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In this open-access monograph, Paul Weller explores how the movement known as Hizmet (meaning "service") is undergoing a period of transitions in Europe. Inspired by the teaching and practice of the Turkish Islamic scholar, Fethullah Gülen, Hizmet has been active in Europe (and other continents) for several decades. It has always been subject to some degree of contestation, which has intensified following the July 2016 coup attempt in Turkey, for which the current Turkish government holds Fethullah Gülen and Hizmet as responsible – a claim they strongly deny. In Turkey, thousands of people associated with Hizmet have been imprisoned. In Europe, pressures have been brought to bear on the movement and its activities. In charting a way forward, Hizmet finds itself in a significant transitional period, the nature and possible future trajectories of which are explored in this volume. The book is informed by a comprehensive literature review and a recent research project which includes primary research interviews with key Hizmet figures in Europe and beyond. It contends that to properly understand Hizmet in Europe, one has to situate it in its interactive engagement both with its diverse European national contexts and with Fethullah Gülen's teaching and practice.

This is the first book of its kind about the Turkish Muslim scholar, Fethullah Gülen, since the July 2016 events in Turkey, the trauma experienced by Gülen, and the disruption to initiatives inspired by his teaching, known as Hizmet. Drawing on primary interviews with Gülen and Hizmet participants and a literature review, this Open Access book locates the clear origins of Gülen's teaching in the Qur'an and Sunnah in dynamic engagement with their geographical, temporal and existential reception, translation, and onward communication. It argues that as Hizmet cannot be understood apart from Gülen and his teaching, Gülen and his teaching cannot be understood apart from Hizmet, while exploring the heritage of both. A more geographically focused case study is set out in author Paul Weller's Hizmet in Transitions: European Developments of a Turkish Muslim-Inspired Movement, also published by Palgrave Macmillan (2022).

Using the events surrounding 'The Satanic Verses' controversy as a starting point, the author offers an examination of the 21st century challenges posed by living with radical difference, freedom of expression, and mutual respect

This article argues that there are important connections between what is happening in Brexit and matters with which people in the Two Thirds World have long experience. It posits that a serious understanding of the roots of the Brexit crisis requires an analytical engagement with the cross-currents that swirl between the UK's global imperial and colonial inheritance and some of the key trends and issues arising from the highly varied, ambiguous, but also irresistible contemporary forces of globalisation resulting from what the British historian Arnold Toynbee called "the annihilation of distance". 'Brexit' has shaken up political configurations and complacency about what English politicians for too long have tended to refer to in an unconsciously culturally and politically assimilationist way as "the nation" when, as a matter of both historical fact and contemporary reality, the present UK state is a specific configuration of nations within a single state that was created as part of an overall "internal" trajectory of a colonial and imperial enterprise that was rolled out into the wider world. If this analysis is accepted then it is not surprising that issues relating both to Scotland and to Northern Ireland have been playing a very big role in the present Brexit crisis. The published article is an abridged form of an unpublished longer paper on "Roots, Routes, and Times of Decision: Brexit, Populisms, Colonialism and Imperialism in Global Perspective", which is downloadable open access from https://pure.coventry.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/23840319/Roots_Routes_and_Times_of_Decision_long_form_article.pdf. Finally, the article argues that it is likely that those of us who live and work in the UK will need to call in aid against our temptation to despair, the analytical, spiritual and practical resources that sisters and brothers from the 'Two Thirds world' have developed over several centuries of understanding the destructive phenomena of colonialism and imperialism, and in identifying some possible ways to overcome them. ; N/A

This paper takes as its starting point a description and analysis of a concrete training programme and community of practice (Belieforama-http://www. belieforama.eu) that seeks to address and embody a focus on lived experience and narratives, while going on to identify some lessons that might be drawn from this. Belieforama includes a generic training that addresses Religious Diversity and Anti-Discrimination; specific trainings on Overcoming Islamophobia, on Overcoming Antisemitism, and on Reconciling Religion, Gender and Sexual Orientation; and, finally, on Facilitation Skills and Taking Action. Over 2,000 people have taken part. It has won prizes for quality adult learning from the European Commission's Lifelong Learning Programme, and also the BMW Group's First Prize for Intercultural Commitment. Its approach was developed with input from both "religious" and "non-religious" organisations and people. It has been tested in a variety of national, language and other contexts. It works by drawing, in an interactive and inclusive way, on the lived experience and narrative of participants, aiming to bring them into better personal consciousness and also to take responsibility for action. This article highlights the learning reported by participants in Belieforama and discusses this with reference to wider potential lessons for a Europe of religion and belief diversity as well as specific recommendations relating to the European Union. ; This report is the product of a consultancy project funded with support from the European Commission (504667-LLP-1-2009-1-BE- GRUNDTVIG-GMP).

This report, produced by Professor P. Weller and Dr. I. Foster of the University of Derby, United Kingdom, is based on two phases of research conducted in six OSCE participating States—Belgium, Germany, Greece, Moldova, Poland and the United States of America—between December 2016 and May 2018. The research took various forms, including focus groups, interviews, questionnaires, observations, as well as desk research based on published literature. A detailed bibliography of works consulted is provided in an appendix to the report. The report provides background information about the history of anti-Semitism in each of the countries studied, along with recent statistics concerning reported anti-Semitic incidents in each country. The report does not compare how significant an issue anti-Semitism is in these participating States; rather, it presents an overall pattern of evidence to identify a range of key challenges with at least some relevance for teaching about and addressing anti-Semitism in classroom contexts across the OSCE region as a whole, and thus provides the basis for recommendations that could inform the development of teacher resources to meet those challenges in any OSCE participating State, not just the ones studied for this report. The research has made clear that, while the incidence, frequency and forms of anti-Semitism may vary over time, it remains a reality in OSCE participating States. However, there is relatively little published research on anti-Semitism among young people as such, and even less that is specifically focused on teaching about anti-Semitism and/or addressing it in classroom contexts. Therefore, the primary research that informs this report makes a clear contribution to understanding anti-Semitism as it currently exists in a number of OSCE countries, albeit subject to certain limitations in terms of methodology, which are noted in the report's appendices. ; This publication was published with funding from "the Words into Action to Address Anti-Semitism" project of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). The opinions and information it contains do not necessarily reflect the policy and position of ODIHR.