Religious perception of the turkish society in germany: A comparative research between the members of the Turkish-İslamic Union of Diyanet Affairs (DİTİB) and the islamic community national view (İGMG) on religious affairs

This thesis has comparatively studied the perception of religion on the members of the two major Muslim associations in the Federal Republic of Germany. The Turkish-Islamic Union of Diyanet Affairs (DİTİB) and the Islamic Community Notional View (İGMG) is the two associations that are the subject of this research. The research focuses on what religion means to participants, the reason for their existence, the position of religion in their lives and the most favorite aspect of their religion. The participants' opinions about how a Muslim individual should be, how they describe and understand the Qur'an and the Sunnah and put them into practice, which teachers and works they follow on religious issues, how they evaluate the relationship between religion and politics, their thoughts about the relationship between men and women in religion, how they view destiny in religion, how they perceive passed fatwas and their thoughts on establishing friendships and marrying individuals belonging to a different religion were discussed. The opinions of the participants were compared across the two associations. This study consists of four sections. In the introduction, the researcher has defined the problem, the purpose, the importance, previous research, the scope and limitations of the research. In this section, the researcher has also explained their position in the study. Furthermore in this section, the method, design and procedure of this study in collecting the data are explained in detail. The first part of the study forms the conceptual framework. Under this section, the researcher focuses on migration and the reasons for migration, religion and religiousness, and the relationship religion has with politics, sects, culture, mentality and identity. While the conceptual framework was being drawn, every aspect of the two associations that were the subject of the study was conveyed. In the second part of the study, the researcher analyzed their findings and presented them to the readers. The research questions were answered in such a way which specified the association the participants were in and a comparison was made under each heading. In the conclusion section, the researcher collected the findings and completed the study by making a general analysis.