Marife Turkish Journal of Religious Studies

Abstract

With the migration of the Prophet from Mecca to Medina, Muslims gathered their forces and organized and established their state. Until the death of the Prophet, they succeeded in eliminating destructive threats to this state from inside and outside. Thus, with the migration, Islam went beyond the lands where it was born and spread throughout the Arabian Peninsula in a short time. Muslims made serious progress in a short time and spread over a wide geography, and one of the most important problems in this process was the search for a way of life compatible with Islam. Especially after the conquest of Mecca, people in the Peninsula flocked to Islam and became Muslims. These new Muslims benefited from the Quran to understand it until the Prophet passed away. However, after the death of the Prophet, they tried to fill the existing gap by taking the generation of the companions who knew the Quran best as an example. In this respect, the Period of the Four Caliphs, which constitutes an important example for the Islamic society, has a great meaning for the Islamic society. For this reason, great importance has been given to teaching and understanding this period in a healthy way at all levels of Islamic education. A strong literature has been created covering every aspect of this period. In addition, Muslims think that the basis of many deep divisions lies in this period. Because Muslims witnessed their first bloody wars among themselves during this period. The Period of the Four Caliphs constitutes an important subject of Islamic History courses in the Faculties of Theology, with the idea of preparing the ground for discussing and discussing this period on an academic basis. It is also obvious that the course content and outcomes concern an important group of students who have the potential to guide religious issues in society. Especially recent studies on the Four Caliphs Period indicate that the period witnessed an important sociocultural transformation. This transformation is similar to many periods in history. Therefore, the reasons and consequences of this transformation are of great importance. Of course, the main point is that this period was very important for the Muslims who came later. Because it is seen that many events that took place in later periods are evaluated with reference to this period. For this reason, it is necessary to determine the method and student perception that should be followed in order to explain and understand this period. For this reason, it became necessary to conduct a field research to determine students' perceptions of the period regarding a study focusing on their situation. Islamic History course is a compulsory course within the curriculum of Faculties of Theology. Although there are differences in the number of course hours between faculties, they are similar in content. In addition, due to the sensitive nature of the topics covered in the course, it is of great importance to review the teaching principles and methods. Perhaps one of the issues that makes our study unique is that Islamic History courses do not have much place on the agenda of researchers. On the other hand, although some perception scales have been applied to different courses in the curriculum of the Faculties of Theology, such a deficiency is noticeable regarding the Islamic History courses, which is a compulsory course. The aim of this study is to fill this gap. In the relevant field research, the Four Caliphs Period Data Collection Tool (DHVA) consisting of 55 items and the Four Caliphs Period Perception Scale (DHÖ) consisting of 18 items, prepared based on the different course contents in the theology curriculum, were used. A descriptive analysis of the data obtained with DHVA was performed. As a result of these analyses, it was determined that theology students learned values that included more positive features about the four caliphs, that the four caliphs were role models for the students, and that each caliph stood out more with some of their characteristics. The relationship of the data obtained with WHO with age, gender, socio-economic level and class level variables was determined using parametric tests. Accordingly, it was understood that students' perceptions of the four caliphs differed according to age. It was also observed that there was no significant difference with other independent variables.