European Journal of Scientific Research - EuroJournals

Islam and Education from Religious Man’s Perspectives 375
The writings which reflect Ataturks’s ideas all promote a modern Turkey which sees Europe as
an example. A website on The Society indicates Ataturk’s plans for Turkey and quotes that “He
actively promoted a ‘modern’ Turkey that embraced the civilization of Europe as its inspiration and
model.” However, some books such as “Islam in a Laic World” claim that modern countries do not
have one religion. So, Turkey as a modern country can have other religions than Islam. Ozturk(1998)
argues that a modern government is a government which does not require only one religion can
recognize more than one religion and respect all. Nowadays, we are coming more close to join
European Union every passing day. “What do Imams think about joining to European Union? Will our
religious and educational values be affected if we join to European Union?” are the other potential
research questions at this point.
Methodology
The research approach of this study is qualitative approach as the method mainly used aims to obtain
information about human through interpreting language generated by data collected. In terms of
methodology, the current research proceeded in three phases. First of all, after reading relevant
literature on the issue, an open-ended questionnaire was prepared and the questions were asked to a
few Imams to get feedback. Secondly, the questionnaire was modified according to the feedback given
by Imams, the research advisor and colleagues and was administered to all Imams in the country with
the help of the director of Religious Affairs Office. 132 Imams who were from different ages, regions,
education levels and different years of service but mainly from Turkey responded to the questionnaire
without having any idea of the identity of the researcher who is a young modern female instructor☺
This would have affected their answers. Thirdly, the answers of a question regarding identifying the
picture of majority of people who attend to mosque were entered to the computer to draw pie charts out
of the frequencies. Finally descriptive statistics are run for another question too see how full are the
mosques and on which occasions people visit mosques more often.
Research Questions
Your Age:
Your Education Level:
Years of service as an Imam:
Turkish Cypriot/Turkish National:
1. Why did you choose this occupation?
2. Are you working in a village or city?
3. What is meant by the word “education” for you? What should it involve?
4. What is meant by the word “Muslim” for you?
5. Many Muslims who do not practice their religious requirements claim that the most important
thing for a Muslim is to have a clean heart? What do you think about this?
6. Do you think university and above education is causing people to move away from religion?
If yes, what sort of people?
Why?
7. What are meant by the words “globalization” and “modernization” for you?
Do you think globalization and modernization are causing people towards or away from
religion? Why?
8. Are we starting to loose any of our values? Which ones? Why?
What can be done by the religious establishments to overcome this problem?
9. Considering our society’s fulfillment of religious requirements, underline the appropriate
answer for you.
Majority of people who come to your mosque are:
a) Turkish national/ Turkish Cypriot