Thousands of people mourn Fethullah Gülen, the Turkish spiritual leader who died in exile in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania

AUGUSTA, N.J. — A crowd gathered at Fethullah Gülen’s grave on Thursday, seeking another chance to pay tribute to the deceased. an influential Turkish spiritual leader and Islamic scholar who died this week in exile in the United States.

After an outdoor service in New Jersey that drew thousands of people, Gülen was buried on the grounds of the Chestnut Retreat Center, a sprawling, gated compound in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains where he lived and worked for a quarter of a century.

Gülen, who inspired a global social movement by facing unproven allegations that he orchestrated a failed 2016 military coup against Turkey’s president, died Sunday in a Pennsylvania hospital. He was in the 1980s.

On Thursday, he was remembered as a religious leader who encouraged his followers to devote themselves to God and good charitable deeds.

“We all feel like we’ve lost a father,” Usame Tunagar, a longtime collaborator, told mourners. “We all feel orphaned. There is a huge void in our lives right now.”

Tunagar, however, said Gülen will live on through his books and sermons, as well as through the thousands of schools and other institutions around the world founded by his followers.

“What lives on is his legacy,” he said.

Under a heavy police presence, family, friends and supporters packed a small stadium in northern New Jersey for a service that was conducted mostly in Turkish, with Islamic prayers and Quran readings in Arabic.

Followers who served as pallbearers either studied directly with Gülen or attended a school inspired by his movement. They entered the stadium carrying his coffin, wrapped in a green and gold covering inscribed with verses from the Muslim holy book.

Organizers said a brother and sister were present. Another brother is imprisoned in Turkey.

No memorial services are expected to be held in Turkey because public mourning, glorification of Gülen, or other forms of sympathy for Gülen could result in imprisonment in the country on charges of promoting and supporting terrorism.

After a service in New Jersey, hundreds of people gathered for Gülen’s funeral in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, on the grounds of an Islamic retreat center. The crowd pressed tightly around the burial site, and mourners crowded in to grab handfuls of dirt and throw it into the grave.

Mina Turkyolu, Gülen’s 22-year-old granddaughter whose father was a close associate of the religious leader for 50 years, said she remembered Gülen as having a “warm and big heart.” She said she remembered sitting on his lap as a small child and Gülen giving her chocolate. However, she said she always keeps his position in mind.

“Even though we are family, anyone you ask has never really been considered family. He was always a more saintly and noble person who was always looked up to with respect. That’s why he has always been an inspiration to all of us, to millions of people,” she said.

Gülen has long been one of Turkey’s most important scholars, with legions of supporters in his home country and around the world. He had been living in the United States since 1999, when he came for treatment.

His philosophy combined Sufism – a mystical form of Islam – with the strong promotion of democracy, education, science and interfaith dialogue. His acolytes have built a loosely knit global network of charitable foundations, professional associations, businesses and schools in more than 100 countries, including 150 taxpayer-funded charter schools across the United States.

The religious leader started out as an ally of Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan but turned into an enemy. He called Erdogan an authoritarian bent on accumulating power and crushing dissent. Erdogan labeled Gülen a terrorist, accusing him of orchestrating an attempted coup that took place on July 15, 2016, when factions in the military used tanks, warplanes and helicopters to overthrow the government.

A total of 251 people died and approximately 2,200 were injured. About 35 alleged coup plotters were killed.

Shortly after the attempted coup, the normally reclusive cleric summoned reporters to his living quarters at the Pennsylvania compound to deny any knowledge or involvement in its planning. He said he would not return to Turkey even if the coup succeeded, fearing he would be “persecuted and harassed.”

“It’s a peaceful and clean place, I enjoy my freedom here and I enjoy it,” Gülen said of the Islamic retreat founded by Turkish Americans, which he adopted as his home and where he would be buried eight years later. “The longing for the homeland burns in my heart, but freedom is also equally important.”

In Turkey, the Gülen movement – sometimes called Hizmet, Turkish for “service” – has faced widespread repression. The government has arrested tens of thousands of people for their alleged links to the coup plot, dismissed more than 130,000 suspected supporters from civil service positions and more than 23,000 from the military, and closed hundreds of Gulen-linked businesses, schools and media organizations.

The Turkish government responded to his death this week by vowing to maintain pressure on the Gülenist movement. Erdogan said Gülen suffered a “shameful death” and compared him to a “demon in human form.” He promised that the movement would be “completely eliminated.”

Gülen was never charged in the US, and the US government rejected Turkish demands for his extradition. The priest consistently condemned terrorism and coup plotters.

Mustafa Yilmaz, 46, taught chemistry at Gülen-affiliated schools abroad and in Turkey until 2016, when he fled his country in the face of Erdogan’s crackdown and was granted asylum in Canada.

Yilmaz, who lives in Toronto, traveled to New Jersey for Gülen’s funeral. He called it “an important task for me to be here.”

“We will always follow what he left us,” Yilmaz said.