Ismail Albayrak
Biographic Data
| ID | 374844 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Ismail Albayrak |
| GIVEN NAMES | Ismail |
| FAMILY NAME | Albayrak |
| SIGNATURE | ALBAYRAK I |
| AFFILIATIONS | Australian Catholic University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7488-4318 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 22 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 12 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 22 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2001 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Textual Context and Translation in the Qur’ān
This study comparatively analyses verses 2:146 and 6:20, addressing the frequent confusion between these two Qur’anic passages arising from their similar wording, particularly the use of the pronoun hu (ya'rifunahu) in both Qur’anic translations and exegetical works. While verse 6:20, revealed in Mecca, clearly refers to the recognition of the Prophet Muhammad by the People of the Book and Meccan Pagans, verse 2:146 belongs to the Medinan context…
Prison Life in the Eyes of Bediüzzaman Said Nursi and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn
Christian and Islamic cultures of old abound with examples of atrocities committed against faithful people. Even in the modern era, many people have been unjustly imprisoned and deliberately subjected to persecution by authoritarian regimes. Said Nursi and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn are prominent examples of such poor treatment, even though each fought for their country and produced outstanding works, as long as breath was in them, for the welfare o…
Spiritual Growth of Said Nursi and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn in Prison
The article explores the approaches of individuals from two different religious traditions regarding prison spirituality: Said Nursi, who received a comprehensive classical education and furthered his knowledge through modern education, and A. Solzhenitsyn, who initially grew up as an atheist but rediscovered his religious upbringing while imprisoned, subsequently strengthening his spirituality over time. The research objectives of this article a…
Populist and Pro-Violence State Religion
Populist and Pro-Violence State Religion
Revisiting the Meaning of the Divine Preservation of the Qur'an
In this article, I discuss the topic of Divine preservation of the Qur'an in the context of exegesis verse 15:9: 'Indeed, it is We who sent down the reminder (dhikr) [i.e., the Qur'an], and indeed, We will be its guardian'. First, I will briefly examine Muslim and non-Muslim perceptions regarding authentic transmission of the Qur'an. I question some Western researchers, who problematise Muslims' approaches to the history of the Qur'an with variou…
Re-Evaluating the Notion of Isrâ and Mi'râj in Ibadi Tradition
The notion of mi'râj (the heavenly journey of Prophet Muhammad) is an important non-homogenic topic, although it is not often handled in Ibadi intellectual, sīrah (biography of the Prophet) and exegetical traditions. In this article, we analyse the treatment of the subject chronologically in the Ibadi tradition. We discuss the Ibadis' main concerns on the subject, how they differ, what inferences they make from the related verses, sīrah, hadith a…
Use of Religion in Blame Avoidance in a Competitive Authoritarian Regime
Blame avoidance has been one of the most applied strategies by policy makers in both democratic and non-democratic regimes to avoid responsibility and accountability in cases of failure and tragic events. It is also known that politicians have used religion for Machiavellian purposes, as exactly advised by Machiavelli. However, a systematic empirical analysis of how religion is used for blame avoidance by politicians has not been conducted. In th…
Modernity, Its Impact on Muslim World and General Characteristics of 19-20th-Century Revivalist-Reformists' Re-Reading of the Qur'an
The 19th and 20th centuries were times of great change and transformation for the Muslim world. The salvation of the ummah-which is getting politically, militarily, and economically more backward against the West, terms such as revival (ihya), renewal (tajdid) and reform and reconstruction (islah)-have occupied almost all intellectuals and ulama. Many prescriptions have been proposed on this subject, the most vivid examples of which are mainly re…
English Qur’ān Translators’ Responses to Pausing Signs, Al-Waqf Wa Al-ibtidā
The pause (waqf) is an important punctuation signal in the text of the Qur’an. There are six such signs. They designate: i. an obligatory pause; ii. prohibition of a pause; iii. a pause at the discretion of reciter; iv. a pause is permitted, but continuation is preferable; v. continuation is permissible, but a pause is preferable; vi. alternative grouping of words. These are relevant to the understanding of the Qur’an, and so have role in the und…
Instrumentalization of Religious Conspiracy Theories in Politics of Victimhood
While victimhood has been studied from very different perspectives, the question how secular nation states have instrumentalised religion for the politics of victimhood has not been studied. This paper addresses this gap in the literature on victimhood by analysing the empirical case of Turkey. As is well known, the constitutionally secular Turkish state, first under the rule of the Kemalists and now Erdoganists, has been using the Directorate of…
Are Online Fatwas Credible? A Critical Analysis of Fifty Fatwas on Organ Donation and Transplantation
The cyber world affects many aspects of personal and communal life in our modern world. One significant form of this influence is the growing digitisation of religious understanding. This article will focus on one facet of this virtual religious discussion, namely the religious rulings of organ donation and transplantation in Islam. This study will emphasise that discussion of the credibility of online fatwas is a neglected area that deserves sig…
Religion as an Authoritarian Securitization and Violence Legitimation Tool
The paper shows how a state controlled religious institution used religion, fear, trauma, insecurity, grievances, and conspiracy theories to dehumanise a religious community, and presented it as an existential threat to the nation, the global community of believers and religion, by investigating the case of Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs' (the Diyanet) securitizing role under the authoritarian Islamist Erdoğanist rule. The article prov…
The Ibāḍī Approach to the Methodology of Qur'anic Exegesis
In recent times, research on the Ibāḍī tradition by both Muslim and non‐Muslim scholars has increased, but has not yet shed light on the wider significance of this tradition. While the primary focus of researchers has been on the Ibāḍī tradition as a school of thought, its important contribution to various Islamic disciplines is still neglected. For this reason, there is a serious need for a comprehensive study of the Ibāḍī works on Islam, especi…
The Reception of Toshihiko Izutsu's Qur'anic Studies in the Muslim World
The works of Toshihiko Izutsu have enjoyed academic and popular supremacy ever since their publication, especially in Turkey. Up until the 1990's, his works were not subjected to any serious criticism by Muslim scholars. Instead, there was a tendency to accept a view of Izutsu as an exceptional scholar who was extremely sympathetic to Muslim traditions and the Qur'an, which he read sensitively, and who sought to give a complete, unprejudiced pict…
Reading the Bible in the light of Muslim sources
In a restricted sense, the term isrāʾīliyyāt applies to the traditions and reports that contain elements of the legendary and religious literature of Jews and Christians, but more inclusively and more commonly it also refers to Zoroastrian and other Near Eastern elements, including folklore. In other words, all foreign (non-Islamic) elements used to interpret the Qur'an are called isrāʾīliyyāt. Muslims have used biblical and other sources in thei…
The People of the Book in the Qur'ān
The Qur'ān's understanding by Muslims has shaped their communal interfaith perceptions. This article selects the various Qur'ānic verses that have influenced Muslims in relating to people of faiths other than their own. The prime concern of this paper is to show how even the Qur'ānic verses that might sound harsh to the ears of other faith groups can be read with sensitivity and understanding in the modern world. To accomplish this, the article p…
The Historical Status of the Qur'an
Recently, Turkish academics have been increasingly interested in discussing the historicity of the Qur'an. Some revisionist academics think that the Qur'an was revealed in precise historical circumstances and primarily responds to such circumstances. Thus qur'anic commands in general are not universal and do not, therefore, satisfy the demands of all Muslims for all time. So a new understanding is inevitable. Having used both Muslim and non-Musli…
Turkish Exegeses of the Twentieth Century
The Notions of Muḥkam and Mutashābih in the Commentary of Elmali'li Muḥammad Ḥamdi Yazir
This article will discuss the notions of muḥkam and mutashābih in the commentary of Elmah'li Muhammad Hamdi Yazir. Yazir was a Turkish scholar whose life spanned the Ottoman and the republican eras. He received a traditional education in Istanbul. Besides Turkish he knew Arabic, Persian and French and translated several philosophical works from French into Turkish. He was an MP, a lecturer and a principal. In 1926 he was asked by certain statesme…
The Classical Exegetes’ Analysis of the Qur’anic Narrative 18
The Qur'anic Narratives of the Golden Calf Episode
The ‘golden calf’ episode is discussed in verses Q.20:83-98 and Q.7:148-151. In addition to this there are two short versions in Q.2:51, 54, 92-3 and Q4:153. The same topic also appears in the Bible in Exodus 32. Though the two scriptures' accounts have some points in common they vary in their approaches: the main purposes of the story, the style and tone adopted by the Narrator, its time-span and so on are quite different. This article presents …
Religion as an Authoritarian Securitization and Violence Legitimation Tool
The paper shows how a state controlled religious institution used religion, fear, trauma, insecurity, grievances, and conspiracy theories to dehumanise a religious community, and presented it as an existential threat to the nation, the global community of believers and religion, by investigating the case of Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs' (the Diyanet) securitizing role under the authoritarian Islamist Erdoğanist rule. The article prov…
Use of Religion in Blame Avoidance in a Competitive Authoritarian Regime
Blame avoidance has been one of the most applied strategies by policy makers in both democratic and non-democratic regimes to avoid responsibility and accountability in cases of failure and tragic events. It is also known that politicians have used religion for Machiavellian purposes, as exactly advised by Machiavelli. However, a systematic empirical analysis of how religion is used for blame avoidance by politicians has not been conducted. In th…
Instrumentalization of Religious Conspiracy Theories in Politics of Victimhood
While victimhood has been studied from very different perspectives, the question how secular nation states have instrumentalised religion for the politics of victimhood has not been studied. This paper addresses this gap in the literature on victimhood by analysing the empirical case of Turkey. As is well known, the constitutionally secular Turkish state, first under the rule of the Kemalists and now Erdoganists, has been using the Directorate of…
Are Online Fatwas Credible? A Critical Analysis of Fifty Fatwas on Organ Donation and Transplantation
The cyber world affects many aspects of personal and communal life in our modern world. One significant form of this influence is the growing digitisation of religious understanding. This article will focus on one facet of this virtual religious discussion, namely the religious rulings of organ donation and transplantation in Islam. This study will emphasise that discussion of the credibility of online fatwas is a neglected area that deserves sig…
Reading the Bible in the light of Muslim sources
In a restricted sense, the term isrāʾīliyyāt applies to the traditions and reports that contain elements of the legendary and religious literature of Jews and Christians, but more inclusively and more commonly it also refers to Zoroastrian and other Near Eastern elements, including folklore. In other words, all foreign (non-Islamic) elements used to interpret the Qur'an are called isrāʾīliyyāt. Muslims have used biblical and other sources in thei…
The Qur'anic Narratives of the Golden Calf Episode
The ‘golden calf’ episode is discussed in verses Q.20:83-98 and Q.7:148-151. In addition to this there are two short versions in Q.2:51, 54, 92-3 and Q4:153. The same topic also appears in the Bible in Exodus 32. Though the two scriptures' accounts have some points in common they vary in their approaches: the main purposes of the story, the style and tone adopted by the Narrator, its time-span and so on are quite different. This article presents …
The Notions of Muḥkam and Mutashābih in the Commentary of Elmali'li Muḥammad Ḥamdi Yazir
This article will discuss the notions of muḥkam and mutashābih in the commentary of Elmah'li Muhammad Hamdi Yazir. Yazir was a Turkish scholar whose life spanned the Ottoman and the republican eras. He received a traditional education in Istanbul. Besides Turkish he knew Arabic, Persian and French and translated several philosophical works from French into Turkish. He was an MP, a lecturer and a principal. In 1926 he was asked by certain statesme…
The Classical Exegetes’ Analysis of the Qur’anic Narrative 18
Turkish Exegeses of the Twentieth Century
The Historical Status of the Qur'an
Recently, Turkish academics have been increasingly interested in discussing the historicity of the Qur'an. Some revisionist academics think that the Qur'an was revealed in precise historical circumstances and primarily responds to such circumstances. Thus qur'anic commands in general are not universal and do not, therefore, satisfy the demands of all Muslims for all time. So a new understanding is inevitable. Having used both Muslim and non-Musli…
The People of the Book in the Qur'ān
The Qur'ān's understanding by Muslims has shaped their communal interfaith perceptions. This article selects the various Qur'ānic verses that have influenced Muslims in relating to people of faiths other than their own. The prime concern of this paper is to show how even the Qur'ānic verses that might sound harsh to the ears of other faith groups can be read with sensitivity and understanding in the modern world. To accomplish this, the article p…
The Reception of Toshihiko Izutsu's Qur'anic Studies in the Muslim World
The works of Toshihiko Izutsu have enjoyed academic and popular supremacy ever since their publication, especially in Turkey. Up until the 1990's, his works were not subjected to any serious criticism by Muslim scholars. Instead, there was a tendency to accept a view of Izutsu as an exceptional scholar who was extremely sympathetic to Muslim traditions and the Qur'an, which he read sensitively, and who sought to give a complete, unprejudiced pict…
Reading the Bible in the light of Muslim sources
In a restricted sense, the term isrāʾīliyyāt applies to the traditions and reports that contain elements of the legendary and religious literature of Jews and Christians, but more inclusively and more commonly it also refers to Zoroastrian and other Near Eastern elements, including folklore. In other words, all foreign (non-Islamic) elements used to interpret the Qur'an are called isrāʾīliyyāt. Muslims have used biblical and other sources in thei…
The Ibāḍī Approach to the Methodology of Qur'anic Exegesis
In recent times, research on the Ibāḍī tradition by both Muslim and non‐Muslim scholars has increased, but has not yet shed light on the wider significance of this tradition. While the primary focus of researchers has been on the Ibāḍī tradition as a school of thought, its important contribution to various Islamic disciplines is still neglected. For this reason, there is a serious need for a comprehensive study of the Ibāḍī works on Islam, especi…
English Qur’ān Translators’ Responses to Pausing Signs, Al-Waqf Wa Al-ibtidā
The pause (waqf) is an important punctuation signal in the text of the Qur’an. There are six such signs. They designate: i. an obligatory pause; ii. prohibition of a pause; iii. a pause at the discretion of reciter; iv. a pause is permitted, but continuation is preferable; v. continuation is permissible, but a pause is preferable; vi. alternative grouping of words. These are relevant to the understanding of the Qur’an, and so have role in the und…
Instrumentalization of Religious Conspiracy Theories in Politics of Victimhood
While victimhood has been studied from very different perspectives, the question how secular nation states have instrumentalised religion for the politics of victimhood has not been studied. This paper addresses this gap in the literature on victimhood by analysing the empirical case of Turkey. As is well known, the constitutionally secular Turkish state, first under the rule of the Kemalists and now Erdoganists, has been using the Directorate of…
Are Online Fatwas Credible? A Critical Analysis of Fifty Fatwas on Organ Donation and Transplantation
The cyber world affects many aspects of personal and communal life in our modern world. One significant form of this influence is the growing digitisation of religious understanding. This article will focus on one facet of this virtual religious discussion, namely the religious rulings of organ donation and transplantation in Islam. This study will emphasise that discussion of the credibility of online fatwas is a neglected area that deserves sig…
Religion as an Authoritarian Securitization and Violence Legitimation Tool
The paper shows how a state controlled religious institution used religion, fear, trauma, insecurity, grievances, and conspiracy theories to dehumanise a religious community, and presented it as an existential threat to the nation, the global community of believers and religion, by investigating the case of Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs' (the Diyanet) securitizing role under the authoritarian Islamist Erdoğanist rule. The article prov…
Populist and Pro-Violence State Religion
Populist and Pro-Violence State Religion
Revisiting the Meaning of the Divine Preservation of the Qur'an
In this article, I discuss the topic of Divine preservation of the Qur'an in the context of exegesis verse 15:9: 'Indeed, it is We who sent down the reminder (dhikr) [i.e., the Qur'an], and indeed, We will be its guardian'. First, I will briefly examine Muslim and non-Muslim perceptions regarding authentic transmission of the Qur'an. I question some Western researchers, who problematise Muslims' approaches to the history of the Qur'an with variou…
Re-Evaluating the Notion of Isrâ and Mi'râj in Ibadi Tradition
The notion of mi'râj (the heavenly journey of Prophet Muhammad) is an important non-homogenic topic, although it is not often handled in Ibadi intellectual, sīrah (biography of the Prophet) and exegetical traditions. In this article, we analyse the treatment of the subject chronologically in the Ibadi tradition. We discuss the Ibadis' main concerns on the subject, how they differ, what inferences they make from the related verses, sīrah, hadith a…
Use of Religion in Blame Avoidance in a Competitive Authoritarian Regime
Blame avoidance has been one of the most applied strategies by policy makers in both democratic and non-democratic regimes to avoid responsibility and accountability in cases of failure and tragic events. It is also known that politicians have used religion for Machiavellian purposes, as exactly advised by Machiavelli. However, a systematic empirical analysis of how religion is used for blame avoidance by politicians has not been conducted. In th…
Modernity, Its Impact on Muslim World and General Characteristics of 19-20th-Century Revivalist-Reformists' Re-Reading of the Qur'an
The 19th and 20th centuries were times of great change and transformation for the Muslim world. The salvation of the ummah-which is getting politically, militarily, and economically more backward against the West, terms such as revival (ihya), renewal (tajdid) and reform and reconstruction (islah)-have occupied almost all intellectuals and ulama. Many prescriptions have been proposed on this subject, the most vivid examples of which are mainly re…
Prison Life in the Eyes of Bediüzzaman Said Nursi and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn
Christian and Islamic cultures of old abound with examples of atrocities committed against faithful people. Even in the modern era, many people have been unjustly imprisoned and deliberately subjected to persecution by authoritarian regimes. Said Nursi and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn are prominent examples of such poor treatment, even though each fought for their country and produced outstanding works, as long as breath was in them, for the welfare o…
Spiritual Growth of Said Nursi and Aleksander Solzhenitsyn in Prison
The article explores the approaches of individuals from two different religious traditions regarding prison spirituality: Said Nursi, who received a comprehensive classical education and furthered his knowledge through modern education, and A. Solzhenitsyn, who initially grew up as an atheist but rediscovered his religious upbringing while imprisoned, subsequently strengthening his spirituality over time. The research objectives of this article a…
Textual Context and Translation in the Qur’ān
This study comparatively analyses verses 2:146 and 6:20, addressing the frequent confusion between these two Qur’anic passages arising from their similar wording, particularly the use of the pronoun hu (ya'rifunahu) in both Qur’anic translations and exegetical works. While verse 6:20, revealed in Mecca, clearly refers to the recognition of the Prophet Muhammad by the People of the Book and Meccan Pagans, verse 2:146 belongs to the Medinan context…
Philosophy (17 works) · Sociology (15 works) · History (14 works) · Islamic Studies and History (12 works) · Islam (10 works) · Political science (10 works) · Theology (10 works) · Epistemology (9 works) · Art (8 works) · Literature (8 works)