I assume it was the excitement of finding a huge enthusiastic congregation before him that made this fellow imam keep repeating "mind you!" to warn the people of his neighborhood about human responsibility and the Hereafter. I could hardly restrain myself at the point when he made the same grave warning after the Qur'anic verse "We are nearer to him than his jugular vein"; I was worried members of the congregation unfamiliar with the verse could even think the phrase was part of the verse! I wished I could tell the imam that an apocalyptic tone of address would not really help to increase the attendance at his mosque; it would not work for me at least.

The mosque and public speeches hold a very significant role in the shaping of a Muslim community. The prominence Fethullah Gülen Hocaefendi has achieved throughout his career among other state-licensed imams is mainly due to his success at delivering public sermons in a most powerful style. "His public speaking is probably the most outstanding of his many aspects," says Ergene in his Tradition Witnessing the Modern Age: An Analysis of the Gülen Movement recently released by Tughra Books. Listening to our fellow imam's address I could not help but sadly long for the days I used to put on the speakers of my walkman to lend an ear to the touching voice of Hocaefendi that deeply shook my heart. I would feel as if I were off the ground, temporarily soaring in a different realm; his voice resonated in the walls of my conscience, my mind departed for a time-journey back to seventh-century Mecca. Mixed with the aura of the Age of Happiness fourteen centuries ago, my feelings were filled with hope for a blissful future. Gülen also warned people of the coming of a day when people will not know where to flee, but his presentation was not like a teacher's scolding a student. He spoke in a most pleasant way, instilled hope in me that humans are essentially good, the world is not an abode of evil, and God Almighty is the All-Merciful above anything else; He is the All-Forgiving.

I do not question the sincerity of the imam in our neighborhood, and perhaps comparing him with Hocaefendi is not fair. But inviting to Islam is surely by way of “facilitating” as suggested in a saying of the Prophet, peace be upon him; making life difficult and giving the impression of an unbearable Islam does not work.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."