A delegation from the Faculty of Islamic Studies at the University of Malaya, one of Malaysia’s prestigious universities, visited İSAM on Tuesday, September 10, 2024. The delegation, led by Dean Prof. Mohd Fauzi Bin Hamat, included vice-deans, faculty members, students, and state muftis serving in Malaysia. The group attended a session at İSAM consisting of three presentations.
Following the "Islamic Astronomy Applications Workshop" held in Ankara from September 2-5 in collaboration with the Presidency of Religious Affairs, the delegation continued their program with visits to various universities and research centers. After being hosted by Prof. İsmail Safa Üstün, Dean of the Faculty of Theology at Marmara University on September 10, they visited İSAM.
At İSAM, the delegation was welcomed by İSAM Vice President Assoc. Prof. Yaşar Çolak and participated in presentations on İSAM’s encyclopedia preparation processes, digitization efforts, and verification studies.
Çolak highlighted that the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, developed through years of meticulous work at the Centre for Islamic Studies, is the first original encyclopedia prepared in the Islamic world. He emphasized that this work fills an important gap by guiding Islamic and Ottoman studies in Turkey and offers a strong alternative to Western-oriented encyclopedias, which have various methodological and content issues.
Ayhan Kaygusuz provided information on digitization efforts, noting that İSAM is working to convert its extensive text-based content into an internationally standardized dataset using natural language processing methods. Muhammed Şahin from the verification unit also gave a presentation on İSAM’s developed verification criteria and editorial critique work. Following the program, the delegation enjoyed an evening meal at İSAM with the panelists from İSAM and Prof. Saim Kayadibi from Marmara University’s Faculty of Theology.