The changing society and religion in the work of Münevver Ayaşlı

The subject of our research is the relationship between changing society and religiosity in Münevver Ayaşlı's works. Ayaşlı, one of the writers of the Republican period, aimed to give direction to the society with her works. She partially saw the most glorious periods of the Ottoman Empire and witnessed its decline and collapse. Her works written in this period are the source of the change and transformation in the religious-sociological life of the Ottoman society in that period. At the stage of determining the subject, a literature review was conducted in the field of sociology of religion and it is noticed that there is lack of studies on Ayaşlı. Our aim is to contribute to the field with the analysis of our author's works that shed light on the period. Our qualitative research consists of two parts. In the first part, the author's life is told and information about the works she wrote is given. In the second part, the change and transformation process of the Ottoman society in the period Ayaşlı lived in is explained. In the literature review process, firstly Ayaşlı's works and then written, oral and video sources related to the period Ayaşlı lived in are utilised. According to Ayaşlı, the deficiency in the military field in the Ottoman Empire continued with economic life and Westernisation manifested itself in every field. During the decline period of the Ottoman Empire, the world of thought had different opinions. While these different ideas led to the emergence of different currents of thought in order to save the Ottoman Empire, they also aimed to preserve the essence of Ottoman culture and civilisation. Especially the changes in political administration and the isolation and privatisation of religion made the emergence of secularisation as well as modernisation in social life inevitable. In this context, Ayaşlı sought answers to issues such as nationalism, cultural imperialism, Turkishness and the Islamic cause. As a result, the form of government, economic structure, cultural values, understanding of religion and religious formations of the society during the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the republic have been analysed on the axis of Ayaşlı's views. The new regime revealed the expression of old and new Turks in Ayaşlı. The reforms of the republican era and their impact on social life were welcomed as a radical restructuring, especially in the conservative part of society. Along with social change, Turkey's religious way of life was also shaped as individualistic. Under the influence of modernism and secularism, the institution of religion was privatised.