion, tolerance, and active service.
References
The two particular books by Gulen that I am referencing here—there are many more books and essays in which he expresses these sorts of ideas—are Love and Tolerance, (Somerset, NJ: The Light, 2006); and Criteria or the Lights of the Way, Vol 1, (London: Truestar, 1996).
There are Christian and Jewish mystics, such as St Francis of Assisi and Abraham Abulafia, who manifest particularly interesting and/or strong expressions of this sensibility, as well. See Soltes, Searching for Oneness, 1-10, 124-30, 135-9.
There are many discussions of what mysticism is, from that in Henry James and Evelyn Underhill to a plethora of recent volumes. A concise and accessible definition is found in Ori Z Soltes, Mysticism in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: Searching for Oneness, (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008), 1-10.
Two Hebrew words are eventually pressed into service by Jews for “Hell.” One is she’ol, which originally, however, really only meant “grave”—or at any rate a dark and still place where those who are dead go. See Robert Rainwater, “She’ol,” in Watson E. Mills, ed., Mercer Dictionary of the Bible (Mercer University Press, 1990), among other discussions. The other, gehenna, is a corruption of the phrase gei ben Hinnom—the “Valley of Hinnom,” just south by southwest of Jerusalem, with an at worst horrifying and at best ugly history: this is the “Valley of the Shadow of Death” through which the psalmist walks, “fear[ing] no evil, for Thou art with me” (Ps 23:4).
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