An international conference on the Hizmet Movement, a civic movement inspired by Turkish Islamic academic Fethullah Gulen, is to be held in Taipei to promote its teachings and practices in Taiwan, organizers said yesterday.
The conference entitled “The Hizmet Movement and the Thoughts and Teachings of Fethullah Gulen: Contributions to Multiculturalism and Global Peace,” is scheduled to take place on Dec. 8 and Dec. 9 at National Taiwan University’s College of Social Sciences.
Academics from Taiwan, Turkey, the US and Japan are set to discuss issues including faith-inspired social movements and their structures; the development and financing of such movements; Gulen’s contributions to democracy; and modern Islamic theology, science, education and charity, said the Taipei-based Formosa Institute, which is jointly organizing the event with the Taiwan Association of Islamic Studies.
They are also set to discuss the philosophy of Hizmet (the Turkish word for “service”), to compare Gulen’s philosophy with Confucian thinking and discuss the movement’s stance on gender issues, the institute said.
Similar conferences have been held in the US and Britain, said the institute, an organization inspired by the teachings of Gulen, and other intellectual and spiritual leaders.
Gulen, an academic, educator and author who advocates a moderate brand of Islam, has millions of followers around the world.
He is known for his remark “a terrorist cannot be a Muslim, nor can a true Muslim be a terrorist,” following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the US.
In July 2008, the 71-year-old, who now lives in the US state of Pennsylvania, was voted by readers of the US’ Foreign Policy magazine and Britain’s Prospect magazine as the world’s top public intellectual.
Gulen has inspired the founding of hundreds of schools, hospitals and businesses around the world, including schools in 140 countries.
His teachings advocate tolerance, peace and intercultural and interfaith dialogue, as well as mutual understanding of different religious and ethnic groups.
The work done by Gulen’s followers focuses on issues ranging from democracy, multiculturalism and globalization to civil society and intercultural dialogue, the institute said.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said yesterday that it is looking to hire 8,000 people this year, at a time when the tech giant is expanding production capacity to maintain its lead over competitors. To attract talent, TSMC would launch a large-scale recruitment campaign on campuses across Taiwan, where a newly recruited engineer with a master’s degree could expect to receive an average salary of NT$2.2 million (US$60,912), which is much higher than the 2023 national average of NT$709,000 for those in the same category, according to government statistics. TSMC, which accounted for more than 60 percent
RSS