The spring school on current issues of Islam has started at the Kazakh National University named after Al-Farabi

On April 7, the first day of the international spring school "Islamic Heritage in Modernity" was held in the Al-Farabi Library. It was organized by the Department of Religious and Cultural Studies of the Faculty of Philosophy and Political Science, the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) and the Institute of Knowledge Integration (IKI), as part of the IV International Farabi Forum dedicated to the 1155th anniversary of Abu Nasr al-Farabi. The spring school classes will be held from April 7 to 11. The goal of this event is in line with the sustainable development goals of "Quality Education", "Gender Equality" and "Partnership for Sustainable Development".

The exhibition of the Spring School presented monographs of professors and researchers of the department, works published within the framework of projects, as well as works of Kazakhstani scholars on Islamic studies in general. The number of participants on the first day exceeded 50 people.

The opening speech was given by the Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy and Political Science Meyrbayev B.B. He presented the events organized within the framework of the IV Farabi Forum and emphasized their importance. The congratulatory speech was continued by Mr. Oziyev Gapur, Associate Professor, Director of the Institute of Knowledge Integration, who drew attention to the activities and results of the institute.

The first lecture of the spring school was given by Begalinova K.K., Doctor of Philosophy, Professor of the Department of Religious Studies and Cultural Studies of the Kazakh National University named after al-Farabi. The professor gave a comprehensive presentation on the Islamic heritage in philosophy and Sufism, highlighting the aspects that formed the basis of the candidate and doctoral research. It describes the spiritual connection between Farabi and Aristotle, as well as the scientific heritage of Ibn Sina and al-Kindi and other scientists.

Next, Ravza Altuntas-Cakir, PhD, Professor at the Institute of Middle East and Islamic Countries, Marmara University, delivered a lecture on “Modernity and Islamic Intellectual Responses”. The professor briefly touched upon the historical aspect of the topic, paying special attention to the current section of the research. The reasons for the emergence of revival and reform movements as a response of Muslim intellectuals to imperialism and the solutions proposed by their eminent representatives in their time were presented. During the study of the concepts of Islam and modernism, controversial opinions regarding the concept of the caliphate were analyzed, and Ms. Ravza gave a detailed analysis of the views of theorists of the modernist concept after the fall of the Ottoman Caliphate. At this event, concepts proposed by scholars from different parts of the Islamic world such as Rashid Rida, Ali Abd ar-Raziq and Çelebizade Mehmed Sayid Bey were presented. The professor’s second lecture was devoted to the main trends of modern Islamic political thought. To this end, Ravza Altuntash-Chakir presented a typology of Muslim scholars who have been involved in the issues of politics, religion and the concept of Sharia since the period after the Second World War. After identifying the issues and positions of key figures, a comparative analysis was conducted on each point of the typology. The topic was so interesting that the participants actively expressed their opinions. At the end of her presentation, the speaker focused on the significance and aspects of the Islamic tradition that were overlooked by the four groups considered in the typology.

During the lecture, close contact was established between the audience and the lecturers, and a lively exchange of opinions took place. The event generated new ideas and opinions, which benefited not only researchers of religious and Islamic studies, but also specialists interested in current events in society and the world. The following lectures will be given by domestic scientists Borbassova K.M., professor of the Department of Religious Studies and Cultural Studies, as well as foreign guests Shuruq Naguib, professor of Lancaster University of Great Britain, Gapur Oziyev, director of the Institute for the Integration of Education, Suleyman Derin, professor of the Faculty of Theology of Marmara University, Nagihan Haliloglu, associate professor of the Department of Western Languages and Literature of Bosphorus University and Isa Yilmaz, associate professor of the Department of Economics of Istanbul University of Culture.

Department of Religious Studies and Cultural Studies