The International Institute of Islamic Thought and the Institute of Knowledge Integration are continuing the series of lectures. On June 29, Elmir Kuliev, Azerbaijani philosopher and Islamic scholar, author of the Quran translation into Russian, delivered a lecture titled “Ottoman Empire and Modernity. Historical Parallels”.
In his lecture, Dr. Kuliev invited the audience to look at history not only through known facts and events, but also considering the Ottoman heritage, which unites many countries and peoples, and to pay attention to the details, allowing to look at the known facts in a new light and to rethink them in a different way.
The Ottoman Empire existed for centuries and played an important role in the world. “Turkish fear” still has an imprint on the relations between Europeans and Ottomans descendants, but it would be wrong to assess actions of the Ottomans by modern days standards, according to the lecturer. Modern Turkey does not have the same military power as the Ottoman Empire had, for example, at the times of Suleiman the Magnificent; but nobody wants the history to repeat itself. And besides, it’s other players who are playing the role of the Ottoman Empire nowadays.
During the second part of webinar, participants could ask their questions, such as about the influence of the Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab ideology on the process of the Ottoman Empire collapse; modern literature on the Ottoman Empire; the influence of Turkish rule on Muslims in general. While communicating with the participants, Dr. Kuliev shared his own experience of living and working in Turkey.
More than 50 participants from different countries, including Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Lithuania, Estonia, Belarus, and others, attended this lecture.
The next lecture “Islamic Concept of History” will be delivered by Dr. Elmira Akhmetova on July 15, it will be announced on the IIIT CIS Lectures Facebook page.
