“Sunni-Shia Polarization in the Middle East”

Prof. Dr. Hasan Onat, after his graduation from the Faculty of Divinity of Ankara University, started his job, in the same faculty, as research assistant at the department of the History of Islamic Schools of Thought. He earned his PhD in 1986 with his thesis entitled “Emeviler Devri Şii Hareketleri (The Shiite Movements in the Umayyad Period)”. He earned, respectively, the degree of Associate Professor in 1989, and Professor in 1995. In 1993, he did research on his field in London and Manchester. In 1994, he gave lectures and seminars as visiting scholar in the Faculty of Missiology of the Pontifical Gregorian University. In May 2005, he gave lectures on Islamic Schools of Thought, Contemporary Islamic Movements and Interreligious Dialogue in the Faculty of Divinity of Osh State University in Kyrgyzstan. He was the dean of the Faculty of Divinity of Gazi University between 1999 and 2002. He is currently the head of the department of the History of Islamic Schools of Thought in the Faculty of Divinity of Ankara University, and gives lectures on the History of Islamic Schools of Thought and Religious Movements in Contemporary Islamic World. From 1986 onwards, he has been making a radio programme in Voice of Turkey. He knows English, Arabic and Persian. He is married with two children. He has published several books such as “Emeviler Devri Şii Hareketleri (The Shiite Movements in the Umayyad Period), Ankara 1993; “Shiism in the Twentieth Century and the Islamic Revolution of Iran”, Ankara 1996; “Türkiye’de Din Anlayışında Değişim Süreci (The Transmission Process in the Religious Understanding of Turkey), Ankara 2004, and he has numerous articles on Islamic Schools of Thought, Shia, Alawism, Religious Understanding, Globalisation, Violence and Terror, Creating a New Civilisation.

RSVP: Şara AGUN-YALÇIN

Phone: 312.292 55 29 email: sara.agun@tepav.org.tr