POSITIVE ASPECT OF ILLNESS

Close to the Chicago airport, Muslims of Turkish origin have established a large institution—the Turkish-American Society (TAS). It is associated with the well-known Turkish Muslim scholar, Ustad Fethullah Gulen. Our visit to the centre was a great experience. Interacting with the people at the centre, I commented on the remarkable movement led by Ustad Gulen that had spawned an ‘educational empire’—hundreds of high-quality schools across the world, in more than a hundred countries! I also remarked that the Turks had established the Ottoman Caliphate that lasted for a long time but conditions in the wake of the First World War led to its collapse. The Turkish nationalist leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk is credited with single-handedly destroying it. Having studied the issue, I believe that the Ottoman Caliphate ended not by the actions of any single individual. Rather, it was the demand of the times, the requirement of the age that this should happen. How and why do I say this? By the early 20th century, political empires across the world were fast crumbling. Earlier it had been possible to establish political empires and that’s how there was the British empire, the Mughal Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Roman Empire. Keeping with the changing conditions and demands of the times, Ustad Gulen had clearly focused his attention on non-political work—on promoting education. He caught hold of the root, as it were, education being an issue of the utmost importance. He helped set up a large number of quality schools across countries. Interestingly, he did not talk about establishing universities. Nothing happens through universities unless the schools that feed the universities are good. You need good schools that provide quality education and moral training. And that’s what Ustad Gulen stressed on. As I reflect on Mustafa Kemal Ataturk’s declaration abolishing the Ottoman Caliphate, I realise this was not an individual’s announcement. Mustafa Kemal articulated the voice of the new age, telling us that the age of political empires was out for good. The early 20th century witnessed the end of political empires. Mustafa Kemal laid the foundation by introducing democracy and later Ustad Gulen built a rugged education system on this base. Ustad Gulen has shown that opportunities to progress will still remain—in the nonpolitical sphere. In fact, we have more opportunities than before! If If earlier people tried to establish political empires, often at a very heavy cost, today we can establish nonpolitical ‘empires’ where the sky is the limit!