It is known that issues related to destiny are among the most vivid questions and problems of religious thought and life. As far as the history of Islamic thought is concerned, it is seen that some differences of approach regarding destiny have been discussed on political and theological grounds. Because of this debate, deep divisions have emerged among Muslims rather than mutual exchange of ideas and understanding. Muslims still engage in problematic practices and thoughts caused by some wrong perceptions of (...) destiny. It is necessary to scrutinize the problematic areas in terms of the transmission of this situation from generation to generation. In this context, considering that individuals acquire their beliefs and perceptions of destiny by being influenced by environments such as family and school, it is thought that the approaches and attitudes of teachers who provide religious education in formal educational institutions towards the belief in destiny are decisive and effective on students. The subject and purpose of our study is to examine the results of teachers’ perceptions of destiny, how they are shaped and what kind of readiness they are in regarding the issue. In this study, which was conducted with a sample group consisting of teachers working at the Ministry of National Education, the perceptions of destiny of Imam Hatip High School Vocational Lessons and RCMK teachers were tested through various socio-demographic variables and questions prepared by the researcher. Imam Hatip High School Vocational Lessons and RCMK teachers’ perceptions of destiny were measured with a survey method consisting of questions that are different from each other and in which the correlation between them is tried to be kept strong and meaningful. According to the findings, it is observed that there are some problematic areas in the sample group considering the intensity of the answers given to questions such as sectarian affiliation, religious knowledge, being able to correctly interpret the basic reference sources of religion, knowing the basic concepts and approaches related to destiny and being able to use them correctly. In addition, a significant difference was found in the sample group’s approaches to some sectarian issues depending on the age variable. This shows that as a result of this and similar studies, the principles of Islamic belief should be examined in accordance with their authentic structure and the natural difference between religion and religious interpretation should be preserved. With this study, the importance of some methodological sensitivities, such as how religion and sectarian should be understood, seems to have increased further. (shrink)

Does economic globalization create a “race to the bottom” or a “race to the top” in labor rights practices? Despite significant research on the possible impact of economic globalization on labor conditions, little consensus exists as to whether and what forms of economic openness might help or undermine labor rights. In this study, we illustrate the significance of considering the two distinct processes of de facto and de jure globalization. We argue that whereas de facto globalization in the form of (...) trade and financial transactions is likely to result in worse labor rights practices, de jure globalization that entails regulations to facilitate these transactions is likely to have a positive effect on labor conditions. Combining time-series, cross-national data on labor rights with data on economic globalization, we find significant evidence of the divergent effects of de facto and de jure globalization on labor rights practices. Results also indicate that the labor rights effects of de facto and de jure globalization are stronger for trade than financial globalization. We further show that the effects of economic globalization apply to both collective and substantive labor rights practices. (shrink)

As part of the roundtable “Economic Sanctions and Their Consequences,” this essay discusses whether economic sanctions are morally acceptable policy tools. It notes that both conventional and targeted sanctions not only often fail to achieve their stated objectives but also bring about significant negative externalities in target countries. Economic dislocation and increases in political instability instigated by sanctions disproportionately affect the well-being of opposition groups and marginalized segments of society, while target elites and their support base remain insulated from the (...) intended costs of foreign pressure. Sanctions might also incentivize target governments to use repressive means to consolidate their rule and weaken the opposition. Given these serious shortcomings, I argue that sanctions are ethically problematic tools of foreign policy. Nonetheless, this does not mean that sanctions should be rejected outright, as there might be cases where sanctions are the only viable option, and they might work effectively under certain circumstances. Rather, the essay suggests that policymakers should apply more caution in considering the use of sanctions given their low probability of success, and should be more concerned with the delicate balance between political gain and civilian pain before levying sanctions, whether comprehensive or targeted. (shrink)

This study examined the validity and reliability of a Turkish version of the Modified Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire for Student Nurses. After obtaining permission to adapt the MMSQSN into Turkish, the translation/back-translation method was used with expert opinions to determine content validity. Factor analysis was conducted to examine the construct validity and test–retest was performed on the questionnaire to determine reliability. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were calculated to assess for internal consistency. Participants included 272 baccalaureate degree student nurses who took ethics lessons (...) prior to their clinical internship. The factor analysis revealed that even though the factor structure in the original scale was the same, relevant items were categorized with similar components, and factor loads were sufficient. The correlation coefficient in the analyses of test–retest scores was.66 for the total scale and the Cronbach’s alpha was.73 for the total scale. The translated MMSQSN is a valid and reliable measure of ethical sensitivity in student nurses in Turkey. (shrink)

In this paper, we propose some transfor mations based on the centroid points between single valued neutrosophic numbers. We introduce these trans formations according to truth, indeterminacy and falsity value of single valued neutrosophic numbers. We propose a new similarity measure based on falsity value between single valued neutrosophic sets. Then we prove some properties on new similarity measure based on falsity value between falsity value between single valued neutrosophic sets. Furthermore, we propose similarity measure based on falsity value between (...) single valued neutrosophic sets based on the centroid points of transformed single valued neutrosophic numbers. We also apply the proposed similarity measure between single valued neutrosophic sets to deal with pattern recognition problems. (shrink)

Judaism is one of the oldest surviving religious traditions in the world. The Jews, who base their history on Abraham and his son Isaac, began to be called religion with Moses. The Jews, who lived their golden age in and around Jerusalem during the David and Solomon periods, also built the Temple, which was at the center of their religious life. The Jews, who rebuilt the Temple during the Babylonian exile and subsequently Ezra's reign, lived in these lands until the (...) destruction of the temple by the Romans in 70 AD. The statelessness that started after the destruction of the temple had an important place in the Jewish identity. The exile life, which continued for two thousand years, caused the Jews to go to different parts of the world and live there. In this period, which is expressed as the period of exile, Jews lived in many regions such as Africa, Anatolia, Europe and America. The arrival of the Jews in the Americas dates back to the Columbus era. Jews were present in South America and subsequently in the British colonies. Currently, most of the Jews in the world live in the USA. Among the Jews who went to the Americas, Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews constitute the majority. However, in the Americas, Jews have formed different groups over time. These include groups such as Conservative, Orthodox, Reformist, and Reconstructionist. Jewish groups formed by African-Americans also have a special place among these formations. These African-American Jews in the USA, are discussed within the framework of this article. In the article, firstly, a piece of brief information about Judaism in America was given, and then the relations between Blacks and Jews were discussed. Afterward, the main features of these formations, which are of African origin and consider themselves the descendants of the Israelites, are emphasized. Finally, the Jewish groups established by Black Jews were contacted and if they had different practices and beliefs from the others, they were included. The research was carried out based on the literature review and information was given about the prominent black Jewish groups. (shrink)

This is the introductory chapter I co-authored with professor Kaya Sahin for our edited book, Political Thought in the Ottoman World (oxford University Press, 2024).

Concepts, such as death, life and spirit cannot be known in their quintessential nature, but can be defined in accordance with their effects. In fact, those who think within the mode of pragmatism and Cartesian logic have ignored the metaphysical aspects of these terms. According to Islam, the entity that moves the body is named the soul. And the aliment of the soul is air. Cessation of breathing means leaving of the soul from the body. Those who agree on the (...) diagnosis of brain death may not able to agree unanimously on the rules that lay down such diagnosis. That is to say, there are a heap of suspicions regarding the diagnosis of brain death, and these suspicions are on the increase. In fact, Islamic jurisprudence does not put provisions, decisions on suspicious grounds. By virtue of these facts, it can be asserted that brain death is not absolute death according to Islamic sources; for in the patients diagnosed with brain death the soul still has not abandoned the body. Therefore, these patients suffer in every operation performed on them. (shrink)

Analogy-making is finding analogies between different situations. In this paper, we provide a new model of computational analogy-making which uses Situation Theory as its formal background. Situation Theory is a semantic and logical theory which provides a naturalistic way to represent relations in situations. The system described in this paper is aimed at solving analogy problems made by basic geometric figures in a chessboard-like environment.

This article offers a thorough analysis of the unintended impact economic sanctions have on political repression—referred to in this study as the level of the government respect for democratic freedoms and human rights. We argue that economic coercion is a counterproductive policy tool that reduces the level of political freedoms in sanctioned countries. Instead of coercing the sanctioned regime into reforming itself, sanctions inadvertently enhance the regime’s coercive capacity and create incentives for the regime’s leadership to commit political repression. Cross-national (...) time series data support our argument, confirming that the continued use of economic sanctions (even when aimed at promoting political liberalization and respect for human rights) will increase the level of political repression. These findings suggest that both scholars and policy makers should pay more attention to the externalities caused by economic coercion. (shrink)

Many studies have been done in non-Western academia that raise the issue of indigenousness, holding that it should be taken into consideration as an important element in explaining human behaviour. It is within this context that one can regard the studies and discussions on the notion of Islamic psychology. An investigation into the literature on Islamic psychology shows that although a good number of studies on the subject have been done, sufficient attention has not been paid to its epistemological foundations, (...) e.g., its nature, origin, and scope. With regard to Islamic psychology, this study is intended to analyse the relationship between science and religion, the borders of religion and science, and the possibility of Islamic psychology as a nascent social discipline. (shrink)

This chapter aims to discuss critically the changing values in higher education within the context of culturally, ethnically and religiously plural modern European societies with a special focus on the case of emerging European Islamic higher education institutions. The inquiry argues for the need to rethink the core values in Islamic and western liberal, secular higher education in order to facilitate a new creative engagement between these two distinctive perspectives on higher education that share an intertwined intellectual legacy. The focus (...) of the study is framed by the following questions: Do central educational values of Islam and western secular higher education remain in conflict? To what extent can a critical dialogue of convergence be facilitated between the educational/pedagogic cultures of Islamic and western higher education? Why should such a critical engagement be based on a shared relational ethics of respecting the dignity of difference and recognition of mutual interdependence? The study adopts a phenomenology- infomed critical, comparative analysis method while exploring the topic within its historical and contempoaray dimensiosns. The original contribution of the inquiry lies in its reflective engagement with the Islamic and western values of higher education and developing a distinctive conceptual framework to facilitate a new pedagogic dialogue among the communities of learners and teachers coming from these educational cultures who increasingly share the same social space. After presenting the aims and context of the inquiry, a brief historical account of Islamic and western values of higher education will be provided. This will be followed by discussing the arguments supporting the incompatibility of Islamic and western values of education. The incompatibility thesis will be deconstructed by critically examining its logic of binary literalism. By drawing on the evidence suggesting presence of a shared reflective, critical educational heritage between Islam and the West, the chapter argues for the need to revive these forgotten traditions of pedagogic curiosity and critical openness to inspire a new cross-pollinating dialogue capable of acknowledging the dignity of being different and recognizing the reality of sharing an interdependent world. (shrink)

This study examines the relationship between teachers' beliefs and their practices at Key Stage 2 (ages 7-11) in relation to the use of questioning. Data were collected from interviewing and observing Key Stage 2 teachers at four schools in the West of England. A Straussian approach to grounded theory is followed broadly in order to analyse the data. In contrast to the findings of previous studies, which suggested a mismatch between teachers' beliefs and practices in that teachers, in certain respects, (...) do less than they claim, the research revealed that teachers use a variety of skills during their teaching that they may not always be aware of. It is also argued that teachers do not share researchers' language to express the way they teach. (shrink)

Kur’an tasavvuru belli kavramlardan meydana gelmektedir. İnsanın fiziki ve manevî yönünü ifade eden fıtrat kavramı, Kur’an tasavvurunu ifade eden önemli kavramlarından biridir. Fıtrat kavramının ilk günden itibaren tefsircilerin ilgi odağı olması da bundandır. Genellikle fıtrat, İslam dini, ilk yaratılış ve insanın dini kabul etme potansiyeli olarak yorumlanmış ve bunların değişip değişmeyeceği üzerinde durulmuştur. Rum sûresinde geçen “khalqullah” ile Nisâ sûresinde geçen “khalqullah” terkiplerinin bulunduğu âyetler arasında bu çerçevede bağlantı kurulmuştur. Bu çalışmamızda fıtratın mahiyeti ile fıtratla ilgili âyetlerin birbiriyle ilişkilendirilmesi irdelenecek (...) ve fıtratın temel unsurları üzerinde durulacaktır. Akıl, sevgi, aşk, güzel şeylere ilgi duyma ve çirkinliklerden kaçınmanın, insan fıtratının temel bileşenleri arasında yer alıp almadığı tartışılacaktır. Ayrıca fıtrat âyetinde geçen tebdîl kavramı ile Nisâ sûresinde geçen tağyir kavramının, aynı manayı ifade edip etmediği üzerinde durulacaktır. (shrink)

This article demonstrates that Lacanian thought on One is narrow and does not completely cover the whole reality of One. A better understanding of One and Two could be facilitated by using the representation ‘#’, which can explain both disjunction and unity in language and thought. In addition, it presents some possibilities in abstract thinking. The first section of the paper considers Lacan’s doctrine on One and difference. The following section elaborates on the defect of this doctrine, focusing especially on (...) its onesided apprehension, and introducing the derivation of the representation ‘#’. In the last section, the representation ‘#’ and its usage are briefly explained. (shrink)

The primary source of income in the Ottoman Empire, like in other pre-vious and contemporary states, was land. For this reason, the private ownership of land, especially those used for grain production, was avoided, and efforts were made to keep them as state-owned or public lands known as "mirî" or "memleket arazisi". This situation brings up the issue of cultivating the land and generating income from it. The Ottoman Empire further developed the timar system, which was also implemented by the (...) previous states, and allocated land to families based on its productivity by dividing it into certain sizes. These families were required to pay a tax known as "çift resmi", "raiyyet resmi", or "kulluk akçası." The system was based on the cultivation of the land by the peasants, thus ensuring both the production of crops without venturing food security and providing the state with the necessary tax revenue. Thus, it was necessary for the peasants not to abandon their land. One of the precautions taken to ensure this was "cebrî ikamet" (compulsory residency), and the other was "çift bozan resmi" (a tax imposed on those who leave their land uncultivated). Regulations regarding these measures have been included in the Kanunnames (legal codes) since the time of Fatih Sultan Mehmet, and they remained in effect until the 1858 Land Code. Since the nişancıs who prepared the Kanunnames had a good command in Islamic fiqh and the laws were at least theoretically approved by the sheikh al-islam until the mid-17th century, no one among the Ottoman scholars was known to oppose these regulations. Due to the serious disruption of the timar system and the increasing oppression of the peasants, criticisms of the "çift bozan" and "cebrî ikamet" measures began among the scholars in the Damascus region, led by Hayreddin Remlî, in the second half of the 17th century. This criticism intensified over time. In fact, two separate treatises were written on this issue. The scholars in Istanbul were also partly affected by this criticism. In this article, the "çift bozan" tax and its status in Islamic law will be primarily examined. All views in favor or against this issue will be put forth as much as possible, and an evaluation will be made while trying to come up with a different perspective. (shrink)