The place is Fatih, Istanbul; a small girl from a large Black Sea family is just finishing up primary school. Her family, traditional, and according to the norm for the social environment at that time, do not see the point in her continuing her education. So she stays home. One day a neighbor tells her about a Qur'an course where she could go if she wanted to. Eagerly our heroine accepts…she can continue to enjoy a school atmosphere. And the school is a boarding school, so she will be in an environment of constant learning and growing.She goes to the school and sees other 11 and 12 year olds. Everyone is crying. Our friend doesn't understand the tears. She is overjoyed with this chance. She is keen to learn and sets to work with great energy. However, a year or two later, the headscarf is banned, and she has to give up her education. But she gathers the ladies in the neighborhood, calling them to her home, where she helps them read the Qur'an and reads for them. She notices that other little girls in the neighborhood, inspired by her, start to put on the headscarf. Her family, one that had always voted for left-wing parties, start to learn more about their religion, and become more devout. At 17 our friend marries; but she is fortunate in that her husband gives her a lot of moral support; she enters the high school exams, finishes high school and takes the first of the two university exams. Having done well, she plans on attending university. However, her young children are not happy about this, and protest in the way that only children can. Torn, our friend decides to attend open university so that she can spend time with her children and learn. This lady is Ayla Kerimoğlu, the president of Hazar Society. Ayla graduated from open university with a degree in Social Sciences. But she looked around her, and was not content with what she had achieved or with the state of the country. In the 1990s, the Bosnian War was raging; Ayla, like everyone else in Turkey was hearing news about deaths, rapes and other atrocities. But she, as many people, felt that the voice of the Turkish people was not being heard by the government in Ankara. She realized that if she wanted to have her voice heard, she had to get organized with other people who felt as she did. At that time, many girls found themselves outside the university gates, due to wearing headscarves. Ayla would join them, protesting, despite being heavily pregnant. Ayla not only wanted to be organized, she wanted to continue learning; she couldn't go to university, but perhaps she could join private courses. There was a popular program on television, Siyaset Meydani; when Ali Kirca asked Muslim theologians questions about Islam, Ayla realized that she should know the answers. This was her religion, and she had to find the information to learn more. But at that time there were no courses she could attend outside university. The number of books on the subject were limited and information was not as easy to find then as it is today. One day Ayla was praying. As always, her prayer mat was facing the bookshelf, on which a 16-volume work on the meaning of the Qur'an stood. She often prayed to have the patience and time to read all 16 volumes, but so far had only managed to finish one.Suddenly she had an idea. Every year in Ramadan Turkish women go to one another's houses to listen to someone read the Qur'an. But they never heard what the verses they were reading meant, they never discussed the finer aspects of what they heard. It occurred to her that someone should have a Qur'an recitation that was accompanied by the Turkish meaning. If Ayla was to do it, she would have to finish all 16 volumes, and Ramadan was only 2 months away. When she mentioned the idea to her husband, all he said was "You can do it." But Ayla wasn't convinced.The next morning her mother came to her house early and said "What did you do?" Ayla, confused, told her mother that she hadn't done anything. But her mother insisted, saying she must have done something good, as she had had a dream in which someone had asked Ayla what she wanted to do and she had answered "I want to complete my religion." She told her mother about the conversation she had had the night before. Ayla's mother insisted that she prepare by reading the books and give the course. So Ayla sat down and studied all 16 volumes, and during Ramadan she had women come to her house, where they discussed the meaning of the verses. That was Ayla's first attempt at an organization. Two years later, however, Ayla still hadn't found a group that she could join to learn more. Again, as she was praying the evening prayer, the answer came. From inside her a voice said "You do it." Frightened, confused, Ayla said "Who, me?" The voice continued, "Why not?" "Who will come?" The answer again was "Why not?"Ayla sat down and drew up a list of the pros and cons. Seeing that there was not much to lose, she decided to go ahead. She rang a few friends and everyone was keen to join. At the first meeting 15 people came. Girls who had left university, or who had been thrown out for wearing the headscarf. They all wanted to learn more. They would read a book and then invite the author to come and discuss it with them. They studied the Qur'an with an instructor. Everyone was keen to participate. The first meetings were in homes, but then they realized that if the group was to grow, they had to be more impersonal, more professional, and they started meeting in hotels. This was the seed for Hazar Society, which was established in 1993. The word Hazar was chosen, as it means peace in Ottoman Turkish. Ayla wanted a name that would reflect what they stood for, and Hazar summed up their stance.One of the aims of Hazar is to teach about the world outside Turkey; another is to teach about Islam, while a third is to get people to examine the problems within themselves, their traditions and habits, in an attempt to put things rights. As Ayla says "It is not just people outside who make problems for us; we create our own problems as well."One thing Hazar has done from the very beginning is to re-identify how discussion groups should be held. They didn't want to carry out discussions like on television, where personal verbal attacks were the norm. Hazar's rules are that everyone is welcome, everyone should talk, listen and be allowed to respectfully criticize.At Hazar the participants are free to nominate any and all books they like to be read. Ayla Hanim says "If you go to Marmara University you follow their curriculum, if you go to Ankara University you follow their curriculum; Hazar is a free university and we can read anything we want. If we want to study Christianity, we invite a Christian and ask them questions and learn from them. When we studied Buddhism, we invited the Dalai Lama's representative to come and talk to us. We don't just learn the facts but we listen to the people who are directly involved."In Hazar they believe that as everything has a good and a bad aspect and there should be no restrictions on what is learned. Some participants are angered that people who hold opposing ideas are called, but Ayla is determined that it is only through discussion that we can learn. The world is composed of a number of different peoples and Hazar strives to see the world from above. For example, they learn that they need to be more objective about the West, perceive the West's mistakes and those of the East. People who have never been in a milieu with women who wear headscarves find themselves visiting Hazar. When they see the interested audience they too become interested, and atheist, Christian, Alawi or otherwise, many end up asking for a new meeting where they can discuss new topics. Hazar finds itself acting as a bridge between different sectors of society, talking to people whom they normally don't spend time with.When asked to sum up what Hazar means, Ayla says that it is a society that has continued for 22 years, with love and respect. It has grown, renewed and touched the lives of people. The people coming here have no expectations, but are tied to one another by the heart. She finds that when foreigners come to Turkey and find out about Turkish Muslim women they come to her. Through her simple and pure motives she has become an internationally renowned representative of the religious Turkish women. A long way from a primary school girl in Fatih, but the determination is the same.