Üsküdar University Institute of Sufi Studies

PRESS RELEASE

Institute of Sufi Studies was established at Üsküdar University.

Üsküdar University, Turkey’s first and only thematic university in the field of behavioral sciences and health, is breaking new ground. Turkey’s first Sufi Studies Institute was established under the roof of Üsküdar University. Üsküdar University, which sets out with the approach of “Understand human, change the world”, aims to take its goal of raising qualified people to the next level with Sufi education, which is a preliminary step for people to know, find and live universal human values. The Institute will conduct research in the field of Sufism and open its doors to those interested in all branches with the graduate programs to be initiated.

The establishment of the Institute of Sufi Studies was completed in July 2014 to conduct postgraduate education and research in the fields of Sufism and behavioral sciences by Üsküdar University as a joint initiative of the university and Kerim Foundation with the collaboration of Üsküdar University Rector Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan and Kerim Foundation Founder Cemalnur Sargut.

Why Sufi Institute?

Üsküdar University, which is based on the principle of ‘Successful people, successful society; happy people, happy society’, will add a new perspective to the academic activities it carries out to ‘understand human beings’ with the Institute of Sufi Studies.

The institute, which was established to create a science and art environment based on interdisciplinary studies using the holistic and in-depth perspective of Sufism, aims to raise individuals who have a better understanding of science, themselves and the world, who have absorbed humanitarian and moral values, who are sensitive to art, who think, research, create, know the value of time, hardworking and broad tolerance with the programs they will open as a specialized institution. The Institute aims to equip all those who will receive training at different levels with the ability to transfer the moral principles of Sufism to their professional lives in everyday language. With this original initiative, it is aimed to reveal the relations between Sufism’s moral teaching, religion and human behavior with an interdisciplinary approach.

The principle of ‘raising good people’ will be reinforced

Üsküdar University, which also provides moral values education with the principle of ‘Being a good person is not worth being a good expert’, looks to the future with hope with the slogan ‘Doing your job well, working hard, being innovative and visionary’.

Üsküdar University aims to provide its students with an interdisciplinary perspective and an exploratory and original approach to science. Carrying out its educational activities with these approaches, the university aims to ensure that its students not only have a profession, but also become individuals with character and good human values. Üsküdar University will reinforce this principle with the Institute of Sufi Studies.

The Institute of Sufi Studies will be the only academic institutional structure where these unique values will be translated into the languages of the individual and social field with the support it will receive from all segments of society by integrating with the method and content of behavioral sciences under the special thematic structuring of Üsküdar University.

Solutions to different problem areas

The Institute will also seek to answer the question of how these values can offer solutions in different problem areas. From finding solutions to the diseases that lie at the heart of modern society to enriching the language of politics, solutions will be sought to common problems that concern all segments of society.

Doors open to all branches of interest

The Institute of Sufi Studies aims to be an international science and art environment that will serve humanity to achieve peace and happiness. The institute will provide the opportunity for those from all branches to pursue postgraduate education in these fields. Master’s, non-thesis master’s and doctorate programs will be opened at the institute, which will accept students regardless of undergraduate degree.

Joint graduate programs will be developed with academic collaborations at national and international level in related fields.

International Visiting Faculty Research Program and Postdoctoral Young Researcher Programs will be organized to strengthen mutual exchange of knowledge and culture.

The Institute will develop cooperation projects with relevant national and international institutions to systematically unearth manuscripts in the field of Sufism. It will organize certified training programs to promote Sufi culture and disseminate the knowledge produced at all levels.

In the field of music and visual arts, which are an integral part of Sufi culture, it will work to promote and preserve the classical tastes of our culture through concerts, exhibitions and courses. It will try to create the intellectual ground necessary for the reinterpretation of these arts with today’s aesthetic values and perspective. These activities will be carried out through the university’s Continuing Education Center and the coordinatorships to be established within the Institute.

The key to giving meaning to life: Sufism

In his book “Masnavi Therapy”, Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan draws attention to the fact that Sufism can respond to today’s people’s search for meaning in life:

“The neurotic man of our age is looking for what Sufism promises, he doesn’t realize it, the anxious man of today is looking for a spiritual renaissance, he doesn’t realize it, the anxious man of today is looking for the safe harbor promised by the heavenly teachings, he doesn’t realize it.”