Fethullah Gulen, the founder of the Hizmet movement, died at home in the US state of Pennsylvania on Sunday, at the age of 83. The influential cleric had been living there since 1999, in voluntary exile.

Gulen, who saw it as his mission to bring religion back to the Turkish state, said he also wanted to use a liberal interpretation of Islam to promote a dialogue between different faiths.

During his career, he built up a worldwide network of schools and civil society organizations run according to his ideas and philosophical views. There are many people today who see him more as a power broker than as a cleric.

A number of factors allowed Gulen to create this system.

Gulen was born in 1941 in the eastern Turkish city of Erzurum, the son of an imam. Alongside his regular schooling, he was given an Islamic education and was already active as a preacher by the age of 18.

In 1962, he co-founded the Association for Fighting Communism in his hometown, thus making his position clear during the Cold War era. There were several associations across the country with the same name at the time, all with a pro-US stance and a nationalist ideology.

From 1966, Gulen began building his future "brand." After moving west to Izmir for professional reasons, he founded his first House of Light — a prototype for his movement in the years to come. He also started establishing schools and associations.

His........

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