“Said Nursi and Fethullah Gulen: The Rise and Fall of Post-Nurcu Messianism in Turkey” a lecture by Mucahit Bilici

https://vimeo.com/188315927

Fethullah Gulen and his vast network of followers and institutions have played a key role in Turkish politics over the last decade. With the July 15 coup attempt last summer, he has become a subject of even greater curiosity and scrutiny. In this talk, Mucahit Bilici discusses Gulen’s relationship to Said Nursi, one of his intellectual sources, and the continuities and discontinuities between the two, with specific attention to the Messianic elements in the thought of both figures. The discussion aims to situate Gulenism in relation to both Nurculuk and Islamism.

Mucahit Bilici is Associate Professor of Sociology at John Jay College and CUNY Graduate Center. He is the author of Finding Mecca in America: How Islam Is Becoming an American Religion (University of Chicago Press, 2012). Besides American Islam, his research interests include social theory, Islamophobia, Muslim societies (Turkey), Said Nursi and Kurdish Studies. Bilici is a faculty fellow at CUNY Dispute Resolution Center.