An intra-Moslem dispute is coming to a head as followers of Muhammed Fethullah Gülen are targeted by the Turkish government.
Many Moslems follow the teachings of Gülen, a Turkish Islamic preacher who founded the Gülen movement and the Alliance for Shared Values. He currently resides in the U.S. His tolerant message is deeply resented by extremists, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has demanded the US extradite him. Erdogan, who has sought to end secular rule and who may have engineered the recent failed coup in an attempt to justify a harsh crackdown on political rivals, has blamed Gulen for the aborted attempt.
As religious and ethnic strife expands exponentially across the globe, today’s commemoration of the birthday of the late Mother Teresa and her upcoming canonization as a Catholic saint on September 4 offer an alternative vision. The soon-to-be saints’ legacy is emblematic of the nation that gave her birth, a country that, like America, offers an optimistic view of how people of different faiths can live together.
Mother Teresa’s vision may have an impact on geopolitical relations.
The soon-to-be Saint’s extraordinary dedication to the poor and downtrodden was not based solely on a dedication to her religious faith. Throughout her life, she bravely wrestled with significant doubts about the presence of God in a world filled with suffering.
Despite that, her profound belief in the concepts of right and wrong, the personal obligations each human has to others whatever their religious or ethnic background, and that every man and woman, no matter how great or humble their circumstances, can make a difference, drove her to achieve extraordinary accomplishments.
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She travelled far from her native Albania to service those in need. Her efforts began in India, providing assistance and comfort to those most desperately in need and furthest from society’s reach.
It is not a coincidence that Mother Teresa was born in Albania, a nation with a population that served as a figurative island of heroism and tolerance during a period when it’s oppressed population was held captive by Nazis and Communists. Christians, Jews and Moslems came together to battle the atrocities, subjugation, and hatred that foreign powers imposed on them.
During World War II, Albanians distinguished themselves in their efforts to protect Jews from Nazi invaders. A CNN report notes that “According to Yad Vashem, the Israeli museum that holds the world’s largest repository of documents and information related to the Holocaust, there is not a single known case of a Jew being turned over to Nazi authorities in Albania during its occupation…Incredibly, Albania’s Jewish population actually grew during World War II. The reason so little is known about Albania’s unique role during the Holocaust has a lot to do with the country’s post-war history. Once the war was over, Albania fell under communist control and spent the next half-century behind the Iron Curtain.”
Almost 10% of the nation’s entire population was left homeless as a result of the war. Suffering continued when Serbian authorities engaged in ethnic cleansing against Albanians, which only ended when their forces were expelled in 1999.
Newsweek reports that “In the aftermath of the Paris killings… the tolerant religious climate in Albania is drawing interest…Albanians are half-flattered and half-amused by their country’s newfound reputation as one of the few places where different faiths get along. ..Besar Likmeta, a journalist in Tirana, who follows religious affairs, says the failure of hard-line Islamists to recruit much of a following in Albania has much to do with the nation’s ‘foundation myth’. Albanians believe their country ‘was taken away from Europe and plunged into darkness by the Ottoman Empire – and that Islam was associated with that’, he says. One result, even among believing Muslims, is a deep-rooted Occidentalism that the Communist experience did little to alter: ‘For 50 years we were completely isolated and dreaming of Coca Cola! We don’t look East for answers but West. There has always been a feeling that [Albanians] need to return to where we belong.”
It is not a coincidence that Albanians have an afinity for the United States. The love affair extends back to the end of the First World War, when President Wilson unsuccessfully but vigorously sought to insure the territorial integrity of an independent homeland for Albanians.