Human, Spirituality and Healing Talks Program

Human, Spirituality and Healing Talks

Remote online/online

12 weeks

March 23-June 8, 2023

Thursdays from 14.00-17.00

Info:
The program is organized via zoom with limited invited participants from the earthquake zone and students of the Institute of Sufi Studies. This program is broadcast simultaneously on Üsküdar University Youtube channel.

Participant Information and Program Descriptions

Prof. Dr. Reşat ÖNGÖREN

In 1988, he graduated from Marmara University Faculty of Theology. He completed his master’s degree in 1990 and his doctorate in 1996 in the History of Sufism Department of the Institute of Social Sciences of the same university. Between 1996 and 2000, he worked as a Sufi researcher at the Islamic Research Center of the Religious Foundation of Turkey (ISAM). In 2001, he was appointed as a faculty member at Istanbul University Faculty of Theology, where he continued to work until 2019. His books include Sufism in the Ottomans: Sufis, State and Ulemâ in Anatolia, and An Aydin Tarîkatı Zeynîler in Tarihte. He is currently a faculty member at Üsküdar University Institute of Sufi Studies.

About the Program:
Our main goal in this program, which we prepared due to the recent disasters, is to touch our people. Basically, it is to deal with the human being in all aspects with reference to Sufism, which expresses the spiritual and profound aspect of the Islamic religion; to draw attention to his metaphysical dimension by emphasizing that he is not only composed of his physical structure and to show how he can overcome troubles with this structure. In this framework, the 12-week program titles are as follows:
“The World: A Traveler’s Life in the Shade of a Tree”, “We Come from Allah, We Return to Allah”, “Man with His Body and Needs”, “Man with His Soul: Allah’s Caliph in the World”, “How Can We Rest Our Soul?”, “Death: Awakening from a Dream”, “Are What We Own Ours?”, “Is Death the End?”, “Making Sense of Events”, “Our Perception of Destiny”, “Ethics of Responsibility”, “Our Prayers and Wishes”.

Prof. Dr. Emine YENITERZI

He graduated from Selçuk University, Faculty of Literature, Department of Turkish Language and Literature in 1981. He completed his master’s degree in Old Turkish Literature with his thesis titled “The Names and Adjectives of the Prophet in Dîvân Poetry – Esmâ-i Nebî” (1983) and his doctorate with his thesis titled “Na’t in Dîvân Poetry” (1989). He continued his academic career at Selçuk University between 1981-2011 and at Istanbul Medeniyet University between 2011-2015. His main fields of study are Classical Turkish poetry, text commentary, religious-moral-sufic mesnevi, religious genres in verse and Mevlânâ Celâleddîn-i Rûmî. He is currently working at Üsküdar University Institute of Sufi Studies.

About the Program:
From the religious, mystical and ethical masnavîs in Turkish literature; good morals such as humility, generosity, knowledge, doing good, gratitude, repentance, trust, consent, patience, sincerity, love and keeping one’s word; bad habits such as jealousy, arrogance, prejudice, slander, lying, malice, ignorance, hypocrisy, and general issues such as the value of time, death, and the transience of the world.

Prof. Dr. Faculty Member F. Cangüzel Güner ZÜLFİKAR

He graduated from Ankara University DTCF General Turkish History Department. He completed his doctoral dissertation titled “The Establishment and First Century of Aziz Mahmud Hüdayi Külliyesi” at Hacettepe University, Department of History. He has lectured on Sufism and Islamic Civilization at North Carolina Chapel Hill and Duke Universities. At UNC-Chapel Hill, he served as vice director of the Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations (2006-2010). He founded the Turkish Studies Program at UNC-Chapel Hill (2009) and served as its instructor until December 2013. He works on Islamic Civilization, history of institutions, Sufi culture and history. He currently teaches at Üsküdar University Institute of Sufi Studies.

About the Program:
The call of spirituality to the present day and the search for possible healing in spirituality; looking at today’s hicrân with spirituality based on the existence of the state of birth that is renewed every breath with faith in Allah, the source of hope; what spirituality says about human and civilization in the universal plan; the basic facts / phenomena that make a culture a civilization; rebirth in the construction of human and civilization.

Prof. Dr. Faculty Member H. Dilek GÜLDÜTUNA

He graduated from Istanbul University Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine. She completed her residency in Anesthesiology at Kosuyolu Heart and Research Hospital. He completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Islamic studies at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt between 2005-2011, and his doctorate in 2017 with his thesis “Konstruktionen des Weiblichen bei Ken’ân Rifâî: Das weibliche als Spiegel der göttlichen Wirklichkeit” (The Woman as a Mirror of Truth in Ken’ân Rifâî) in 2017. He works on Sufi thought, interdisciplinary studies centered on Sufi thought and history of Islamic sciences. He is currently working at Üsküdar University Institute of Sufi Studies.

About the Program:
There is a need for guidance on how to apply the knowledge in the divine books to life. While the prophets established a relationship with Allah and conveyed His commands and prohibitions, they also fulfilled the duty of being the best example for people in this way. For this purpose, the stories of the prophets narrated in the Holy Qur’an contain great lessons and healing for the hearts. Throughout the program, the parables of prophets and saints will be discussed in this context.

Prof. Dr. Academic Member Omneya AYAD

Immediately after completing his undergraduate studies in Journalism and Mass Communication at the American University in Cairo, he studied at the Academy of Sufi Arabic and Islamic Studies at al-Azhar University. He received his PhD from the Institute of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, UK, with a dissertation on “Ibn Ajība (d. 1224/1809) and the Vast Specialization of the Qur’ān: Love in the Moroccan Sufi Tradition”. He is currently working at Üsküdar University Institute of Sufi Studies.

About the Program:
The courses within the program focus on the central concept of understanding difficulties and how to cope with the pain of loss. It will also talk about how the bitter taste of trials can be transformed into a different dimension with consent; how we can heal our heart and restore the state of peace and tranquility in the heart.

Prof. Dr. Sema SÜVARİOĞLU

She received her BA in Psychology and MA in Clinical Psychology from Boğaziçi University. After working in the corporate field for a short time, he started to provide training and consultancy services. She completed her PhD program in Organizational Psychology at Marmara University. He has been working in his field for nearly 30 years with Pusula Education and Consultancy, which he founded. He also lectures at various universities. For the last 20 years, he has added executive coaching and, with increasing demand, psychological support programs to his work. He currently teaches Sufism and psychology at Üsküdar University Sufi Studies Institute.

About the Program:
To help people who have been directly and indirectly affected by the recent earthquake in our country to cope with the intense stress they are experiencing; to look closely at the concepts of stress/trauma/crisis, to understand the mechanism of functioning in our body; to raise awareness in order to increase our emotional and mental resilience, to be informed and to get tips to live a more meaningful life with practical tools and methods to be shared.

Dr. Birsen Nesrin CANGÖZ

In 1989, he graduated from the Department of Psychology at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt. He completed his PhD with the thesis “Wahrnehmungs und Urteilsrelativität bei Erwachsenen und Kindern: Psychophysikalische Bezugssystemeffekte in der Zeitwahrnehmung” (Perception and Judgment Relativity in Children and Adults: Psychophysical Frame of Reference Effects on Time Perception). In addition to her training in Behavior and Body Psychotherapy and EMDR treatment, she worked as a clinical psychologist first in an educational counseling center and then in a private clinic. He conducted and published a study proving the effect of body-psychotherapy on Turkish patients in Germany. She gave lectures as a guest lecturer at the psychotherapy training school. Since 2009, she has been working as a clinical psychologist in her own practice.

About the Program:
Throughout life, human beings want to live their lives with the desire to be happy, healthy and peaceful. All his efforts are for this. But life is not so easy and does not move in a straight line. The secrets of happiness are often hidden. The roads are stony, thorny and full of pain. Although the Creator says, “My glory is hidden in My splendor,” it is not so simple for us to discover and understand this. Spirituality, if we understand it correctly, is like a medicine in our medicine cabinet for difficult times. It will heal us; it will give us strength. As a survivor of the 1999 earthquake, I participated in this training program in order to share my personal experiences, thoughts and experiences on the subject, to point out the hidden and open miracles of the earthquake and to make a small contribution, first for the earthquake victims and then for the other members of the society.