Islam and education from religious man's perspectives

Abstract

The present descriptive study investigates the observable effects of education on religion in TRNC from Imam's (religious men's) perspectives. Although the primary concern of the study is to see if there is a link between educational and religious values, the study presents a detailed description on the interests shown to religion and education in the country. Furthermore, the study investigates whether these values may change if TRNC joins to European Union. In this study, mainly a qualitative approach is adopted and 132 Imams (religious men) from local mosques in Northern Cyprus responded to the open-ended questionnaire prepared by the researcher. The data analysis involves a comparative reading of the Imams' opinions about education and Islam investigated through questionnaire. The findings of the study reveal that there is no observable effect of education on religion. Moreover, the findings of this study emphasizes the importance of religion for the development of a country but it Imams reported being disappointed in the interests shown to religious requirements such as attending to mosques. Another conclusion of the study reveals that nowadays, the youth started to loose many values but the unification of the island and Turkish entry into the European Union might have a beneficial effect on raising the religious level of Muslim Cypriots. Finally, participants in the research suggest that our educational and religious values will improve if we join to European Union. © EuroJournals Publishing, Inc. 2006.