What form did his early education take?
There were few opportunities for a general secular education for ordinary Turkish people at this time so his parents took charge of his early education and religious instruction. Gülen’s parents sent him to the nearest state primary school for three years. However, because his father was later assigned by the state to a post as preacher and imam in another town, one that had no secondary school, Gülen was unable to progress to secondary education.
Although at this time mosques and congregational prayer were permitted by law, all other forms of religious instruction and practice were not. Even so, Gülen’s parents, like many other ordinary Turkish people, kept up the Turkish Islamic tradition and made sure that their children learned the Qur’an and basic religious practices, including prayer. They avoided confrontation with the authorities and the regime, concealing the fact that they were providing elementary Islamic instruction to their own and their neighbors’ children.
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