“Everything about yesterday has gone with yesterday.
Today, it is needed to say new things.”
Rumi
As we embark upon a new year, I would like to begin by expressing our deepest gratitude for your ongoing interest in and support for the Center for Faith Identity and Globalization (CFIG)’s work. Following a long period of consultations and significant backstage work, Rumi Forum’s research and publication hub was successfully launched in the summer of 2022! And within just a few months, we accomplished producing substantive monthly publications on religious freedom, interfaith dialogue, theology, and globalization by our fellows, experts, and contributors. I invite you to check out CFIG’s growing online library here and stay tuned for upcoming publications!
In addition to these regular contributions, we wanted to highlight the month of December with a “Special Rumi Issue“, since Rumi wanted his passing to be celebrated as a union with the Beloved. Similarly, in “The Characteristics of a Believer”, Gulen underlines how a believer yearns to satisfy his desire for a reunion with God (1):
In constant humility, the believer waits like a servant at the door of the Divine, hoping that it will open to God’s familiar gaze. He waits for the fortunate hour when absence and separation will disappear and peace and nearness will envelop his soul…He experiences a new reunion with God at every turn and extinguishes the fire of longing, but it is quickly rekindled with a new spark…Indeed, the believer with such a broad horizon feels exceptionally ardent and resolute as he sets out to explore new realms.
As Rumi Forum, we are excited to welcome 2023 as one of the Convening Partners of IRF Summit 2023, which will bring together a broad coalition that passionately supports religious freedom around the globe for a two-day-in-person event in Washington on January 31st and February 1st. We are looking forward to having you join us as well.
This year, the Summit will be proceeded by the National Prayer Breakfast, which is designed to be a forum for the political, social, and business elite to assemble and pray together annually since 1953 in Washington, D.C., on the first Thursday of February. It is typically attended by some 3,500 guests, including international invitees from over 100 countries. Both the IRF Summit and National Prayer Breakfast will be co-located at the Washington Hilton to create a synergy between the two programs and to bring international attention to religious freedom issues.
(1) Fethullah Gulen, So That Others May Live: A Fethullah Gulen Reader, Blue Dome Press, 2013