İSAM History

The Türkiye Diyanet Foundation’s Center for Islamic Studies (İSAM) is an institution that carries out research to promote the reality of the religion, history, and civilization of Islam within the framework of scientific principles. It aims to transfer the scholarly accumulation and cultural heritage produced by Muslim societies throughout antiquity to the scholarly circles of today.

İSAM, which focuses on training researchers, publishing encyclopedias, and amassing a library services, has been at the forefront of universities and non-governmental organizations with the works it has prepared, the researchers it has trained, the projects it has produced, and the seminars it has carried out since it was established. Today, İSAM continues its mission of establishing the foundation for academic studies with its ongoing publication, research, and digitization projects, in addition to having one of the select specialized libraries in the world.

The Diyanet Encyclopedia of Islam is an original compendium authored by contributors who are predominantly Muslims. It is the largest work İSAM has produced, taking 33 years and published across 46 volumes. Following the completion of the first edition of the encyclopedia, İSAM reorganized its activities in line with the current needs of Türkiye and the Islamic world, launching new studies in its main fields of activity in line with these objectives.

İSAM closely follows modern academic developments and trends in the world and has recently added a new dimension to its efforts: producing digital databases. In the process that began with providing online access to the Diyanet Encyclopedia of Islam, efforts soon shifted into transforming the work into a digital encyclopedia by improving its presentation, content, and search functionality. The first stage, it is aims to transform the processable data, such as place, person, and concept, into a database that can be used in further research. The production of similar digital resources and databases that can be integrated with international data systems is another important item on İSAM’s agenda.

Inspired by the successful completion of the Diyanet Encyclopedia of Islam İSAM produced another encyclopedia with the aim of providing reliable, accurate, and comprehensive information about the religion of Islam and its principles to a wider audience in Türkiye and abroad. It was published in eight volumes under the name The Concise Encyclopedia of Islam. Written in a more understandable language and supported by visual elements, maps, and infographics, this encyclopedia provides a reliable guide on the journey of understanding and discovering Islam.

The Researcher Assistance and Training Project, which was established by İSAM in its early years to facilitate doctoral students with studying abroad, has been restructured to support researchers who are currently enrolled in post-graduate programs in Türkiye. This change occurred under the realization that the academic level in Türkiye has reached a particularly high level. Semester-long programs, such as the Summer Research and Education Support Program, were have been enacted to support research assistants at new theology faculties that lack academic experience. On the other hand, in recognition of the importance of undergraduate education as a prerequisite for raising qualified academics, İSAM established the Undergraduate Academic Support Program, the first of its kind in Türkiye, to train theology students in the fields of classical Islamic sciences and social sciences.

İSAM has prioritized efforts to make manuscripts accessible to researchers, which is considered essential for recording the history of the Islamic sciences. Within this framework, it organized courses on critical editions of manuscripts written in Arabic and Ottoman Turkish, in addition to preparing and publishing manuals to be used in these publications. İSAM, which has awarded certificates those trained across more than ten courses, continues to contribute to the world of scholarship with the works it publishes in the relevant fields.