The 7th Issue Of Our Academic Journal Is Now Out

On the 28th of June, the 7th issue of our International Human Studies Journal was published. Throughout the life of its publication, great effort has been made to consistently develop and expand the quality of the academic content with each issue. For the first time, our 2019 issue has incorporated all of the pre-assessment, evaluation, and refereeing from within the online DergiPark system. 

We are very grateful for the great interest shown by the academic community in our journal since it published its articles online. The fact that there have been over 50,000 downloads of our articles after the publication of the first six issues is indicative of considerable interest both at home and abroad.

In order to gain a place among the TR Index Journal List the necessary application was made to the Turkish National Academic Network and Information Center (Tübitak). On the other hand, the journal contributors and staff have worked hard to expand and diversify.

We again would like to remind you all - whether you be readers, researchers or writers - that the latest issue of our journal (along with all articles from previous issues) can be accessed online at https://dergipark.org.tr/katre

Our latest issue features several original research articles:

Firstly, Ahmet Yıldız has contributed a paper titled "Bediuzzaman's Moderate Political Understanding and Democratic Politics as an Opportunity Space". In it, he explores how Nursi pursued a "middle way" in the realm of politics, avoiding the dangers of "tekfir" and autocracy and promoting it as a space of "legitimate dissent" and range of morally-conducive democratic voices.

Muhammed Said Bilal's paper, titled "The Jurisprudential Groundings of Human Rights Developments in the Tanzimat Period: The Said Nursi Case" examined how legal developments in the area of human rights during the 'Tanzimat' period of the late Ottoman Empire corresponded with reforms and developments in Islamic legal statutes. In particular, Said Bilal examined such developments within the context of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi's thought and writings.

Ali Bakkal's "Positive Action In The Pursuit Of Rights" discussed the issue of human rights from the perspective of families, communities, societies and states' negotiation of the terms of what constitutes a human right as well as the mechanisms of their provision. In particular, the pursuit of rights can sometimes create controversies and issues of societal tension and conflict. The paper discusses how the pursuit of rights can be attained through the means of "musbet hariket" (positive action) as defined in the Risale-i Nur.

Erdal Şahin's paper, "A Critique of Cultural Westernization from the Paradigm of Scientificism" looks at how Nursi attempted to reconcile Islamic terminology with modern science through his textually implicit criticism of scientific materialism and positivism. 

Vaffi Foday Sheriff contributed a paper titled "The Role of Islamic Theology Towards a Better World: The Foundational Views of Risale-i Nur" in which he examined how, from both a theoretical and practical point of view the various current spiritual and material problems of the world could be tackled from within the Risale-i Nur.

Nur Sakinah Thomas's "Nursi's Call to his Rhetorical Audience in the Damascus Sermon" looks at the 1911 speech made by Nursi in the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus from the perspective of the oratory language he employs in terms of style and rhetorics.

"Human Deeds in the Eastern and Western Worlds of Thought" is a paper by Aziz Can Şensazlı that examines human actions from the perspective of both the individual and the Divine Will. He examines this within both Eastern and Western thought and then analyses how the ideas of Bediuzzaman Said Nursi fit within the two paradigms.

Şadi Eren's "Some Comments on the Translation of 'Mesnevi-i Nuriye' Made by Abdülmecid Nursi" examines some of the errors made in the translation of one of Said Nursi's prior works to the Risale-i Nur as well as some causes for misunderstandings in the language.

"Three Miraculous Aspects of the Qur’an According to Bediuzzaman Said Nursi" is a paper by Niyaz Beki that examines how Nursi adopts and elaborates on the principles of divine Unity (Tawhid) as part of his analysis of the miraculous nature of the Qur'an.

In this latest issue, all the correspondences relating to the articles of each author have been incorporated into the Dergipark system. Thus this requires that authors upload their papers directly onto Dergipark. Our authors are also asked to ensure that their papers have been carried over to the plagiarism detection programme as well as to inform us about whether their paper has been published anywhere prior to sending to us. 

We would like to thank and express appreciation to all writers, referees, readers and all other individuals who have contributed towards our Katre journal.