A speech on "Notion of Human in Islamic Thought" was given by the Academic Development and Thought Society of KAEU, by Prof. Dr. Ömer Türker, a faculty member of Marmara University Faculty of Theology. Students showed great interest in the panel held on 17 May 2022 at the 15 July Milli İrade Hall.
Faculty Member of Marmara University Faculty of Theology Prof. Dr. Ömer Türker visited the Rector of KAEU Prof. Dr. Vatan Karakaya in his office before his speech on "Notion of Human in Islamic Thought". During the meeting, where ideas were exchanged, Karakaya introduced KAEU to Türker and informed him about the projects carried out, and presented the books prepared by KAEU on Akhism.
What is Human Fundamentally and What Does it Mean for us?
Prof. Dr. Ömer Türker started his speech by stating that today, he sought an answer to the question "What is human fundamentally and what does it mean to us". Expressing that a new situation emerged with the Prophet Muhammad's demise, Türker noted that the fact that people who underwent a mental transformation undertook the task of producing theoretical and practical life was the product of this new situation. Noting that serious problems were encountered during that period, which was expressed as survival as a Muslim, Türker said: "The natural limits of Islam were reached after the time of the Prophet Muhammad. It was an era full of incredibly diverse human groups and races. At that point, the most serious problem became evident in the internal affairs of the Companions of Prophet Muhammed. Here, the issue turned into a discussion of "is man really free?" Those who discussed that problem later realized that in order to discuss such a problem, they need to have a sound opinion about Allah. Therefore, the first theoretical problem to be noticed was the problem of whether a person is free or not.
The Spirit Establishes its Relationship with the World of Matter Through the Body
Prof. Ömer Türker talked about the ideas of Islamic thinkers about the relationship between Allah and the universe. Dr. Türker noted that the first period of thinkers had a belief that Allah was the meaning and the universe was the matter. Türker asserted that the early theologians considered everything except Allah as a matter or the state of the matter, and stated that even angels were categorized so. Criticizing those who shared that thought, Türker said that according to the holders of that claim, man did not have a soul, but it had just liveliness. Noting that the body was only a tool for the soul to perform its activities, Ömer Türker stated that "in fact, when the hand holds an object, it is not the hand that doing the job but the soul, the eye does not see anything but the soul sees the things, the tongue does not taste anything, the soul tastes them". Türker continued that at this point, the soul needs the tongue and the eye, and the spirit gets connected with the world of matters in that way.
We will Get to Know those Intellectuals so that we can Make Sense of Ourselves
What do all these mean for us? Faculty Member of Marmara University Faculty of Theology Prof. Dr. Ömer Türker, who sought an answer to this question in the last part of his speech, said that the value of our spiritual roots wad here and he made the following evaluations and concluded: "Firstly, we will never make sense of ourselves before knowing those intellectuals, we will lose our memory, secondly, we will accept that the metaphysical world exists and Islam's richness on this subject as a legacy, all of these provide us with knowledge and experience. If we know all this, we will agree on the main principles and discuss the secondary roads,''.