The Application of Western Comparative Religious and Linguistic Approaches to the Qur'¯n in Turkey

Abstract

In this study, in order to describe fully the impact of Western scholarship, we first explore the Western-oriented study of religion in Turkey. Secondly, by making special reference to the treatment of the foreign vocabulary of the Qur'¯n by Turkish intellectuals, we investigate the extent of Western influence in the first half of the twentieth century. Thirdly, considering an institutional attempt to understand Western academia, we discuss Zeki Velidi Togan and the Institute of Islamic Studies (established in 1953). Fourthly, we examine the relationship between Western-oriented studies of religion and the classical study of Islam in Turkey, explaining the polemical nature of these studies in Turkish academic circles. The Turkish treatment of the Bible and the Turkish evaluation of the Western treatment of the Qur'¯n will provide case studies. The last part of the work discusses recent developments in Turkish scholarship dealing with the application of modern critical and linguistic methods to the Qur'¯n.