Born in 1969 in Kemah district of Erzincan, İşliyen completed his primary and secondary education in Kemah. He graduated from Kemah Imam Hatip High School in 1987. In the same year, he entered the Faculty of Theology at 19 Mayıs University in Samsun. After two years, he transitioned to Marmara University Faculty of Theology, where he successfully graduated in 1992.

He earned his master degree from Erciyes University Institute of Social Sciences in the Department of Sufism with a thesis titled "Translation and evaluation of Muhammed Masum el-Ömeri el Müceddidi's work al-Sab‘u’l Asrār fī Madāric al-Akhyār. He also completed his doctorate in the Department of Exegesis at Cumhuriyet University Institute of Social Sciences with a thesis on "Worldliness from the Perspective of the Qur'an: Causes and Consequences.”

In terms of his professional background, he served as a vocational courses teacher in Hatay (Altınözü) from 1992 to 1993 and in Kayseri (İncesu) Imam Hatip High Schools from 1994 to 1997. In 1998, he served as a teacher of religious studies at Malatya Yeşilyurt-Görgü Primary School. He successfully passed the mufti exam conducted by the Presidency of Religious Affairs in 1997, subsequently holding positions as the district mufti in Malatya Doğanşehir and later in Erzincan Üzümlü. In 2003, he assumed the role of vise-mufti in Erzincan, and from 2009 to 2018, he served as the mufti of Erzincan, Afyonkarahisar, and Diyarbakır, respectively. On February 19, 2018, he was appointed as the Vice-President of the Presidency of Religious Affairs. Dr. Burhan İşliyen, who is fluent in Arabic, is married with four children.