The analysis of basic concepts being mentioned in Qur'an regarding mental processes in terms of cognitive goals of religious education

Thinking is a feature that distinguishes humans from other living things. Being existed since the first human being, the phenomenon of thinking is issued by Qur'an and it has been functionally promoted in the epistemology of the Qur'an. Qur'an's invitation people to think so much about the creatures is aimed at making the act of thinking functional. The verses in the Qur'an that invite people to use the mind, call to think, want to establish causality between events and facts, and which aim to invite to faith with an epistemological approach to the ontological reality of beings, are intended for thinking to be functional. Thinking and its derivatives in the Qur'an is to express the ultimate cognitive goals of religious education, which leads people to God from the world as a result of thinking or calls them to faith verbally and behaviorally. These are processes such as understanding (taakkul), making sense of, associating, linking, establishing a cause-effect relationship with the human act of thinking at the micro level. At the macro level the aim of the act of thinking is to catch the mental awareness in accordance with the nature of the human being and to invite people to be conscious and believe in the Qur'an, to realize the meaning and purpose of life and to be socially conscious. In the first chapter of the study, mental-cognitive terminology and general features are introduced, the relation of mental-cognitive terminology with religious education is provided and thinking processes and learning theories are evaluated in terms of religious education. In the second chapter, the mental-cognitive processes of the Qur'an such as understanding (taakkul), contemplation, considering are analyzed with dictionary and term meanings, their relationship with religious education is stated, they are evaluated in the context of the cognitive goals of religious education and their similarities and differences with thinking processes are expressed. The purposes and the mental change desired by the Qur'an are indicated by the relevant thinking processes in terms of religious education. In this study, a path leading to cognitive goals is followed by referring to the entities that are the object of thinking in the Qur'an. In the conclusion-recommendations section, it is suggested how these thinking processes can be used in formal and non-formal education institutions in religious education. Keywords: Religious Education, Taakkul, Tafakkur, Tadabbur, Tazakkur, Tafakkuh, Cognitive development, Mental thinking processes about Qur'an.