The third week of the Ibn Haldun Academy took place on Saturday, May 3, 2025, and concluded with in-depth discussions on contemporary modes of thought and historical ruptures. Participants engaged with a multi-layered content ranging from the history of Islamic thought to the cultural climates of the Seljuk and Ottoman periods, from the relationship between memory and future in architecture to the possibilities of the social sciences.
This week’s program, which participants could attend both in person and online, brought together Assoc. Prof. Vahdettin Işık, Prof. Haşim Şahin, architect-writer Celaleddin Çelik, and Prof. Feridun Yılmaz with university students, young academics, and readers from across the country.
In the first session of the day, Assoc. Prof. Vahdettin Işık, Director of our university's Institute of Alliance of Civilizations and a faculty member in the Department of Civilization Studies, delivered a seminar titled “‘The Spirit of Time as a Horizon or a Cage Enclosing the Mind”. Starting with a critical approach to the issue of classification/periodization, he examined contemporary Islamic thought from a historical perspective. Referring to the Atlas of Islamic Thought, Işık drew attention to the Muslim world’s effort to rewrite its history over the past two centuries, emphasizing that the production of thought is directly related to the socio-cultural context or climate of the era. Through examples of Ghazali and Kant, he discussed how individual genius is shaped by historical conditions. His presentation offered a critical perspective on today’s standardized life forms and intellectual comfort zones, and he contrasted the Islamic cyclical understanding of time with the Western notion of linear progress. Centering his analysis on how the spirit of the age limits—or expands—individuals' capacity for thought and action, Işık provided a thought-provoking framework.
In the second session, Prof. Dr. Haşim Şahin of Anadolu University delivered a lecture titled “Cultural Climate in the Seljuk and Early Ottoman Periods.” He examined the cultural structure shaped by the Islamization of the Turks and the pivotal role of the 13th century in the history of civilization. Şahin emphasized the diversification of Islamic civilization by incorporating local customary elements across different geographies and noted that traditions of reason, logic, and Sufism converged in Anatolia during this period. He highlighted the rich intellectual climate shaped by the arrival of figures such as Ibn Arabi, Mawlana Rumi, Ahi Evran, Yunus Emre, and Haji Bektash Veli. The presentation also emphasized the roles of groups such as the Sheikh, Ghazi, Ahi, and Faqih in the emergence of the Ottoman state. The original synthesis formed through the concentration of cultural heritage in Anatolia after the Mongol Invasion and the rise of indigenous Sufis was presented as a key to understanding the cultural and intellectual climate of the period. One distinctive aspect of Şahin’s lecture was his attempt to move beyond hagiographical narratives and grand discourses, instead analyzing these figures from a social sciences perspective—particularly through historical methods and techniques—with an objective lens.
Architect Celaleddin Çelik, in his lecture titled “Traces and Signs of New Architecture: Remembering Tomorrow,” emphasized that architecture is not only an effort to shape the physical environment but also a carrier of cultural memory. Describing architecture as the embodiment of an idea and imagination, Çelik defined it as a field where “the essence leaves a trace in the form.” By relating architecture to music, language, and culture, he explained the intellectual sources of inspiration behind the transformation of abstract thought into concrete space. He addressed the relationship between form and essence and the importance of balancing tradition with modernity. Questioning the impact of the “pressure to create something new” on architecture, he stressed the significance of an organic urban fabric that interacts with nature and maintains a “human scale.” He also discussed the possibilities of constructing meaningful spaces and the challenges that come with the process.
In the final session of the day, Prof. Feridun Yılmaz, Rector of Uludağ University, delivered a lecture titled “Social Sciences and the Possibility of Thinking”. He examined the role of the social sciences in the production of thought from a historical and philosophical perspective. Emphasizing that knowledge is not neutral and that every piece of knowledge belongs to a particular worldview, Yılmaz opened a discussion on the role of the social sciences in the individual’s quest to make sense of existence. He questioned the tendency of philosophy and the social sciences to place themselves at the center of thinking and explored how thinking itself is shaped within the social sciences. Starting from the birth of the sciences within philosophy, he traced historical turning points such as the secular ideals of the Enlightenment, the emergence of modern economics and class concepts with the Industrial Revolution, and explained how the social sciences were shaped by these transformations. Participants had the opportunity to reassess the possibilities of thinking while questioning the impact of the social sciences on individuals and society.
The Ibn Haldun Academy ’25 program will continue with new sessions on Saturday, May 10.
