Disenchantment and Transgression: Post-Secular Religiosity Among Madrasa Dropouts in Turkey

Abstract

This study examines the transformation of religiosity among individuals who leave traditional Eastern madrasas in Turkey unfinished, focusing on the existential rupture between traditional religious education and modern secular life. While the madrasa institution has historically served as a primary site of religious formation and cultural production in the region, the transition to civil life has led to a significant reshaping of the relationship between faith and practice. Utilizing a qualitative research design, in-depth interviews were conducted with 13 male participants in Batman to explore the impact of institutional departure on individual belief systems. The findings suggest that a curriculum weighted toward grammar and the presence of intense social pressures can affect perceptions of the sacred, triggering a shift in the individual’s attitude toward religious boundaries. Crucially, not being in a position that represents the religious status relieves individuals of the burden of representation, fostering a sense of conscientious flexibility toward abandoning worship. The study identifies a post-secular typology of believing but indifferent, in which belief persists as an ontological comfort zone while losing its regulatory power over daily life. These results indicate that, in the context of madrasa dropout, secularization manifests as the ineffectiveness and worldliness of belief rather than its outright rejection.

1. Introduction

The ontological inclination of the human being primarily shapes an individual’s way of life. Indeed, belief has a dynamic power in every aspect. But the essential thing that constitutes belief and transforms it is epistemology. In the pre-modern period, ontological concerns lie at the center of epistemological discussions. However, the epistemological transformation of the modern period, especially its instrumental rationality, produced ontological and sociological ruptures. For this reason, while belief before the modern period produced a virtue and a way of life, it is claimed that it was reduced to an epistemological object in the modern period. This shift in mentality removed belief from being a metaphysical power that nourishes and disciplines the soul and turned it into merely a channel of knowledge. In this state, religion faced the danger of losing its essential nature, the possibility of becoming a mere mental proposition rather than a comprehensive life discipline (Asad 2003, p. 38). The institution of religion, trying to sustain its existence within these conditions, has had to confront the effect of the public secularization process brought about by modernization.

In the 19th century, Holyoake’s conceptualization of secularism profoundly influenced Western academia by expressing a search for a moral order independent of religious authority (Nash 2019, pp. 82–85). Although a minority of radical secularization theorists predicted the complete disappearance of religion, the mainstream secularization paradigm argued that religion’s social authority would gradually decline and its role in public life would diminish, not that it would vanish entirely. However, Casanova argued that religion had never fully retreated to the private sphere as secularization theory assumed; rather, through developments such as the Iranian Islamic Revolution and Catholic movements in Latin America, it demonstrated a capacity for public presence that secular theories had systematically underestimated—a process he termed deprivatization (Casanova 1994, p. 3). Bell, on the other hand, termed this the return of the sacred (Bell 1977, p. 442). While Berger indicated that religion was gaining strength again through the concept of de-secularization (Berger 1999, pp. 2–3), post-secular debates have highlighted the dynamic interaction of the secular and the religious (Leezenberg 2010; Taylor 2007).

To accurately comprehend the grounds of post-secular debates, it is necessary to clarify the distinction between the concepts of secularization and secularism, which are frequently used interchangeably. While secularization, which is a sociological and historical category, corresponds to an objective process that expresses the autonomization of social spheres from religious institutions along with modernization and the displacement of religion into the private sphere (Ertit 2018, pp. 193–94), secularism is a normative political doctrine and ideology that demands the separation of religion and politics (Berg-Sørensen 2014, p. 50). In short, while secularization is a historical and social process in which religious institutions differentiate from civil structures, secularism functions as a state governance principle and ideology that idealizes and structures this situation (Klassen 2014, pp. 175–76).

Accelerated from the top down by the Republic as a Western-centric Kemalist project, Turkey’s modernization aimed to reduce the public visibility of religion through cultural and educational engineering, and conceptualized secularization as a cultural invasion among conservatives. However, an idiosyncratic post-secular form has emerged that allows religious vitality to return to the public sphere (Mollaer 2016, pp. 66–67). At the center of this ideological transformation lies the 1924 Law on the Unification of Education, which closed traditional madrasas and replaced them with secular schools focused on positivist-oriented academic knowledge devoid of a spiritual dimension (Karpat 2012, p. 185). In contrast, madrasas historically integrated education with moral character and holistic social development rather than mere information transfer (Alam 2011, p. 158), which motivated the state’s liquidation efforts and forced madrasas into an informal struggle for survival.

Although they were officially closed during the Republican era, madrasas, which sustained their existence through informal activities owing to the remote structure of Eastern cities from the center, underwent significant pedagogical and sociological transformations during this process. Developing a defensive stance against the cultural reforms of modern Turkey’s founding elites, these institutions insisted on their traditional methodologies that aimed to place religion at the center of daily life, both literally and culturally, and to construct the student’s identity holistically (Ören 2019, p. 191). Today, however, despite efforts to preserve this centuries-old classical education method, it is observed that the madrasas that continue to exist in the provinces have not remained immune to the effects of modernization and the post-secular transformation shaping pluralistic civil life and educational institutions.

When current academic studies on traditional madrasa education in Turkey are examined, it becomes clear that the literature primarily focuses on the institutional structure of Eastern madrasas, traditional educational methods, and the motivations of students who continue their education. For example, Musayev and Işıkdoğan’s articles detail the residential nature of madrasas, the rote-based classical curriculum, and the disciplined structure that isolates students from the outside world (Musayev 2018; Işıkdoğan 2012). When looking at the studies conducted by Aktaş and Özalp, it is seen that the focus is on more institution-centered structural problems, such as the institutional loss of function experienced by madrasas in the face of the modernization process, isolation from society, rote/pedagogical deficiencies, and the dissolution of traditional socio-economic solidarity mechanisms such as tayin/râtib (the traditional practice of community members providing food, lodging, and material support to madrasa students and teachers) (Aktaş 2020; Özalp 2025). While Kaya’s research draws attention to the effort of madrasas to protect the traditional religious understanding in the face of social change and the conservative barriers they create against change (Kaya 2017), Adıgüzel and Tekin’s study points to the high respect these institutions receive in the eyes of the regional people and the moral boundaries expected from students for the continuation of education (Adıgüzel and Tekin 2025). There are parallels between the findings of some studies and those of our article, especially regarding motivations for enrolling in the madrasa. In the literature, in the research conducted by Ataman, Bilgin and Evrenk on Diyarbakir madrasas, it was emphasized that “family tradition” is one of the most basic factors in madrasas sustaining their existence and that parents enrolled their children in these institutions (Ataman et al. 2017).

In this context, doctoral and master’s studies are also considered important in the literature, especially those theses that examine institutional structures, educational methods, the social functions of madrasas, and students’ reasons for choosing these institutions from a sociological perspective, strongly supporting the structural findings of our study. For example, the master’s thesis conducted by Sabahattin Bala on the Mardin region also shows that family tradition and environmental factors are the primary motivations for participation in the madrasa rather than individual will (Bala 2012). Among doctoral studies focusing on the inner world and the knowledge-production processes of the madrasa, the thesis of Mehmet Furkan Ören defines these institutions as static epistemic communities based on rote learning, absolute authority, and text and narration, in contrast to the analytical structure of modern faculties of theology (Ören 2019). The doctoral thesis of Ayhan Ercüment emphasizes that, under the pressure of modernization and secularization, madrasas closed themselves off from the outside world, as if in a capsule, and clung even more tightly to tradition, driven by a reflexive urge to protect their existence (Ercüment 2018). On the other hand, the master’s theses of researchers such as Abdullah Gökalp, Abdurrahman Ocak and Mehmet Aydın also underline the rigid curriculum, the passive student culture and the text-centered traditional method in madrasas (Gökalp 2020; Ocak 2017; Aydın 2019).

In the Western literature, the phenomenon of disaffiliation from religious groups and institutions is examined through dimensions such as loss of belonging, identity construction, and institutional disillusionment. For instance, in Schneur Zalman Newfield’s study, the state of liminality experienced by those leaving ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities as they remain “between two worlds,” and their pathologization by their former communities, are emphasized (Newfield 2020). Coralie Buxant and Vassilis Saroglou’s research on conversion and disaffiliation in religious groups shows that former members of New Religious Movements maintain their belief in God and their spiritual search despite the difficulties associated with losing their sense of belonging (Buxant and Saroglou 2008). The study conducted by Lotte Pummerer, Carlotta Reinhardt, and Michael Nielsen is significant in demonstrating that behind the intention to leave the Catholic Church lie not mere doctrinal reasons, but rather a decrease in solidarity, satisfaction, and the individual’s self-investment in the group (Pummerer et al. 2026). Similarly, the study by Josh Packard and Todd W. Ferguson examines the rise of the “Done” cohort, who maintain their faith outside the institution by escaping the over-bureaucratic iron cage and the moral pressures of institutional churches (Packard and Ferguson 2019). Lastly, the study by Maria Björkmark, Peter Nynäs, and Camilla Koskinen details how those leaving high-cost, insular religious groups become trapped “between two different worlds” through deep social isolation and the subsequent process of constructing a new identity (Björkmark et al. 2022).

While current studies in Turkey detail the insular and strict boundaries based on absolute authority, internal functioning, and the preservation of tradition within madrasas, Western academia extensively discusses institutional disillusionment, social excommunication, and disaffiliation from religious institutions. Although these Western studies illuminate universal dimensions of disaffiliation, such as liminality, identity reconstruction, and the persistence of belief, they are largely situated within individualistic societies in which religious institutions hold limited social authority beyond the congregation. Madrasa, by contrast, operates as a total socialization structure deeply embedded in family honor and communal identity, rendering a direct application of Western disaffiliation models insufficient and necessitating a context-specific theoretical framework; a systematic cross-cultural comparison remains a valuable avenue for future research. In contrast to these existing emphases on traditional continuity, obedience, or Western-centric disaffiliation, our study fills a crucial theoretical gap by focusing on dropouts who discontinue their education by breaking away from the madrasa discipline, which represents an idiosyncratic Islamic socialization sphere in Turkey. Rather than a complete disappearance of faith among individuals who abandon this intensive religious education, our research examines how a “believing but indifferent” typology of religiosity is constructed in the absence of the institutional protective shield. In this context, by questioning how the reduction of the burden of roles brought about by the curriculum, the educational method, and not having received an ijazah (the traditional graduation certificate) transforms the conscientious sensitivities in individuals’ perceptions of sin and worship, the study aims to establish a hybrid bridge between non-religion debates and the post-secular literature, and to conceptualize the sociological meaning of this post-secular transformation.

2. Methods

2.1. Methodological Approach

Field studies in the social sciences, especially in sociology, focus on the construction of social reality. In this context, according to the social constructivist approach, reality is not a single, objective phenomenon but a process subjectively constructed through interactions individuals establish with others within their cultural and historical contexts (Mertens 2023, p. 27). This perspective emphasizes that knowledge and meaning are constantly reproduced through social relations. Findings from field analyses focus on understanding and meaning-making processes of individuals regarding phenomena.

This research employs a qualitative method to examine in depth contemporary perceptions of religiosity and disenchantment processes of individuals who left the madrasa system without receiving an ijazah, that is, without graduating, from their own perspectives. Qualitative research is based on a post-positivist and social constructivist understanding that aims to analyze and interpret meanings that people attribute to their experiences, rather than measuring an objective reality independent of the outside world. Phenomenology was used as the qualitative research design in the study. The phenomenological method provides an understanding of the meaning of these experiences entirely from the perspective of the participant by looking closely at how individuals analyzed in the research interpret their own experiences. Indeed, phenomenologists try to understand the meaning of an experience from the perspective of the participant. While accepting that there are many ways of interpreting the same experience, they never assume that they know what events mean for the people they research (Lodico et al. 2006, p. 270). There are also different and valuable methodological approaches in qualitative research, such as narrative research (Neale 2021, p. 18), which focuses on the processual construction of identity and life stories, and discourse analysis, which examines the meaning-worlds and experiences of individuals. However, since this study aims to capture the feelings evoked by the process of leaving madrasa within individuals’ worlds and the essence of this human experience from the subjective perspective of the participant, the phenomenological approach was deemed a favorable design for illuminating our research problem.

In qualitative research, purposive sampling is generally used, where the goal is not to represent the population but to select individuals who can provide the most appropriate information for the research problem. The study group of this research was determined through criterion sampling, which is one of the purposive sampling methods. Criterion sampling is based on finding individuals who have a full experience of the phenomenon under investigation (Kabakçı Yurdakul 2019, p. 80). In accordance with the criteria of the research, the study was conducted with 13 male participants who received intensive madrasa education but left the system without receiving an ijazah. In phenomenological research, it is essential to collect in-depth data from a small group of individuals who have experienced the phenomenon, and the number of participants is generally between 5 and 25 (Creswell 2013, p. 81). The 13 selected participants meet this methodological requirement. In line with the purpose of the research, individuals with a post-secular orientation were specifically preferred. Therefore, it should be noted that the findings are not generalizable to all individuals who leave the madrasa system.

The ages of the 13 individuals participating in the research range from 21 to 34, with an average age of approximately 28. When the durations of education of participants in the madrasa are examined, it is found that these vary between 4 and 7 years. Participants 1, Participant 3, Participant 10, and Participant 12 completed their education in 4 years. Participant 6, Participant 7, Participant 9, and Participant 11 stayed in the Madrasa for 5 years, while Participant 4, Participant 5, Participant 8, and Participant 13 experienced this process for 6 years, and Participant 2 received the longest education with 7 years. Looking at the current employment status of these individuals who transitioned to civilian life after leaving Madrasa education, it is observed that the fields of free market and trade are predominant. Specifically, Participant 7 is self-employed, while Participant 2, Participant 3, Participant 6, Participant 9, Participant 10, and Participant 12 maintain their livelihoods as tradesmen. On the other hand, Participant 5, Participant 8, and Participant 11 stated that they are currently unemployed, while Participant 1, Participant 4, and Participant 13 continue their education as undergraduate students at the university.

2.2. Data Analysis and Coding

Research data were collected through in-depth interviews to reveal participants’ experiences and how they make sense of them. Semi-structured interviews, which allow for flexibility, were preferred as the data collection technique. Semi-structured interviews enable an in-depth examination of participants’ experiences and perceptions by providing the researcher with the flexibility to ask new sub-questions based on the flow of the interview, allowing participants to expand and detail their answers (Lodico et al. 2006, p. 124). For this purpose, an interview guide consisting of 25 open-ended questions was prepared. Rather than functioning as a rigid or restrictive questionnaire, these questions served as a flexible thematic framework that encouraged participants to express their stories freely. Interviews conducted with this method allow individuals to convey their stories, emotions, and impressions regarding the process of breaking away from Madrasa and the subsequent transformation in their own words. In the face-to-face interviews, questions were directed to participants, and answers were noted and audio-recorded. Due to the nature of semi-structured interviews, questions were expanded or narrowed at times during the interview. Indeed, the participants’ issues naturally affect the course of the interview.

Data obtained from interviews were analyzed using an inductive approach, in which underlying concepts and themes were revealed by examining the data in depth rather than using predetermined, rigid categories. Qualitative data analysis is a multidimensional process in which the researcher seeks to discover fundamental truths about the phenomenon by examining organized materials and evaluating the data from as many perspectives as possible (Pandey and Pandey 2015, p. 70). In this context, an analysis process was carried out that functions as a conceptual journey moving from simple descriptive accounts to explanatory and more abstract interpretations. During the analysis process, interview transcripts were first read, and important statements indicating how the phenomenon was experienced were listed. These expressions were then deciphered, coded, and organized into higher-level themes. Through the sifting and labeling of data, interrelated and meaningful data segments were grouped into thematic bundles and unified around specific units of meaning (Neale 2021, p. 113). This stage was deepened with a cyclical reading process that required repeated review of the data to reveal new connections and develop more complex formulations, rather than being a one-time operation.

In the final stage, the description of the impact of the madrasa education curriculum and of social pressures on participants, and of the faith experience shaped by the new approach to religious practices while preserving the existence of faith, was analyzed in a post-secular context. It was possible to observe the impact of madrasa factors in Turkey and the East on the religious life of the individual with their unique legacies. Thus, typologies explaining dynamic processes and the holistic structure of phenomena were developed based on data, and the essential essence of the phenomenon was reported as a post-secular religiosity typology.

Addressing a socio-culturally sensitive topic such as disaffiliation from institutional religious structures, this research prioritized participant safety and data privacy. Due to the difficulty of directly reaching the target audience, the first author established direct communication with the 13 male participants identified through snowball sampling. Prior to the interviews, the academic purposes were communicated, and both written and verbal Informed Consent Forms were obtained. Participants were guaranteed the right to terminate the interview at any moment without providing a justification. To ensure they would not be subjected to any social or psychological stigmatization, a principle of strict confidentiality was applied, and specific names of places, madrasas, and individuals that could reveal their identities were completely removed from the data. Digital audio recordings, which were maintained in encrypted personal domains, were permanently deleted after the transcription and qualitative analysis of the interviews were fully completed, to ensure the absolute protection of participant safety and data privacy.

For data collection, a semi-structured interview guide consisting of 25 open-ended questions was prepared. A pilot study was subsequently conducted with the initial draft, after which the interview questions were thoroughly revised, refined, and finalized based on the pilot feedback to ensure clarity and depth. Following this instrumentation phase, the necessary institutional permissions were obtained from the Research and Publication Ethics Committee of Bursa Uludağ University. Interviews were carried out face-to-face between 30 March 2026 and 18 April 2026 under suitable conditions as planned. The shortest interview lasted 55 min and the longest lasted 95 min, and while interviews were recorded with the permission of participants, written notes were also taken. To ensure the confidentiality of information of participants, each was coded from Participant 1 to Participant 13.

3. Theoretical Framework

In the pre-modern period, the concept of secularity was used to express the world and time created by God. Secularity in this sense was part of a theological discourse that described ordinary time and the earthly sphere as being the opposite of the sacred. In the Middle Ages, the term secular, for example, secular priests, was used to define those living in this world and within ordinary time. However, in the modern period, the frameworks of meaning for the concepts of secularization and religion have undergone a radical transformation. The concept, which expresses a structural order in which religion and God are entirely withdrawn from public authority and shared living spaces, gained popularity among Enlightenment-era intellectuals in the 18th and 19th centuries and assumed a normative character (Morrow 2019, pp. 29–30).

Classical secularization theory explains this change in context by directly linking it to modernization processes such as industrialization, urbanization, bureaucratization, and rationalization (Ertit 2019, p. 112). According to sociologist Jose Casanova, the essence of this theoretical framework is the process of functional differentiation of secular spheres, such as the state, the economy, and science, from religious institutions and norms, and the acquisition of their own autonomy (Casanova 1994, p. 20). However, this process was not limited to the differentiation of institutions but also reshaped human meaning.

According to Weber’s analysis, the disenchantment of the world, namely, the rationalization of the human mind’s magical relationship with the sacred, is closely correlated with the canonical structures of ancient Judaism and Christianity (Weber 2005, pp. 60–61). By excluding pagan and animistic practices, these monotheistic faiths nurtured a worldly, cause-and-effect-oriented mindset that enabled the gradual withdrawal of supernatural forces from daily life. This rational lifestyle, purified of magic, paved the way for secular science, technological innovations, modern capitalism, and bureaucracy, profoundly transforming the relationship the individual establishes with the world (McClure 2007, p. 29).

In this context, the modern individual, whose relationship with the world has changed, has moved away from the pre-modern porous self state, which was open to spiritual and mysterious powers of the outside world, and has taken on a buffered self that draws a definite boundary between the mind and the outside world through the conceptualization of Charles Taylor. Meaning has now ceased to be an immanent quality of objects or transcendent powers and has been completely imprisoned within the interiority of the human mind (Taylor 2007, p. 38). In this regard, the banalization of the sacred has provided the modern individual with autonomy, mastery over nature in the Baconian or Cartesian sense, and a sense of immunity against external spiritual fears. However, as Taylor emphasizes, this situation directs the individual only toward calculable instrumental goals, thereby depriving the individual of transcendent depth. Thus, a lack of existential resonance, a feeling of flatness, and a deep-rooted crisis of meaning often felt in the modern age emerge (Taylor 2007, p. 309).

Daniel Bell terms this historical shift “The Great Profanation”, wherein modernity places individual desire at the center, reducing religion to a consumer choice (Bell 1977, p. 449). This rational and instrumental framework has created an existential squeeze on the individual, giving rise to a post-secular context where the sacred is reproduced in flexible, individual-centered forms rather than disappearing entirely. Charles Taylor explains this immense diversification of options for belief and unbelief, driven by the individual’s effort to transcend modern rational flatness, through the supernova effect (Taylor 2007, p. 374). According to Jürgen Habermas, this situation likewise indicates the collapse of the rigid secularist belief that religion would completely vanish with modernization. Indeed, Habermas describes this post-secular social climate, in which religious and secular mindsets mutually and reflexively transform one another, with these expressions: “In post-secular society, the realization that ‘the modernization of public consciousness’ takes hold and reflexively alters religious as well as secular mentalities in staggered phases is gaining acceptance.” (Habermas 2008, p. 111).

Another phenomenon gaining importance on this axis is the concept of nonreligion. This approach, which has come to the fore in the social sciences in recent years, does not mean only the absence of religion; rather, it is defined by the relationship of difference established with religion. Along with this, it expresses non-religious attitudes, perspectives, or practices. However, it is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of nonreligion and secularity, because secularity conveys that religion is not the primary point of reference. In contrast, nonreligion takes religion directly as a point of reference and is positioned as an alternative or a reaction to it (Lee 2012, p. 131). Within this spectrum of nonreligion, another concept that attracts more and more attention at the philosophical and practical levels is apatheism and the accompanying religious indifference. In everyday language, it is defined as the state of remaining indifferent to God or supernatural beings. In contemporary philosophy of religion, this approach holds that the issue of God’s existence is of no practical or intellectual importance (Gonçalves 2024, p. 21).

In societies where Islamic values are embedded in culture, such as Turkey, the phenomenon of nonreligion is experienced as a complex, transitional, and relational process rather than simple irreligion. Even if individuals lose faith in their own religion, they can continue to maintain cultural practices of Islam, such as funeral prayers or Eid greetings. This situation shows that religious belonging is intertwined not only with belief but also with cultural identity and social rituals (Demir 2025, pp. 27, 33). A significant portion of those experiencing this transformation are not actually people who have never received religious education. On the contrary, they are individuals who attended Quran courses (state-run religious education centers administered by the Directorate of Religious Affairs), Imam-Hatip schools (public vocational religious high schools in Turkey), or community circles in their childhood and have a command over religious rituals and sacred texts (Atlı 2023, p. 68). Indeed, the years spent in Imam-Hatip schools, Quran courses, or religious education dormitories may not always provide a peaceful spiritual environment. In some cases, they can become places where psychological and physical pressures are experienced. This possibility can lead individuals to remember religious education experiences as a compelling yet negative process. Thus, the bond established with religious institutions has the potential to produce both continuity and rupture points in individual orientations of belief.

In this context, it is observed that the impact of the classical and sacred forms of religious education on the postmodern individual, in an environment where both religious and secular individuals influence one another, is problematic. Indeed, the way in which the individual receives this education and the extent to which the individual interiorizes it while institutions providing religious education in traditional structures like the madrasa convey sacred texts are important issues. In this regard, the way in which classical educational institutions convey sacred texts raises the question of whether the individual receives them only as information or interiorizes them as a guide directing the life of the individual. It is possible to explain this dual situation through the conceptualizations of John Henry Newman. According to Newman, religious teaching in the modern period can evoke only a “notional assent” that remains at the level of the individual’s intellect. However, the primary goal of religious education is to achieve a “real assent” that completely transforms the individual’s life, feelings, and perceptions of the world (Pring 2020, p. 46). If the education of sacred texts cannot provide an interiorized meaning and orientation for the individual, religion risks being perceived as an “unintelligible and dead doctrine” that restricts the individual’s freedom in the postmodern context (Pring 2020, p. 111).

4. Post-Secularization in Turkey and Its Impact on Religious Education

In Turkey, early Republican modernization was carried out from the top down under the leadership of the military–civil bureaucracy out of concern for protecting the survival of the state, and this process, which Murat Belge conceptualized as militarist modernization (Belge 2012, p. 262), formed the intellectual foundation of the secular–religious polarization that extends to the present day. Although the secularism policy of the founding cadre aimed to replace religion with nationality by placing Islam under state control through the Directorate of Religious Affairs (Bora 2017, p. 150), it occasionally exhibited a radical secularizing tendency in the public sphere. However, the effort of the 12 September 1980, military coup to instrumentalize religion through compulsory religious education classes and Imam-Hatip schools while suppressing the leftist opposition backfired, and the strongest opposition against bureaucratic tutelage rose from religious structures (Belge 2012, p. 647). Consequently, the religious subject, who grew stronger in the public sphere and permeated urban institutions, culture, and consumer modernity, has, on the one hand, internalized the requirements of modern rationality, and on the other hand, transformed the traditional religious imagination, acquiring a gradually more secular character toward life and the world (Çelik 2025, p. 175).

The transformation of faith under the influence of consumer culture and postmodernism has weakened institutional authority and elevated the individual search for meaning and spiritual pleasure in the post-secular period. Indeed, even young people in institutional environments with strong religious identities construct flexible belief systems that maintain faith in God while remaining distant from orthodox molds, independent of traditional hierarchies, due to the pluralistic influences of the internet and modern life (Dikbaş 2025, p. 209). Accordingly, the religious subject moves away from dogmatic structures and toward a patchwork (pick-and-mix) eclectic spirituality that combines different elements according to their own psychological needs (Altınlı-Macić 2025, p. 31).

Consequently, the secular world’s encompassing horizons exert pressure even on theologically educated individuals, exposing them to alternative lifestyles (Pring 2020, p. 3). Rather than causing faith to abandon, this exposure triggers an internalization of doubt and a deepening of personal conviction. Confronted with pluralistic truth claims, the subject ceases to be a passive consumer: these conditions compel an active meaning-making process where faith is reconstructed through individual experience and rational evaluation (Aslan and Rausch 2018, p. 5). Post-secular horizons thus transform the believer into a reflexive actor who accommodates doubt and constantly reinterprets their belief system (Taylor 2007, p. 12).

5. Structural Culture and Educational Method of Eastern Madrasas in Turkey

Islamic education is a comprehensive, pedagogical process designed to shape religious, moral, and cognitive identities (Taştan 2018, p. 262). Historically, madrasas served as the core institutional hubs where this traditional methodology and religious authority were transmitted (Khalilova 2018, p. 230; Bozkurt 2003, p. 323). However, a gradual institutional dissolution and decline in quality from the seventeenth century onward severely restricted the contemporary scientific productivity and social functions of these traditional centers (Ihsanoglu 2004, p. 11).

In contrast, madrasa maintained the institution’s educational method while prioritizing faith. In contrast, while the individual in the postmodern period puts the pleasure and ego of the self at the center of life, the education of the madrasa aims to keep the subjective desires of the individual in the background and to act with a sense of social–religious responsibility. The traditional madrasa educational method keeps the student in a passive position. The Seyda (the master scholar and teacher in the madrasa tradition, who holds both pedagogical authority and broad social prestige within the community), who is in a position of immense authority and represents the transmission of that scholarly tradition in every aspect, disciplines the Talebe (disciple) in terms of culture along with providing education. In Weber’s terms, the Seyda represents traditional authority, a legitimacy grounded in sacred custom rather than rational-legal procedure (Weber 2019, p. 342).

In this context, the teaching process in classical madrasa education is largely based on oral transmission of texts. This structure keeps the student in the role of a passive receiver while reinforcing the teacher’s absolute authority over the text. The deep respect felt for both the teacher and these religious texts, transmitted from generation to generation, naturally continues to construct this authority at every moment. In this regard, the duty of the student is to surrender the mind of the student entirely to what is transmitted by pushing subjective interpretations to the background. Indeed, the system of ijazah of the madrasas and the institutional functioning of this phenomenon can be seen as one of the most prominent examples of the mentioned approach (Ören 2019, p. 141). However, the understanding of education today considers a paradigm shift from passive consumerism toward the active construction of meaning necessary. As stated in the analyses made on Islamic education: “As a result, pupils often become ‘epistemically dependent’ on their teachers and the texts that they offer; from a wider perspective, these pupils are indeed ‘epistemically inferior’ to the various forms of authority exercised over them by their teachers, texts, schools, and communities” (Agbaria 2018, p. 212).

In contrast, the fact that the Seyda generally maintain this institution purely for religious reasons, without any material concern, leads the students they train to adopt the same mission with the same motivation. What is expected of such a student is to provide guidance to society from religious, moral, and cultural perspectives and to ensure the continuity of a faith-centered social order. When considering that the madrasas’ material needs are met by philanthropists in society, it is clear that this mutual faith-based motivation and form of relationship permeate all aspects of education (Çiçek 2009, p. 106). The survival of Eastern madrasas through public support transforms educational activities into a social responsibility, granting teachers and graduates a natural leadership role. Due to this deeply rooted burden of representation, society holds high expectations for the Seyda profile and expects them to pay maximum attention to their public image, from their attire to their manner of speech (Özalp 2025, p. 17).

On the other hand, if the internal system of the madrasa is examined, it is observed that the content of the lessons taught in the madrasa concentrates on a few points. Primary among these are the transmitted sciences, which are religious texts such as Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), Hadith (recorded sayings and practices of the Prophet), Tafsir (Quranic exegesis), and Kalam (Islamic theology). However, the weight of these transmitted sciences in the program, which were dominant in the classical tradition, has greatly diminished today. The focal point that has become essentially important in current madrasa education, where the student spends time and energy throughout almost the entire educational life, has concentrated on Arabic grammar and linguistics, which are considered instrumental sciences. Indeed, this excessive weight given to instrumental sciences has led madrasas to lose their identity as general educational institutions and to take on the character of Arabic-language centers (Aktaş 2020, p. 86).

Consequently, the rigid grammar-heavy, book-centered, and rote-learning understanding of education in the madrasas can expose students to the danger of being mere transmitters rather than grasping the spirit and meaning of the texts in a critical manner. In this regard, when considering the phenomenon of faith-centered satisfaction in the post-secular era, the crisis faced by madrasa students due to internal and external factors can prompt them to leave the institution. In such a case, the student can also exhibit different reactions to how they experience religion in life after the madrasa. Indeed, the individual experiences confusion about whether the thing that leads the individual to leave this institution is faith or the institution’s cultural and social form, and ultimately, this situation inevitably affects the individual’s interest in religious practices.

6. Findings

The fieldwork findings examine changes in perceptions of religiosity among individuals who left madrasa education unfinished, as well as the institutional and individual factors behind these changes. The interviews with 13 male participants aim to reveal how the madrasa’s intensive religious education curriculum shapes individuals’ spiritual connections to sacred texts. In this section, the motivations for entering the madrasa will be discussed first. Then, the pedagogical and social factors driving the rupture from the system will be analyzed, and the connection of this rupture to boundary violations in current religious practices and to the transformation of conscience will be presented within a thematic framework.

6.1. Motivations for Entering the Madrasa and Initial Expectations

When the motivations of participants in the madrasa education system are examined, it is seen that these preferences are shaped primarily by traditional bonds, external guidance, and social expectations rather than by individual, autonomous decisions. In this context, it is possible to list the initial motivations of the participants under four main headings: Family and peer influence, prestige and the image of the Seyda or scholar, professional concerns, and, finally, an orientation toward the madrasa’s education in line with an Islamic goal.

The age at which students start madrasa is generally 12 to 14 years old. When considering the level of consciousness individuals have about the relationship between the world and education at this age range, it is natural to say that they began their madrasa education through their own decisions. Indeed, as will be seen in the findings, it is observed that the children of families who are close to this social habitus are sent to the madrasa in a general sense. Participant 4 says, “The reason I started the madrasa was that my paternal uncle and maternal uncle were working as teachers in the madrasa. I did not have much motivation because I did not fully know what kind of place the madrasa was.” In this context, the family tradition has come to the fore in the study by Ataman and colleagues on the survival of madrasas (Ataman et al. 2017, p. 92). It has been emphasized that the families of madrasa origin direct their own children in order to maintain this tradition, and that the individuals are included in the mentioned social habitus in this way. The words of Participant 10 clearly support this: “I was attending high school, I quit high school. My father also told me to go to the madrasa. My father wanted me to go to the madrasa very much. Of course, I did not know what the madrasa was at those times.” Or in the expressions of Participant 3: “My general expectation was because my friends went. At that time I was 12–13 years old.” Such expressions show that they were sent to the madrasa because they fit this habitus.

Moreover, it is observed that the initial motivation of some students is shaped by social prestige or the image of being a Seyda or a teacher. From the perspective of social status, the state of being a Seyda trained in a madrasa represents a significant point in the traditional families of the East of Turkey. Starting from this context, it is inevitable that the participants who started the madrasa at a child age were also influenced by this phenomenon of status. For this reason, according to the expressions of some participants, being a Seyda trained in the madrasa was considered more reputable than being a religious teacher trained in the official religious institutions. Due to this factor of gaining prestige, in the expressions of Participant 6: “To be seen as a person who is considered a leader of the society, who is loved and who can be consulted on every subject had impressed me.” Such views reinforced the student’s desire to be a Seyda with a madrasa education, and it was observed that they directed participants toward the madrasa.

On the other hand, it is also seen that the participants turned toward the madrasa with professional concerns. Indeed, being a Seyda provides a professional opportunity for the student, along with social status. The reason Participant 9 started the madrasa, which is “becoming an imam and being appointed to the profession immediately”, reveals this factor as well (imam: a state-employed mosque official and prayer leader).

Some participants also state that they turned toward the madrasa in line with an Islamic goal. Although it is observed that such participants make more conscious decisions, the family’s religious life is among the primary factors underlying this choice. For instance, due to the effect of a sermon that he listened to, Participant 1 evaluated the life of the participant as “hypocrisy” and stated that he stepped into the madrasa of his own will to move away from the evils of the outside world, to devote himself entirely to religion, to live in the way of Allah and to apply the values he believed in with honesty. However, he also reported the family’s influence and sensitivities regarding this issue, as well as the fact that the individual’s father was a religious teacher. Similarly, Participant 8 states: “Not to be a possessor of something, you know. Only my father enrolled me in the madrasa for the sake of Allah, and I studied with that intention.”

Consequently, the findings show that the motivations for turning to madrasa education cannot be reduced solely to a theological desire for learning. The interviews reveal that the madrasas function as multidimensional sociological institutions where the authority of the family is reproduced, religious knowledge is transmitted, social status is acquired, and the concerns of the economic future are attempted to be alleviated. In this context, the madrasas manifest as multifaceted social institutions.

6.2. The Magic of the Sacred and the Curriculum

According to participants’ reports, the madrasa’s educational model consists of a system that begins with the morning call to prayer and continues until late at night. The day begins with waking up for the morning prayer, and after the prayer in congregation, it continues with activities of supplication, dhikr (the ritual repetitive invocation of Allah’s names or attributes), or Quran reading. Students repeat the memorizations from the previous day, intensively and while walking, until breakfast. Until noon, they deliver these memorizations to the Seyda and receive new lessons. The rest of the day, until around 22:00, is devoted to individual study of the new lessons and to their repetition or discussion among the students. Except for Thursday and Friday, which are holiday days, the participants state that they engage in memorization and repetition “so intense that they sometimes fall asleep while walking” every day of the week. This represents an active educational model of approximately 12 to 13 h a day, excluding meals and prayer.

At the focal point of this intense labor and curriculum, the instrumental sciences (Sarf, Nahiv, and Logic i.e., grammar), where the rules of Arabic grammar are taught, take place rather than theological discussions. Many participants state that they devote at least half, and often much more, of their daily study hours directly to memorizing grammar rules. Ercüment also emphasizes that, based on the findings of Ercüment, Arabic grammar in madrasas has ceased to be a tool for understanding religious texts and has turned into the aim of the education itself (Ercüment 2018, p. 197). This situation creates the misconception that knowledge of Arabic grammar is equivalent to knowledge of religion (Ocak 2017, p. 29). The effect of this heavy grammar curriculum on the relationship the participants establish with the sacred texts the Quran and the Hadith is divided into two opposing poles. For some participants, instrumental sciences are a key that deciphers the meaning of sacred texts. These participants argue that grammar education brings them closer to the actual meanings of the Quran and hadiths and strengthens their faith. For example, Participant 1 stated that feeling in the way of “The more I thought that I could now understand the book of Allah by myself without the need for any intermediary, I became encouraged and my faith was getting stronger” increased the religious enthusiasm and the faith of the participant. According to this approach, the grammar-heavy analysis of the texts gives a scholarly enthusiasm to some and matures the individual from a spiritual perspective.

Another group of participants criticizes the curriculum’s excessively technical nature. According to these participants, the Quran is read in the madrasa not for its real meaning or spirituality, but rather almost to determine the position of words within a sentence (grammar). Constantly memorizing the arrangement of words has posed the risk of transforming sacred texts into plain Arabic, and it has been reported that the religious excitement of some participants was affected. In this context, Işıkdoğan shows that the madrasa curriculum is predominantly based on instrumental sciences such as Sarf and Nahiv (grammar) and that students devote a very large part of their study time to memorizing these grammar rules rather than religious sciences (Işıkdoğan 2012, p. 56). For this reason, Participant 3 argued that this intensive grammar education was not right and stated that they could not fully internalize the emotional dimension of religion with the following expressions: “Since I knew that my teacher would ask me about my memorization and the grammar of the sentence in the lesson, I think I could not feel that religious emotion in its real sense.” Participant 2 stated with the following sentences that what should actually be done is to focus on the spirit of the meaning and that mere rules might have affected him negatively: “The religion I know is not to analyze the Arabic of the Quran, but to know its actual meaning. I think if we had not focused on this much grammar education, maybe I would have been able to internalize and feel the actual meaning more.”

Participant 6 is the person who directly states that focusing on the technique of religion affects the magic of the sacred texts of those early days. This participant states that they prayed even before going to the madrasa and memorized the Fatiha (the opening chapter of the Quran, recited in every unit of the daily prayers) by hearing it behind the imam in the mosque with that spirituality. However, the participant states that the focus on grammar transformed the religious effect within the individual as the individual studied in the madrasa. Participant 6 makes the following observation by directly linking the reason for the spiritual transformation to the intensity of grammar:

“The teachers were expressing that grammar is essentially an instrumental science and only a tool for learning Islam. But perhaps without realizing it, they had put the science of grammar ahead of the essential meaning of the Quran. Generally, they were asking about the position of the word within that sentence from a grammatical perspective and I was focusing on the lesson accordingly. When looking at that text, sometimes I was not feeling its spirituality anymore. I was paying attention to the grammar structure that could be asked.”

On the other hand, the participant compares the experience to a professional deformation. Just as a clothing merchant loses the excitement for clothes from constant exposure, the participant states that spending too much time inside something in the madrasa made the participant part of that thing and eroded the feeling of excitement.

Madrasa education is a holistic cultural construction process that prepares students for social leadership roles by having them practice delivering sermons, preaching, and public speaking beyond mere textbook knowledge. This process also entails physical identity construction, such as social isolation, specific dress codes, and the mandatory wearing of a skullcap, which are implemented to protect students from the allure of the outside world (as noted in Section 5; Bala 2012, p. 126). While complying with traditional dress codes is considered a symbol of belonging to this specific social habitus, violating these rules is evaluated as a loss of institutional prestige and reputation (Ercüment 2018, p. 341).

6.3. Personal and Structural Reasons Behind the Rupture from Madrasa

The participants’ processes of discontinuing their madrasa education point to a multidimensional disaffiliation in which structural elements, such as institutional functioning, the economic system, and discipline, are intertwined with personal factors. In the literature, the feeling of weariness caused by long, tedious readings in the curriculum (Ocak 2017, p. 28), and the informal structure of institutions, which offers flexibility in enrollment/withdrawal, stand out as structural factors facilitating this disaffiliation (Bala 2012, p. 176). According to the field data, the most prominent reason for this disaffiliation is that this education lacks an official and material equivalent in the modern world. Indeed, Participant 9, who came with the hope of an immediate appointment, discontinued his education due to future anxiety upon seeing that state recruitment prioritizes higher education graduates and that madrasa repertoire and acquaintances are invalid in official exams. Participant 2, on the other hand, states that he began to distance himself from the institution following his middle school teacher’s warning that “this education might save your afterlife, but tomorrow you will need material support,” leading him to believe that the madrasa does not offer a material future.

The isolated structure of the madrasa and the strict disciplinary rules it imposes are among the primary structural factors that trigger disaffiliation. Indeed, Participant 12, who found this discipline exaggerated, left due to the pressure of institutional rules and the external social burden of representation, while Participant 6 was directly expelled for failing to adapt to the rules. Participant 9, on the other hand, expressed the weariness caused by acts of worship, such as congregational prayer, being made compulsory rather than coming from within, with the words: “For example, I did not want to go to the mosque, I was taken to the mosque by force. But now I go whenever I want, when I feel like it.” On the other hand, disaffiliation is not always based solely on institutional reactions; personal future goals also play a role. For instance, Participant 5 distanced himself from the madrasas due to his advancing age to prepare for civil service exams, and Participant 4 due to winning a university seat and the gap brought by the pandemic process. Alongside these individual dynamics, peer disputes experienced in intra-madrasa social relations, the pressure endured, loneliness, and the loss of the sense of institutional belonging also stand out as other factors directly paving the way for departure decisions.

6.4. Lack of Ijazah and the Rupture from the Institutional Chain

The psychological, social, and religious effects of leaving the madrasa education without completing it and without receiving the ijazah certificate, are viewed through different dimensions by the participants. This situation makes the ruptures individuals experience visible at both personal and social levels. In line with participants’ expressions, these effects can be grouped into two categories: those who do not see the failure to obtain the ijazah as a deficiency, and those who experience social and emotional tension at the thought of losing the bond there.

For participants in the first group, the ijazah certificate is deemed insignificant because it does not confer a profession, material security, or additional prestige in modern practical life outside. Indeed, Participant 11 confirms this situation with the words: “When I look at practical life, the ijazah was not something that could affect any part of my life. Because I did not think it would grant me any profession or any prestige, not receiving the ijazah did not create a negative effect on me.” While the certificate holds no value for students who were sent to the madrasa by family coercion, Participant 13 emphasizes that a diploma obtained from a university attended voluntarily would arouse excitement, whereas an ijazah issued in an environment where one resides by force would remain ineffective. On the other hand, for some students, the ijazah functioned as a means of escaping social pressures rather than being an intrinsic goal. For instance, Participant 6 states that he initially desired the ijazah out of fear of judgment from his social circle, such as “He gave so many of his years but could not even get an ijazah,” but that, following the institutional disaffiliation, the document completely lost its meaning. Especially students like Participant 1, whose father is also a Seyda, report receiving intense psychological counseling from their families in the form of “do not leave, have patience,” and that, due to this pressure, they significantly feared judgmental expressions within their social circles during the departure process.

Participants in the second group found themselves in a deep void when they left the madrasa due to the emotional tension caused by the sudden rupture from the institutional network and social environment. Participant 12 objectifies the isolated and total structure of this system, which they joined at an early age, from the outside world with the words: “One of our teachers had told us that we were like fish in an aquarium. He used to say, ‘This science here is your fish food.’ Indeed, we were exactly like that; we had almost no communication beyond the aquarium.” On the other hand, Participant 5 expresses the emotional feeling triggered by leaving this deeply rooted lineage by saying: “I did not want to leave my Seyda and my friends. You know, distancing myself from the lessons made me feel bad, too. I mean, for a moment I felt as if I were in a void.”

6.5. The Burden of Representation and the Violation of Boundaries

During their education at the madrasa, students have had to shoulder a heavy burden of representation imposed by identities such as Hoja (a general term for an Islamic teacher or cleric), Seyda, or Fakih (disciple studying Islamic jurisprudence), ascribed to them by society. Indeed, within traditional Eastern culture, the Seyda have a powerful influence on the people of the region from psychological, sociological, and political perspectives. People constantly turn to the Seyda as arbiters for social problems, personal disputes, and religious matters (Ocak 2017, p. 25). For this reason, the study’s findings reveal the boundaries this burden imposes on individuals’ daily lives and the reflections on shedding this identity after the rupture from the madrasa.

The sacred role assigned to the madrasa student by society severely restricts daily practices, from dress codes to social activities. Indeed, participants stated that, under the pressure of “You are a teacher/hoja,” they faced reactions from their environment for actions such as wearing jeans or dancing at weddings or had to perform them in secret. In fact, this sense of excessive surveillance and restriction directly influenced one participant’s decision to leave. While acting like a “teacher/hoja” around those who knew his identity and behaving like an ordinary person around strangers created a sense of hypocrisy in some participants, shedding these institutional titles paved the way for radical transformations in individuals’ religious and social lives.

Expressing that he approached life with a secular desire for exploration through the flexibility provided by escaping institutional restrictions, Participant 1 conveys this process with the words: “Even though it might be wrong, I approached life with the demeanor of a human newly born into and exploring the world, and I tried to participate, and did participate, in most things people practiced without distinguishing between good or bad,” and emphasizes that this situation led to a carelessness in his religious life. In contrast, Participant 2, who feels an incompatibility between his current lifestyle and still being called Seyda, states that he no longer deserves this sacred title and views it as a source of shame. Directly expressing that sins previously avoided became ordinary over time after the departure, these declarations of Participant 2 and Participant 6 reveal the shattering impact of institutional disaffiliation on religious practices, while society’s questionings in the form of “You studied in a madrasa, how can you do this?” show that the burden of sacred representation does not leave the individual even after the madrasa.

Discontinuing madrasa education and not having received an official ijazah did not enable participants to conscientiously legitimize the religious deficiencies or the sins they committed in their current lives; on the contrary, with the mindset of “whether you are a Seyda or not, wrong is wrong,” it was emphasized that religion does not merely consist of an institutional document. Abandoning religious obligations after the intensive education received in the madrasa is viewed as a betrayal of the institution, the teachers, and the family’s labor, as well as a source of deep embarrassment. Indeed, the literature states that the mission of an exemplary cleric assigned to a madrasa student, along with the strict dress codes, traps the individual in an almost protective armor against modernity (Ören 2019, p. 190). Therefore, although disaffiliation from the madrasa allows these boundaries to flex and enables the individual to blend into civil life, this state of exiting the institutional identity is not accepted in the participants’ world as a legitimate cover for abandoning religious responsibilities.

6.6. Religious Transformation with the Abandonment of the Madrasa: “Believing but Indifferent”

When the current religious lives of participants in the research, after leaving the madrasa, are examined, it is found that the expression “I believe, but I am indifferent in practice/life” is adopted by a great majority. This expression, which represents the central point of the study, shows that a new post-secular and individualized typology of religiosity in which the belief is not completely rejected but the practices and the compliance with the religious rules lose importance to a certain degree in daily life, is constructed through the phenomenon of leaving the madrasa.

The participants’ responses to the statement “I believe, but I am indifferent in practice/life” reveal the structural and psychological attrition in translating faith into action during the post-madrasa period, despite faith being preserved at the cognitive level. Accordingly, Participant 1 expresses that his faith is certain but that he has become completely reluctant on the orthopraxic dimension, with the words: “I absolutely believe, but in practice and life, I am now indifferent and also reluctant. No desire awakens inside me. That shining light in the hearts of believers, that desire that guides them, is no longer in me.” Similarly, alongside Participant 2, who states that he does not have a devotional problem but that his practices have diminished significantly, Participant 6, who fully aligns with this expression, defines his departure from the madrasa as a religious “collapse”. Emphasizing that he has distanced himself almost completely from obligatory acts of worship and that committing sins became ordinary for him over time, Participant 6 objectifies the transition to a phase of absolute indifference in the practical sphere despite continuing to believe.

The other participants, who exhibit flexibility at the practical level within the pluralistic structure of daily civil life, experience this faith–practice gap to varying degrees. In contrast to Participant 10, who states that this situation reflects him fully by noting that he is closer to sins than before in his outside life and that he does not pay attention to his religious life, Participant 4 states that he views himself as religiously deficient because he cannot fulfill his acts of worship, and that the statement fits his situation “more or less.” Participant 7, who confesses that he can only perform the obligatory prayers within the rush of daily life but adds that he makes an effort to live more carefully, and Participant 9, who approves that although he performs his acts of worship to a great extent, there are moments when he distances himself from religion from time to time, also associate this definition with their own lives. All these empirical data clearly demonstrate that without experiencing a doubt at the level of faith, when the institutional and spatial protective shield (the madrasa) disappears, the participants fall into a serious reflexivity-driven inaction and religious indifference in reflecting the truths they believe in the practices of daily life.

The most obvious practical result of this typology of religiosity is the retention of religious belonging at the level of belief, the melting of worship practices into modern daily life, or their abandonment entirely. When the institutional control mechanism in the madrasa was removed, some individuals could no longer ensure internal discipline. Participant 11 specifies that the individual performs almost none of the participant’s religious acts of worship on a daily basis. Participant 12 accepts that religious belief adds something to the individual as a human being and as a moral being, but clearly states that the individual definitely does not perform “the obligations required by Islam such as the ritual prayer.” In contrast, Participant 4 states that the individual cannot perform many of the acts of worship of the participant and feels quite deficient in this regard.

One of the findings gaining importance in this context is the insensitivity toward sin developed by some participants who received intensive religious education at this level when they engage in modern/secular life, and the efforts to justify individuals’ actions. Participant 1 specifies with these sharp expressions that the individual was very restless while sinning in the past. However, now the participant acts completely impulsively and does not feel regret after performing the act of sin: “I am now in a completely impulsive state. When I want to perform an action, I do it and I do not feel anything afterwards.” Participant 6 also emphasizes that the individual feels nothing when committing a sin. Participant 2 states that the participant began to see the wrong actions the individual should not commit as “very normal,” and that the sins became very ordinary for the individual after the complete rupture from the madrasa.

The findings show that individuals who emerge from a normative theological institution such as the madrasa draw a clear boundary between belief (faith) and action (deed/practice) when they step into modern civil life. The participants maintain the belief in Allah and a cultural belonging to Islam (I believe). However, they almost ignore the binding regulatory power of the belief on daily life (I am indifferent). As a result of the findings, it emerges that in a general sense, the participants adopt a post-secular and deedless form of religiosity, which makes the sin ordinary by going outside the traditional rules of the sharia or the madrasa and removes the acts of worship from the center of life, but still states that the individuals are Muslims.

7. Discussion

The findings of this study point to a post-secular process in which religious practices weaken rather than the narratives of complete abandonment of religion in the classical sense, regarding the processes of religiosity and secularization experienced by individuals who leave the madrasa education unfinished. The penetration of the instrumental and functional rationality brought by modernization into the religious field can lead to the instrumentalization of the traditional religious education. Indeed, the fragmentation of traditional structures in this way is also reflected in the individual’s consciousness and weakens the internalization and authority of inclusive, objective religious norms (Casanova 1994, p. 37). In this new plane where the traditional authority is shaken, the individuals who avoid the burden of representing a global and institutional religious identity shift to a personalized form of invisible religion based on the sanctification of the subjective autonomy in which they live the belief in the private inner worlds of the individuals, as long as they desire. In the direct expressions of Luckmann: “The modern sacred cosmos legitimates the retreat of the individual into the private sphere and sanctifies his subjective autonomy.” (Luckmann 2023, p. 82).

The data obtained show that the madrasas failed to effect institutional reform because they did not sufficiently engage with the processes of modernization and secularization. In contrast, the individuals experienced a structural transformation under the pressure of the modern bureaucracy and the secular economic expectations. This situation has led to existential ruptures among individuals stuck between the opportunities of the modern secular life and the isolated, disciplined structure of the madrasa. In this direction, the theoretical sources and the findings will be analyzed mutually in this section.

7.1. The Effects of the Transmission-Oriented Pedagogy of the Madrasa

The methods of education applied in the madrasas have lost the flexibility they once had within the historical process and have become a rigid routine closed to innovation. This system, which cannot update itself to meet the requirements of the age, has largely ignored modern pedagogical developments, such as the psychology of learning and specific teaching methods. The most obvious reflection of this routinizing pedagogy is the reduction of education to a mechanical system based entirely on memorization, removing it from an analytical and critical process. The fact that students have to memorize even texts they do not understand as mere molds for passing the daily lesson blunts students’ faculties for interpreting life, analyzing, and producing solutions to new problems encountered (Aktaş 2020, p. 89).

One of the most striking aspects of the findings in this context is the routinizing effect the method of education transmitted through the traditional chain has on participants. Participants who criticize the intensity of the grammar lessons have stated that they experienced a sense of normalization from a religious perspective due to this intensity and overexposure. The expressions of P-2 in the form of “Well, you read a text as if you are reading a plain Arabic thing, a text, you memorize it, that is all. Like, as if it is a duty.” reveal this situation. An education system based on so much memorization can also cause the individual to miss the main purpose of the education they receive. The main purpose of the tradition of the madrasa, which is the classical Islamic educational institution, is to transmit the active aspect of the belief. As Wilkinson emphasizes, the real purpose of the Sharia and the external acts of worship is not to imprison the individual into mere rules and routines, but rather, by regulating the external behaviors, to bring the inner self together with a “transcendentally emancipatory meaning” (Pring 2020, p. 55). However, as the institutions’ structures harden over time and the external rules break away from this emancipatory inner meaning, it becomes apparent that religious education risks being reduced to a mechanical habit and a chain of rules, ceasing to be a spiritual journey.

Although classical Ottoman madrasas produced scholars with broad analytical competence (Ihsanoglu 2004, p. 16), contemporary madrasas have narrowed this curriculum almost entirely to Arabic language instruction, reducing the weight of the Islamic sciences (Aktaş 2020, p. 88). This excessively language-centered process is also evident in the P-12 experience in the findings. The participant stated that nine of the twelve texts memorized, in addition to those read during the period of stay in the madrasa, were focused on grammar, while texts on the basic Islamic sciences were limited to only three works. This quantitative imbalance reveals that the current madrasa education emphasizes technical expertise more than the process of spiritual construction.

As identified in another field study of the madrasa, the student is conditioned to memorize and transmit classical texts written in the past verbatim, rather than think and interpret what the texts say in light of the social and historical conditions of the period (Ören 2019, p. 210). In this context, the transmission-oriented education structure of the madrasa, based on memorization and weighted toward grammar, can affect the relationship the student establishes with the sacred. This formalist, rote-learning education in the madrasas can imprison the bond the student establishes with the sacred within formal rules.

When the tendency of the individual centered on individual emotional satisfaction in the modern period is considered, the fact that the individual puts their own emotional satisfaction, psychological well-being, and the internal searches of the individual for meaning at the center of everything inevitably distances the individual from the institutional and formalist structures. The hierarchical, obedient, and prescriptive structure offered by traditional religious institutions remains increasingly insufficient to meet the demands for freedom, authenticity, and emotional depth of the modern human (Gräb 2010, p. 126). In this context, the expressions of P-9 such as “there was constant pressure there. For example, I did not want to go to the mosque, I was taken to the mosque by force. But now I go when I want, when it comes from within me.” or the expressions of P-6 such as “I was expelled because I did not comply with the rules of the madrasa a little bit. I could not get used to that order at all.” show that such factors affect the internalization of an imposed religious system by the individuals in a negative sense.

In the modern period, the way individuals construct meaning has undergone a radical change. Against the existential uncertainties created by globalization and cultural diversity, the individual has begun to search for the meaning of life no longer in established cultural traditions and institutional rules, but in the personal life story of the individual (Zock 2010, p. 133). As Charles Taylor points out, the supernova effect, especially since the 1960s, has ushered in a new period in which individuals construct authentic self-narratives rather than obeying external authority (Martin 2010, p. 79). In this process, the belief has transformed into an individual-centered, personal commitment by breaking away from collective rituals imposed from the outside, and the individual has desired to become the religious authority of the self (Morello 2017, p. 244).

Consequently, the findings show that the traditional Eastern madrasa education method does not allow the spiritual dimension of the belief to be felt sufficiently in some individuals due to memorization, grammar, and extreme discipline. The adoption of the texts within a transmission-oriented approach only carries the risk of reducing religious education to an objectifying analysis by removing it from the spiritual search.

7.2. Toward Spiritual Indifference from the Burden of Representation: “I Believe but I Am Indifferent”

The teachers (Seyda) and the students in the Eastern madrasas see the educational activity carried out with the food provided by the people as a heavy responsibility and a spiritual debt that requires service to society. The attitudes and behaviors of these individuals, who are the representatives of a sacred effort in the eyes of the people and are deemed worthy of a sublime status akin to that of the people of knowledge, are subjected to constant social expectations (Özalp 2025, p. 18). The weight of the burden of representation imposed on the student by this situation can also become an element of pressure, restricting the daily lives, youthful desires, and social activities of the participants. Because of this sacredness attributed by the society to the identity of the teacher and the Seyda, the students expressed that they encountered environmental reactions and condemnations in the form of “You are a teacher, you study in the madrasa, how can you do this?” Even in some ordinary social activities such as wearing jeans or sleeveless t-shirts, dancing at weddings, or with the youthful desire. This intensive social surveillance, while keeping the individual under pressure, also carries the risk of reducing belief to a mere external performance by undermining the target of spiritual transformation at the core of madrasa education.

The fact that students are constantly on display by society and that their behavior is monitored squeezes individuals between the opportunities for individualization offered by the outer world and the rigid roles imposed by the community (Khalilova 2018, p. 239). This state of being squeezed prevents the student from internalizing the belief in a free and critical way, and it also pushes the student to exhibit forced rigidity against modern life and youthful desires. This state of heavy surveillance drags individuals into a rupture, or even a forced hypocrisy, between their inner worlds and the profiles they present to the outside. P-6 describes his situation as conscious hypocrisy: performing the role of a devout student among those who know his identity, while behaving freely among those who do not. Similarly, P-1 specifies that the individual could not get used to walking around with a skullcap on their head at all, that the participant does not want to be seen in this way outside, and that the participant secretly breaks the set prohibitions.

The modern subject who cares about the life story of the self, the construction of meaning, and individual emotions tends to leave the institution by escaping the pressure and burden of representation imposed by institutional belongings. The individual finds it more comfortable to establish a new bond through a personalized spirituality that is more flexible with the sacred and that responds entirely to the individual’s emotional needs (Mapril et al. 2017, p. 9). This situation expresses the individual’s escape from institutional pressure and formalism rather than the complete disappearance of the belief. Thus, the person tends toward a post-secular process that allows for biographical integration rather than social harmony (Gräb 2010, p. 127).

In this context, the main striking aspect of the findings is that the great majority of participants adopt the expression “I believe, but I am indifferent in practice”. This situation also overlaps with the concept of “believing without belonging” (Davie 1994, p. 5), which explains the obvious disconnection between the indicators of belief and the religious practices. This context indicates that individuals continue to maintain their religious feelings, beliefs, and spiritualities at the internal level despite the gradual distancing from institutional belonging and ritual participation. The approach, drawing on this differentiation, shows that the belief maintains resistance at the individual level, but an open indifference has developed toward places of worship and institutional practices (Davie 1994, p. 43). Therefore, this attitude adopted by the participants in the research can be evaluated in the context of the avoidance of individuals in including this belief in their daily and institutional religious practices, conscious or unconscious, despite their desire to continue believing rather than as a rejection of the belief.

One of the main concepts gaining importance in light of the study’s findings is worldliness. Because secularization expresses a historical process in which the affairs of religion and state are separated, shaped by the loss of the authority of the religious institutions and the clergy class in the West, worldliness is directly related to the extreme tendency of the individual toward the world and the neglect of spirituality (Kalıç 2021, p. 9). Therefore, worldliness in Islamic societies points to the preservation of individuals’ beliefs rather than their total rejection. In this form, worldliness appears as a latent form of secularization in which individuals turn toward pleasure and the world by losing the consciousness of the hereafter in their daily lives and break away from the moral and actional dimension of religion(Aydınalp 2019, p. 161). At the most basic level, worldliness is the disruption of the balance of world-hereafter in favor of the world. This situation is defined as a process experienced not by abandoning the religion, but by being within the religion while moving away from its essence. That is, the effort of the religious person to satisfy the individual’s personal desires while maintaining religious practices on the one hand is the worldliness itself (Bilgin 2012, p. 19). From this perspective, it is also possible to conclude that the participants became worldly despite their Islamic culture and heritage.

The fact that individuals who stayed for a certain period in the institution of the madrasa, where Islamic education is traditionally and intensively maintained, can be associated with phenomena of post-secularization or worldliness opens the transformative capacity of the mentioned education to discussion. Because the participating individuals are distanced from religious practices, despite such intensive religious formation, and express this situation as “I believe but I am indifferent,” this points to a weakening of the bond between belief and action. Indeed, P-1, P-2, and P-6, like a significant part of the participants, emphasize that there is no deficiency in the beliefs of the individuals, but clearly state that they abandoned basic acts of worship, such as ritual prayer, and developed a distinct indifference toward religious life. This situation also makes a critical evaluation necessary, in that the madrasa’s education can give rise to a form of religiosity disconnected from practice and, at times, to a superficial belief, rather than producing an internalized religiosity in individuals.

8. Conclusions

This study was conducted through the experiences of 13 male participants who left their madrasa education unfinished in the Batman region, representing madrasas in the East of Turkey. The lives of individuals who received madrasa education and threw themselves into civil life, leaving it unfinished for various reasons, reveal how the existential ruptures between traditional religious education and modern/secular life evolved into a typology of post-secular religiosity. The traditional madrasas, which seek to maintain their existence in the Eastern region of Turkey, are strongly engaged with society and, at the same time, take on the role of producers of culture. The findings show that the motivations of individuals for starting madrasa education are mostly external and pragmatic, such as family pressure, the desire for appointment to state cadres, or reaching the status of a Seyda/scholar respected in society. For this reason, during the process of leaving the madrasa, individuals overcome a sense of belonging more quickly and are influenced by the secular public sphere. However, it has been identified that, because madrasas do not raise individuals in a structure that prepares them for the secular world and confronts it, this process directs individuals toward a form of post-secular indifference by eroding the religion’s regulatory power in the world.

Because the authoritarian curriculum of current madrasas focuses on grammar, the modern individual cannot adequately meet their ontological needs. This approach, centered on grammar, has turned the madrasas, which are expected to be the focus of the Islamic sciences, into almost a center of Arabic language and has placed instrumental language learning before the religious sciences. While this situation weakens the development of the spiritual dimension of the religion in the student, the burden of representation imposed on the individual by society, from a cultural perspective, also becomes a source of pressure. The participants clearly express that they prefer to turn toward their own desires to get rid of this pressure and overcome the state of representation in the madrasa. As a result, they experience a distinct weakness in their daily religious practices. In this context, the experiences of the individuals who left after receiving education for a while in the Eastern madrasas of Turkey show that the structure of the madrasa focused on grammar, and the cultural pressures do not break the individuals away from the religion but make the individuals distant from the religious practices by directing the individuals toward the attitude of “I believe, but I am indifferent”.

While secularization is generally discussed in the literature as the loss of belief or the withdrawal of religion from the public sphere, this research focuses on the micro-sociological and psychological dimensions of the disconnection. The burden of representation expresses the identity fatigue created by the social expectation of the ideal religious person to which the individual is exposed within the madrasa chain. The disappearance of this burden, together with the institutional disconnection, triggers not only social relief for the individual but also a process of conscientious desensitization to religious practices. This situation, as seen in the narratives of the participants, reveals a form of post-secular religiosity specific to Turkey in which the belief is preserved as an ontological refuge but has lost its regulatory power.

The concepts of the burden of representation and conscientious desensitization, placed at the center of the study, explain how the individual who breaks away from the chain of religious authority also suspends religious practices while getting rid of institutional pressure. As a result, the cases of madrasa dropouts form a post-secular synthesis by remaining believers but inactive in discussions of modern religiosity. Comparing this local experience across different geographical and cultural contexts in future studies will illuminate the micro-sociological foundations of religious transformation more deeply.