In addition to the basic Islamic sciences, the field of Sufism has a wide range of interests in the fields of science and art, from literature to philosophy, history to sociology, music to painting, political philosophy to popular culture. A closer look reveals that every study on culture in this geography has to refer to the field of Sufism. Studies on Sufism also offer new perspectives to those interested in sociology and human psychology.
The Sufi Studies Working Group aims to bring together all disciplinary perspectives in order to approach the subject from a broad perspective. With this approach, it focuses on interdisciplinary studies in which the fields of humanities and social sciences, especially Sufi thought, history and literature, are studied in relation to various disciplines of other fields.
The basis of interdisciplinary studies is based on bringing together different disciplines and researchers from different disciplines to increase the possibilities of thinking without the usual restrictions and by going beyond the known patterns. We have not yet encountered sufficient accumulation in the literature about the new possibilities that will arise from the meeting of Sufism's own concepts and methods with other disciplines. The Institute works to contribute to the formation of an infrastructure of thought that produces solutions in every field that concerns the society, produces added value, shares social responsibility and affects sustainable development from the outputs of the texts that form the source of these studies, as well as the Sufi thought, history and literature of Islamic civilization.
The education provided by the Institute within the scope of Sufi Culture and Literature master's programs has been enriched with the doctoral program in Islamic Civilization, Thought, History and Literature in order to offer deeper and wider opportunities in scientific terms. The PhD program gathers the relevant human profile to support the research and projects of the working group in one center.
This approach is intended to contribute to civilization studies originating from Turkey and to readings of Islamic civilization centered on Sufi thought. An important part and focus of this effort is to ensure that Turkish works take their rightful place in the literature of Islamic studies, and to promote the rare examples of Ottoman Sufi thought, the products of the Ottoman commentary tradition, through international publications.
The working group organizes not only written publications but also scientific activities such as training programs, national/international symposiums, panels, conferences, interviews and seminars in order to ensure that the studies and the results obtained reach the society as its main purpose. These events are announced to large masses through the media and social media tools of the Institute and the University.
