Welcome to the new Rumi Forum Bi-Monthly Newsletter.

From all of us at the Rumi Forum, we extend our warmest wishes of health, joy and peace to all who are celebrating during this beautiful and abundant holiday season . . .

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Holidays!

Inspiring Words

Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.

 Rumi      

RUMI Awards & Congress Dinner

The Rumi Forum bestowed its traditional Peace and Dialogue Awards on October 27th, honoring Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) Secretary-General Professor Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, Democratic Congressman Gerry E. Connolly of Virginia, Professor John Borelli from Georgetown University, Professor Sidney Griffith from the Catholic University of America, Maureen Fiedler, host of the Interfaith Voices radio program on WAMU radio, and Ebru TV, a Turkish channel aired in the US.

Congressman Connolly praised the activities of the Rumi Forum, saying, “If there is something that I think is important and that is represented by this forum tonight and the work of the Rumi Forum, it is the ability it has to bind us all in tolerance and understanding.” Congressman Mike McMahon of New York described the protocols signed between Armenia and Turkey for the normalization of their diplomatic ties and the opening of their border as historic.
Several attendees speaking at the award ceremony expressed their support and admiration for the honorary president of the Rumi Forum, Fethullah Gülen, a renowned Islamic scholar advocating increased interfaith dialogue. “He is not only working hard to teach us respect for one another but also the necessity of learning more about one another,” Professor Griffith said of Gülen.

Great interest in the ceremony from congressmen
The Rumi Forum award ceremony was attended by 14 congressmen, both Republican and Democrat, The congress people in attendance were Gerry Connolly (Virginia); John Conyers (Michigan); Walter Jones, Larry Kissell, Howard Coble and Bob Etheridge (North Carolina); Keith Ellison (Minnesota); Bill Cassidy (Louisiana); Nick Rahall (West Virginia); Mike McMahon (New York); Jean Schmidt (Ohio); Robert Aderholt (Alabama); Kendrick Meek (Florida); and Vic Snyder (Arkansas).
Representatives, including ambassadors, from embassies of Turkey, Afghanistan, Albania, Yemen, Romania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Moldova, Greece, South Africa, Bahrain, Fiji and Mali also attended the event.

Rumi Forum Welcomes New President

In early September of this year the Rumi Forum welcomed its new president, Emre Celik. Hailed from the land down under, Mr. Celik is an Aussie native with Turkish roots.

Mr Celik was born in Izmir, Turkey while his family was visiting Turkey from Australia. Mr. Celik received a degree in Computer Systems Engineering from the University of Technology, Sydney and then went on to receive a Masters Degree in Teaching from the Charles Darwin University of Australia.

Mr. Celik’s involvement in community affairs encouraged him to leave the field of engineering, becoming greatly involved in educational and intercultural projects in the Australian cities of Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.

In 1996, Mr. Celik served on the Executive Committee that established the first private college founded by the Australian Turkish community. He has since worked on numerous educational and community projects during his time in the 3 eastern states of Australia.

Before arriving in the U.S., Mr. Celik was the General Coordinator of the Australian Intercultural Society. AIS is a non-profit, community based organization that is committed to bringing together people of different backgrounds to help improve understanding and respect and to build greater community harmony. Since its founding in 2000, AIS has been involved in many bridge building events that help to overcome ignorance and prejudice. Amongst numerous other projects, AIS established the first ever Fethullah Gulen Chair at the Australian Catholic University. During his tenure as General Coordinator, Mr. Celik was involved in two ground breaking projects that brought together the Muslim and Jewish communities of Melbourne, Building Bridges and Embracing Youth, both sponsored by the Australian government’s Living in Harmony initiative. He also served as a member of the Victoria Police Multi-Faith Council and was involved in the preparation of the 2009 Parliament of World Religions to be held in Melbourne.

Mr. Celik has spoken extensively on issues on peaceful co-existence and intercultural dialogue and spoke at an international conference in Oklahoma on the Contributions of Australian Muslims to Dialogue

Since arriving in Washington, Mr. Celik has been busy getting to know the Washington community at various events and programs, namely the 2009 RUMI Peace and Dialogue Awards held at Congress. He has also been traveling extensively throughout the U.S., speaking to audiences about the important work conducted by the Rumi Forum, specifically the importance of bringing people and ideas together through dialogue.

Mr. Celik can be reached at emre@rumiforum.org.

Gulen Conference at UMD

The Rumi Forum of Maryland held the conference, Preventing Violence and Achieving World Peace: The Contributions of the Gulen Movement, this October 29, 2009 at the University of Maryland, College Park. The conference is co-sponsored by Dept. of Anthropology ,The Rumi Club, Graduate Student Government at the University of Maryland, College Park. Several distinguished speakers including former ambassador, US State Department official, academicians talked about the contributions of the Gulen Movement to the World Peace.

The conference opened with a keynote speech by Dr. Ori Z. Soltes from Georgetown University, titled, “Socrates, Violence, Education, the Gulen Movement, and Peace”. This talk compared Socrates’ aims to those of the Gulen Movement. Dr. Soltes noted that like Gulen, Socrates emphasized importance of ethics and the process of dialogue for brining morality into all facets of life. Gulen emphasizes that education is the ultimate means through which we can deduce Divine will and thus improve the world. He noted that unlike Socrates, the Gulen Movement has been able to put Gulen’s ideas into action through its varied educational programs, media, cable, and internet programming. Moreover, the Gulen movement seeks peace through constant effort and struggle, and this is a “fullness of peace” that not merely tolerates, but embraces diversity, and it cannot be described as merely the absence of war.

The conference featured two panels, one titled “Preventing Violence and Achieving World Peace” and the other, “The Contributions of the Gulen Movement to World Peace.” Dr. John Davies from University of Maryland, College Park opened the first panel by sharing findings from a comprehensive research program that has identified societal factors which strongly correlate with the likelihood or absence of violence and wars within and among nations. The single best indicator of a nation-state’s likelihood of creating a climate for war is the Infant Mortality Rate. Peter Kovach, from the U.S. Department of State said that Rumi Forum in Washington DC and Pacifica Institute at Los Angeles are one of the most effective peace organizations that build bridges between people from diverse backgrounds. Kovach shared with the audience the Department of State’s recent success in collaboration with the Egyptian delegation in resolving issues stemming from the Organization of Islamic Conference regarding defamation of religions. Kovach presented the issue as a free speech issue, noting that “One man’s truth is another’s defamation,” and that suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. Ambassador David Newton shared his experience with Radio Free Iraq. He noted that the internet has weakened control of authoritarian regimes; they can no longer totally dominate the media. He stated that the media is an empty vessel, and it can be filled with tolerance or intolerance and incite violence or peace. Dr. Imad-ad Dean Ahmad of the Minaret of Freedom Institute wrapped up the session by emphasizing the critical importance of education (as opposed to merely schooling) for fomenting tolerance and peace. He observed that historically Muslims went to madrasses to learn and understand the Qu’ran (education). Today, madrasses teach memorization and correct pronunciation (schooling). We need to move more towards being educated about other cultures and about ways of thinking in order to achieve greater tolerance.

The second panel shifted focus to a more complete understanding of how the Gulen movement conceptualizes peace and ways to achieve it. Dr Eileen Eppig of the College of Notre Dame identified how Gulen’s ideas regarding peace are inspired by Sufism and the Holy Qu’ran. Human beings are God’s highest level of creation and He manifests His qualities, His “names” through His creations. When we recognize God’s love within ourselves, then we can see it in others and all of creation. This recognition brings about actions that respect God’s love in all of His creations and leads to a state of compassion. Dr. Heon C. Kim of Temple University continued with Dr. Eppig’s themes by emphasizing the Islamic perspective that places the highest value on humanity, as opposed to fundamentalist beliefs which tend to devalue humanity. Kim demonstrated that dialogic humanism is the heart of Gulen’s thought and gives the reason for the existence of the Gulen movement – hizmet, service to humanity as a solution to individual and collective problems. Dr. William Taft Stuart of the University of Maryland, College Park discussed the social capital that the Gulen Movement brings to peace building, including its educational activities, forum activities, and media outlets, especially Zaman Newspaper. Dr. Pim Valkenberg was positioned excellently as the final speaker. He emphasized how the notion of peace is connected to religion. He stated that Gulen’s notion of peace is based on an analysis of three roots of violence – ignorance, disunity, and poverty. The Gulen movement activities address these three areas through its schools, dialogue groups, and charity organizations, such as Kimse Yok Mu. According to Gulen, for a Muslim, peace cannot be separated from religion as a Muslim desires, in his or her daily life to be at peace with all of creation. For Gulen, it is not enough that Muslims should feel safe, but that all humanity should feel safe. Since passages of violence and peace can be found in all fundamental scriptures (e.g. Judaic, Christian, Muslim), what is important is the mindset that interprets the scripture. Since Islam values peace above violence, then peace is the key to understanding the Qu’ran. If we believe that peace is better than violence, then we must be on the side of peace. From this viewpoint, violence in religious texts are interpreted as corresponding to specific circumstances, and cannot be seen as a fundamental, underlying premise!

Rumi Forum Internship Program

We are now accepting applications for our winter and spring 2010 internship program.

Eligibility: All undergraduate and master’s-level students and J.D. and Ph.D. candidates as well as recent graduates are eligible to apply.

Application Process: In order to apply for a Rumi Forum Internship, please submit the following:

· Cover Letter and Resume

· College or University Transcript

· 2-3 References (please provide both the phone and email contact information and please include a Professor or other individual familiar with your work)

Duration:
Winter: January to March
Spring: March to May

*starting dates are flexible

Please send materials via email to internships@rumiforum.org  Back to top^

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