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2020 | Book

Introduction Read chapter Read first chapter

Islam and Muslim Resistance to Modernity in Turkey

Author: Gokhan Bacik

Publisher: Springer International Publishing

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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About this book

This book explores how traditional Sunni Muslim conceptions have informed or shaped Islamization strategies in contemporary Turkey. In particular, the author proposes to examine the teaching curriculum of the Ministry of Education, which oversees Turkish public religious education; the activities and teachings of Diyanet, the constitutional organ responsible for managing all religious affairs; and the ideas and activities of three Muslim religious groups currently operating in Turkey. The monograph explains how the interpretation and practice of Islam affects various situations in the Muslim world and analyzes the concept of nature in Islam, which has been an indivisible component of Islamic tradition since the beginning.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Introduction
Abstract
This chapter introduces the book and defines what is meant by the Islamic idea of nature. Then the chapter explains how the idea of nature is relevant in explaining the interpretation and practice of Islam affecting various situations in the Muslim world. The rationale for this book is explained, and an overview of major arguments is provided. The chapter also provides information about the book’s structure and content by including a summary of each subsequent chapter.
Gokhan Bacik
Chapter 2. Origins: Sunni Orthodoxy
Abstract
This chapter studies Sunni orthodoxy as it is the grand social and historical complexity that determines the mainstream interpretation of Islam in Turkey. This chapter emphasizes that orthodoxy is both a set of ideas as well as a reflection of certain power relations. On this account, the chapter focuses on the power relations between religion and political authorities. The chapter discusses how historical and traditional modes of connections between Sunni orthodoxy and political power are critical to understand how Islamic actors interpret the idea of nature.
Gokhan Bacik
Chapter 3. The Islamic Idea of Nature
Abstract
This chapter explains the contending narratives of nature within the Islamic theological tradition. The chapter defines a religious idea of nature as the collection of theological propositions about how nature works that Muslims acquire in their religious socialization. However, those propositions are expounded in an immense body of literature. Therefore, the chapter first systematizes them in a plain and consistent framework. Accordingly, the Islamic idea of nature is examined in terms of four major constitutive elements: causality, free will, knowledge, and the concept of God. Then, the chapter explains these four topics according to the Ash‘ari, the Maturidi, and the Mu‘tazili schools of theology.
Gokhan Bacik
Chapter 4. The Contested Boundaries of Turkish Islam
Abstract
This chapter examines the historical evolution of Turkish Islam (i.e. the negotiations of Turks and the Islamic theological schools) by studying how Islam in Turkey has positioned itself in the general debates about Islamic theology between two schools: the Ash‘ari and the Maturidi. One major purpose of the chapter is to investigate the historical patterns of continuity and differentiation that have affected Turks’ theological positions.
Gokhan Bacik
Chapter 5. Mapping the Cases: Official Islam and Islamic Movements
Abstract
This chapter provides detailed information about the five selected cases of the book in terms of their genealogy, historical evolution, structure, and methods of activism. The main purpose of the chapter is to introduce the reader to the selected cases of the book: The Directorate of Religious Affairs, compulsory religious courses, Isṃıkçılar, İskenderpasṃa, and Erenköy. The chapter also explains the rationale behind the selection of those five cases and clarifies their relevance to the understanding of the Islamic idea of nature in the Turkish context. In this vein, given that three of the cases are Islamic movements (Isṃıkçılar, İskenderpasṃa, and Erenköy), the chapter includes a discussion on how to interpret them within the larger frame of Islamic activism by proposing three models: reformism, renewalism, and revivalism.
Gokhan Bacik
Chapter 6. The Islamic Idea of Nature in Contemporary Turkey
Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to explore how Islamic actors interpret and transmit the Islamic idea of nature to their followers as well as to the public in Turkey. In exploring its subject matter, this chapter studies how the five selected cases (The Directorate of Religious Affairs, compulsory religious courses, Isṃıkçılar, İskenderpasṃa, and Erenköy) interpret and transmit the Islamic idea of nature in terms of causality, free will, knowledge, and the concept of God. While studying how Islamic authorities and actors articulate their idea of nature, the chapter also explains where their narratives situate within the Islamic tradition. Drawing from the works of scholars and leading thinkers of Islamic movements, the chapter offers a critical analysis of the Islamic idea of nature as interpreted and transmitted in Turkey.
Gokhan Bacik
Chapter 7. Conclusion
Abstract
Based on the evidence provided in this book about Muslims’ encounter with modernity at the paradigmatic level, as well as its disclosure of the dimensions of the debate on the Islamic idea of nature, this chapter concludes with a general discussion of how its findings are relevant in understanding Muslim societies with respect to grand debates over change, reform, and modernization.
Gokhan Bacik
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
Islam and Muslim Resistance to Modernity in Turkey
Author
Gokhan Bacik
Copyright Year
2020
Electronic ISBN
978-3-030-25901-3
Print ISBN
978-3-030-25900-6
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25901-3