All essays
Located in the heart of Central Asia, Bukhara represents not only a geographical center but also the spiritual and intellectual core of Islamic civilization. From its founding through the Samanid period to its recognition as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the c…
A diary written on the thirty-sixth day in Oman — a meditation on farewells, on the strange question of where home is, on a teacher in Sohar who became one of the most beautiful parts of the writer's story, and on time as something we cannot rewind or fast-for…
A fourth-year student at the Faculty of Theology, Ankara University, writes about his Erasmus semester in Germany — from the visa process and finding accommodation, to working through coursework on methodology, Ibn Taymiyya, and Qur'anic ethics. A practical an…
Udi by Fatma Aliye (Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, 2024, 112 pp., ISBN 9786254292668) tells the story of Bedia, a young woman raised in love of music — and through her, reflects on the lives of women during the constitutional period, the importance of ed…
The Qur'an declares that the gates of heaven will open wide for people who show the will to build the common good together, and that the earth will become a fertile home for these people. A short phenomenological reading of faith — what abundance, prosperity, …
An introduction to Greek mythology — what 'myth' and 'mythology' mean, why mythology is worth studying for its presence in our everyday language and imagination, and a first telling of the creation story from Hesiod's Theogony. The first installment in what th…
Imam Bukhārī (194 H / 810 CE — 256 H / 870 CE) is one of the most eminent hadith scholars in Islamic history, the author of the Sahih al-Bukhārī. This essay follows his life from a Bukharan childhood through years of study and travel to his death near Samarkan…
An extended interview with Prof. Dr. Halis Albayrak of the Department of Tafsir at Ankara University Faculty of Divinity. The conversation ranges across the problem of meaningful engagement with the Qur'an, Kalām and Fiqh as historical-human activities, the re…
In Islamic thought, the relationship between moral responsibility, human will, and the omnipotence of Allah has been a subject of deep debate, especially concerning the concepts of 'good' and 'evil.' Three major theological schools — the Mu'tazila, Mātūridī, a…
An account of a faculty-organized Arabic-language program at Sohar University, Oman: the long flight from Trabzon to Muscat to Sohar, the teachers Mr. Hosni and Sheikha, friendships with classmates and a Ugandan student named Suleiman, and the visits to Muscat…
A letter from a teacher to her students — a reflection on how studying theology dissolved her assumed paradigm and immersed her in a vast ocean of meaning, on the discipline's ability to connect with so many other fields, and on the recognition that absolute t…
Psychological problems such as trauma, anxiety, and emotional distress can be triggered by various external factors. From the beginning of human history, people have developed coping strategies; religion, alongside personal rituals and relaxation techniques, h…
Time plays an essential role in shaping our lives and daily routines, and it can be perceived differently under various conditions and circumstances. By examining the perception of time and related philosophical views — from Plato and Kant to Bergson and the m…
It is generally believed that the Turks encountered Islam during the campaigns of the Umayyad Caliphate in Asia. However, they did not embrace Islam as their religion at that time. An accurate acquaintance with Islam happened during the Abbasid period, especia…
The origin of humanity has been thought of by scholars throughout history. The word 'origin' comes from the Latin origo, meaning 'beginning' or 'source'. We firmly believe that the source of humanity is women — our mothers, who raise and teach us and encode ou…