Political Islam (The Justice and Development Party in Turkey) Versus the Gülen Movement

Abstract

Islam has been interpreted by individuals since its birth and Political Islam is one of them. Moderate Muslim Scholars have identified some of its interpretations as extreme due to their consequences and negative effects on Muslims and others. Political Islam has a long history and the Justice and Development Party (the AKP) is a new face of it in 21^st Century. The purpose of this paper is to explore the defining political Islam, especially in the characteristics of the Ruling Party (Justice and Development Party) and compare its Islam to Hizmet (service) Movement. Although the AKP has long benefitted from the valuable support of Fethullah Gülen and his followers in the way of democratizing the state and its institutions the two allies have clearly separated from each other since 2013 maybe a little bit earlier. This separation has created a massive impact on Muslims as well as on other people. Due to a great polarization, hatred and enmity between the two groups and its huge effect on society it has become a necessity to analyze the interpretation of Islam by these two groups.