Displaying items by tag: nation of state

Within this study, understandings of nation in Islamic civilization and “modern-secular” Western civilization are compared both with each other and on socio-political structures. These comparisons should be useful to know what is appropriate for Turkey.
Under the influence of the French Revolution, the “nation” became a new socio-political force in Europe. In the studies carried out to define the nation, the ideas of philosophers were used, not sociological observations. There was no consensus on any of the very different definitions produced on unrelated grounds such as race, native language and citizenship. Meanwhile, instead of accepting historical integrations, each state tried to build its own nation by choosing one of the definitions made. Thus, although they were known as “nation-states”, none of the states belonged to a clearly definable nation, and it was not possible for a state to artificially build its own nation. In the meantime, many states were fell apart, while the newly established ones faced the same danger.
On the other hand, the concept of nation in Islamic civilization has existed since the beginning and its meaning is clear. As a term found in the Qur'an, 'nation' refers to a religion and its believers. In the early periods, the common language of the “Nation of Islam” was only Arabic. In the course of time, Persian and Turkish also became common languages in different regions. Thus, the term “Turk” became the name of Muslims of different ethnic origins and different native languages who used Turkish as a common language.
Later, with the modern-secular definitions of the West, the definitions of “Turkish nation” became unclear and controversial in Turkey, and the integrity of the Turkish nation was in danger of being disintegrated.

This article is published in the first issue of ASSAM International Refereed Journal.