sohbet society
London
Sohbet Society is a non-profit organisation (limited by guarantee company
registration no.11613566) providing religious learning and spiritual activities
for Muslims. Sohbet is a Turkish word and means ‘to talk, converse, discuss and
engage with one another in a friendly, caring, warm and informal manner’. In our
context, we use the word sohbet to mean to converse with one another in a study
or discussion circle on the big questions of God, purpose, meaning, faith,
religion, and society. Through Sohbet Society, we provide opportunity for
religious learning and spiritual growth and development for Muslims in Britain.
We achieve this through a series of activities including study groups,
mentoring, outreach, retreats, excursions and social action. Religious and
spiritual learning is achieved through semi-structured study groups as well as
practical experiences such as social action and retreats. In all, we aim to
offer a friendly, positive and constructive form of authentic religious
expression and an environment for genuine spiritual experience that speaks both
to the mind and heart, to the personal and social needs of the individual. We
believe this nurtures a religious understanding and spiritual mindset that
emphasises peaceful social relations and respect for human diversity and
dignity. Sohbet Society is an active component of Hizmet, an Islamically
inspired social movement that focuses on education, dialogue, and disaster and
poverty relief work. It originated in Turkey in the 1970s based on the teachings
and scholarship of Fethullah Gülen, an Islamic scholar and peace advocate.
Today, Hizmet is active in over 160 countries worldwide. Like other social
movements Hizmet includes formalised entities and organisations, but is largely
based on informal networks and practices. The Sohbet Society is now formalising
Hizmet’s pre-existing informal grass-roots religious activism in the UK in order
to achieve greater visibility, transparency, professionalism, and structure so
that we may be able to diversify the people who benefit from our services and to
further develop our projects and services.
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