Letter of Thanks for the 13th International Bediuzzaman Symposium

Letter of Thanks for the 13th International Bediuzzaman Symposium

4–7 October 2026, Istanbul

The 262 papers selected from among submissions from 60 countries enabled us to discuss the issues of our age under the guidance of the Qur’an and the Sunnah. This historic and traditional gathering was made possible through the months of work undertaken by many people. We extend our gratitude for the strong support given to the symposium and the messages sent by:

His Excellency Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of the Republic of Türkiye;
We were honoured by the attendance at our opening ceremony of
His Excellency Cevdet Yılmaz, our Vice President;
Prof. Dr. Safi Arpaguş, President of Religious Affairs, and
His Excellency Necmeddin Bilal Erdoğan, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of İlim Yayma Vakfı
We express our gratitude.

For their institutional support in making the symposium possible, we thank
the Ministry of Culture and Tourism
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure
To the Presidency of the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA)
To the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities
To our transportation sponsor, Turkish Airlines

Our communications sponsors, who brought our work to public attention
To TRT
To Anadolu Agency
To the Ministry of Culture and Tourism / AKM
We are grateful to the directors and experts of the other public institutions that provided support.

We extend our gratitude to our scientific and organizing committees, who were responsible for preparing the symposium’s scholarly content; to the referees who evaluated the papers; to our session chairs and moderators; and to all the scholars who shared their research with us.

We thank our esteemed teacher, Hafiz Ferruh Muştuer, Imam Hatibi of Ayasofya-i Kebîr Câmi-i Şerîfi, who blessed our opening with a recitation of the Holy Qur’an; our respected elder Fevzi Allahverdi, who devoted his life to the service of faith; Dr. Muhammed Ebulhayr Şükrü, Syria’s Minister of Awqaf; Dr. Usame er-Rifâî, Syria’s Mufti; Dr. İhsan Şenocak, President of İFAM; Dr. Mizanur Rahman Azhari from Bangladesh; Prof. Dr. Abdulvehhab Abdulbaki Can from Pakistan; Prof. Dr. Ali Karadaği; and journalist and publisher Lauren Booth for their contributions.

We extend our gratitude to Prof. Dr. Nevzat Tarhan, Founding Rector of Üsküdar University; Dr. Aref Ali Nayed, President of Kalam Research, who chaired the special opening session; and Prof. Dr. Ammar Ceydel from Algeria.

Each of our speakers who took the floor at the other forums and scholarly sessions contributed to the intellectual richness of this gathering.

We would also like to name the universities, institutions and foundations that took part in and contributed to our organization:

• Afro-Asian University (Somali)
• Suffa Foundation (İstanbul)
• Nur Foundation (İstanbul)
• Manisa Foundation for Science and Culture (Manisa)
• Üsküdar University (RİNAP / İstanbul)
• El Razi University (Irak)
• Ez-Zitouna University (Tunus)
• Iğdır University (Iğdır)
• International University of Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
• Isparta University of Applied Sciences (Isparta)
• Ittihad Kiyadat El-Mer’e El-Arabiyye (Egypt)
• İstanbul Sabahattin Zaim University (İstanbul)
• Salahaddin University (Iraq)
• Smart University (UAE)
• Süleyman Demirel University (Isparta)
• University of Khartoum (Sudan)
• University of Kut (Iraq)
• Ahi Ankara Hamiyet ve İrfan Foundation (Ankara)
• Akdeniz Culture and Education Foundation (Antalya)
• Arab Union for Culture and Creativity (AUCC / Yemen)
• Berrak Hayır, İlim, Yardımlaşma ve Kültür Association (Ankara)
• Continium (USA)
• Darul Irfan (İstanbul)
• European Organization of Islamic Centers (Switzerland)
• Hasev Foundation (Diyarbakır)
• Institute of Integrated Knowledge (USA)
• International Foundation for Muslim Theology (England)
• ISTAC-IIUM International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilisation (Malaysia)
• Istanbul Civilisation Institute (Istanbul)
• İttihat Eğitim ve Kültür Derneği (Bursa)
• Kalam Research and Media (UAE)
• Muavenet İlim ve Kültür Vakfı (Istanbul)
• Mustafa Sungur Arslanbey İlim ve Kültür Vakfı (Istanbul)
• Müftü Ahmet Hulusi Efendi Kültür Eğitim ve Sağlık Vakfı (Elazığ)
• Bursa Kültür Vakfı (Bursa)
• Kültür ve Eğitim Vakfı (KEV / Erzurum)
• Vahdet Eğitim ve Kültür Vakfı (Istanbul)
• Şekercihan (Istanbul)
• The Qur’an Project (England)
• Union of Afro-Asia Universities (Ghana)
• Universal League of Islamic Literature (Saudi Arabia)
• Vahdet Yılmaz Vakfı (Istanbul)
• World Federation of Arab Islamic International Schools (WFAIIS / Egypt)
• World Union Organization for Arabic Press (England)

We extend our thanks to the employees of Kalyon Ajans, the teams at AKM and Pullman İstanbul Hotel & Convention Center; Proje Geliştirme Ajansına (PGM), which coordinated press and publication activities; our Turkish, Arabic, English and Russian interpreters; our registration and reception staff; our stage and production teams; our sound, video and live-streaming staff; members of the press; our photography and video teams; those involved in design and publication preparation; and our security and service personnel.

We also extend our heartfelt thanks to our guests who filled AKM for the symposium opening, filled the halls during the academic sessions, followed the sessions attentively, and joined online from different parts of the world.

We would also like to acknowledge by name and role our colleagues who shouldered the responsibility for this historic and global organisation. We thank Said Yüce, who chaired the symposium on behalf of our foundation, for his efforts from the beginning to the end of the preparations. We thank Veysel Bakgör, İlyas Karademir, Turan Dikmetaş, İbrahim Kurt, Orhan Gülgün, Zübeyir Birgeoğlu, Talha Yeşilhark, Rüstem Ülker, Prof. Dr. Orhan Canpolat and Ömer Güzeldemirci, members of our Foundation’s Board of Trustees, for their extraordinary support for the symposium and their contributions to the Foundation’s services.

We are grateful to the academic committee for its extraordinary efforts during the preparations, which enhanced the symposium’s national and international visibility and academic quality. We extend our thanks to the Chair of the Scientific Committee, Prof. Dr. Bayram Özer, and to the General Coordinator, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ünal Akyüz, who managed the symposium’s general secretariat and coordinated its national and international dimensions. We thank Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mustafa Tuna, responsible for the United States, Europe and Western countries and coordinator of the English section; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mehmet Ali Gündoğdu, coordinator of the academic programme and producer of the symposium’s promotional videos; and Dr. Abdurrahman Seyitoğlu, responsible for the Islamic world and head of the Arabic section.

We thank Tarık Sağlam, who managed the symposium secretariat; Zahid Koçbay, who oversaw the symposium’s field operations; and Muhammet Uzun, who coordinated İİKV’s design, printing and agency work. The efforts of İbrahim Hulusi Oflaz, who managed media, news and website matters, and Gökhan Saka, Fatih Emre Güney and Zehranur Sarıoğlu, who worked on the website and journalism, played a major role in bringing the symposium to a wide audience. We thank Abdullatif Tuna, assistant to the Symposium Chair; Hasan Hüseyin Kutay Çetinkanat, assistant to the general secretariat; Muhammed İgedi, coordinator of the Arabic section; Dr. Muhammed Hadi Ahmedoğlu, the Arabic academic coordinator; and Dr. Salim Kurt, as well as Muhammad Sufyan and Hüseyin Abdullah Tuna, field coordinators for the English programme, for the follow-up work they undertook during the preparations and throughout the programme.

We extend our gratitude to Rıfat Fidan, who coordinated our guests’ travel and reception, and to Abdullah Faruk Ateş, who managed all reception and farewell arrangements between the airport and the symposium venues. We thank Rafet Yılmaz, who coordinated support services, and individually thank Şems Halis, Emir İmamzade, Mustafa Şahin, Eyüp Yahya Başar, Ömer Faruk Güleç, Musa Yıldırım, Hafız Abdülbasir and Azmi Şerbetçi, who served in this area. Each of your contributions to ensuring the programme ran smoothly was valuable.

We thank Medine Okur, who undertook volunteer coordination and carried out the Atlas Nursi activities, and volunteer coordinator Sezer Harman. We also extend our heartfelt thanks to Hülya Başaran, Rüveyda Şafaklar, Berat Yerelma, Ertuğrul Türker, Melih Nohut, İzzet Reşit, Umut Sarsılmaz, Zekeriya Yılmaz and Muhibbullah Muhammed, who stood by us as volunteers. The care and effort you showed whenever our guests needed assistance have become cherished memories of this gathering.

We extend our gratitude to the members of our Organising Committee—Prof. Dr. Alpaslan Açıkgenç, Prof. Dr. Eşref Durfili, Prof. Dr. Cihat Yaşaroğlu, Prof. Dr. Mustafa Yazgan, Prof. Dr. Fazlı Ergün, Prof. Dr. Kazım Uysal, Prof. Dr. Rahmi Tekin, Prof. Dr. İshak Özgel, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Muhammet Emre Ayhan, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fatih Mehmet Coşkun and Prof. Dr. Elmira Akhmetova—for the time they devoted to the committee’s work and the contributions they made.

We are grateful for the academic contributions made by Prof. Dr. Abdulkerim Akevi, Prof. Dr. Umit Mufti, Prof. Dr. Ferhad Şivani, Prof. Dr. Cüneyd Dirşevi, Dr. Bessam Hicazi and Prof. Dr. Necip Sudi, members of the İİKV Arabic Scholarly Committee.

We thank those who contributed to the coordination of the symposium’s services abroad: Hasbi Şen from Indonesia, Behram Arslanbek from Uzbekistan, Salahuddin Sayeedi from Bangladesh, Mahmut Bulut from Oman, Said İnan from Malaysia, Abdulkerim Baybara and Ahmet Mustafa from Egypt, and Hasan Aksüt and Münir Türen from Syria.

Finally, we consider it our duty to express our gratitude individually to Mehmed Fırıncı and Mustafa Sungur Ağabey, founders of our foundation and architects and doyens of the Bediuzzaman symposia, which have been held as a tradition since 1991; to the esteemed ağabeys who were our Master’s students; and to all the other ağabeys and hodjas among the students of the Nur who contributed and supported these efforts with dedication.

We pray that our Lord may make this collective effort a means to blessed outcomes. We hope that the scholarly friendships formed here will endure, that the ideas discussed will give rise to new studies, and that our efforts to convey the truths of the Qur’an to humanity will grow stronger. May Allah reward everyone who contributed.

İstanbul İlim ve Kültür Vakfı
Organising Committee of the 13th International Bediüzzaman Symposium