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ASSOC. PROF. DR. MEHMET ÖZAY
Associate Professor, ISTAC-IIUM

Dr. Mehmet Özay (b. 1969, Istanbul) is a full-time lecturer and researcher at the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Thought and Civilization, International Islamic University Malaysia (ISTAC-IIUM), where he has served since July 2022. 

He holds a Bachelor’s degree in English Teacher Training from Marmara University (1997), a Master’s degree in Sociology and Anthropology from Marmara University’s Institute of Middle East and Islamic Countries (2000), with a thesis on Anthony Giddens, and a PhD in Sociology of Religion from Marmara University’s Institute of Social Sciences (2006), with a dissertation on modernization, secularization, and religion in contemporary sociology.

Between 2007 and 2010, Dr. Özay was a visiting lecturer at IAIN Ar-Raniry, Syiah Kuala University, and Muhammadiyah University in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, teaching sociology, anthropology, and English. He then served as senior lecturer and researcher at the Faculty of Education, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Skudai, Johor Bahru (2010–2013), leading two funded research projects on colonial education and language policy. He subsequently worked as a journalist covering the Malay World for the Turkish outlets TRT (2013–2015) and Anadolu Agency (2015–2017), before joining Ibn Haldun University in Istanbul as an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology (2017–2021).

Dr. Özay’s scholarship is interdisciplinary, spanning the sociology of colonialism, religion, and education, as well as the socio-political and intellectual history of the Malay World and its connections to the Ottoman State and Türkiye. He has authored or co-authored nearly a dozen books, edited several volumes, and contributed more than twenty book chapters in Turkish, English, and Indonesian. His research has been supported by grants from ISTAC-IIUM, UTM’s Research Management Center, and has been published in journals including Studia Islamika, Journal of Al-Tamaddun.

He currently leads a research project on the intellectual heritage of North Sumatra (2025–2026) and continues to publish on Ottoman-Malay relations, Aceh’s history, and Islamic education in Southeast Asia. He founded the Turk-Aceh Cultural Center (PuKAT) in Banda Aceh and serves as an academic advisor to research centers at Fatih Sultan Mehmet Waqf University and Ankara University.

RESEARCH AREAS

  • Sociology of Colonialism
  • Sociology of Education
  • Sociology of Religion
  • Malay History, Education and Civilization (Colonial and Modern Periods)
  • Modernization and Social Change in Southeast Asia
  • Malay Manuscript Studies
  • Ottoman–Malay / Turkish–Malay Relations
  • Aceh History and Socio-Political Change
  • Islamization of the Malay World
  • Islamic Education and Intellectual History

EDUCATION

PhD in Sociology of Religion
Faculty of Theology, Marmara University, Istanbul (2002–2006)
Thesis: “Modernization–Secularization–Religion Relations in Contemporary Sociology”
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ali Köse

MA in Sociology & Anthropology
Institute of Middle East and Islamic Countries, Marmara University, Istanbul (1998–2000)
Thesis: “Anthony Giddens and His Sociology”
Supervisor: Dr. M. Tayfun Amman

BA in English Teacher Training
Atatürk Education Faculty, Marmara University, Istanbul (1993–1997)

RESEARCH PROJECTS HIGHLIGHTS

  • “Al-Jawaib: Arab Journalism and Intellectual Dialogue with the Malay World”
  • “Contribution of Tengku Luckman Sinar to the Intellectual Heritage of North Sumatra and Beyond”
  • “A Man of Change or Illusion: Mohammad Said, Media, and Nationalism”
  • “Language and Socialization: A Contemporary Issue in the Education System in Malaysia”
  • “A Classical Teaching Material and Its Methodology: Masail al Muhtadi li Ikhwanil Mubtadi”

PUBLICATION HIGHLIGHTS

  • Kesultanan Aceh dan Turki: Narasi Sejarah dan Ingatan Lokal. Banda Aceh: Bandar Publishing, 2026.
  • The Ottomans and The Malay World Relations. Kuala Lumpur: ISTAC-IIUM Publications, 2023.
  • Arakan Müslümanları: Myanmar’da Vatandaşsızlıktan Soykırıma Bir Halkın Hikayesi. İstanbul: İbn Haldun Üniversitesi Yayınları, 2019 (3rd ed., 2026).
  • Mehmet Özay and Waleed Fekry Faris. “A Preliminary Work on the Intellectual and Civilisational Dimensions of the Al-Jawaib Based on Ottoman Sources.” Journal of al-Tamaddun 20, no. 1 (2025): 1–17.
  • “An Overview on Ottoman Manuscript Collection in Sayyid Muhammad Naquib al-Attas Library.” Studia Islamika 30, no. 2 (2023): 235–259.
  • Sekülerleşme ve Din: Batı’da Sekülerleşme Teorileri ve Tartışmaları. 2nd ed. İstanbul: İbn Haldun Üniversitesi Yayınları, 2020.
  • “A Hadhrami Scholar and Islamic Court in Aceh: The Political Biography of ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Ẓāhir (1864–1878).” Studia Islamika 27, no. 1 (2020): 73–102.
  • “Notes on Ottoman-Malay World Relations.” In Routledge Handbook of Islam in Southeast Asia, edited by Khairudin Aljunied, 88–113. Oxon: Routledge, 2022.
  • With Nia Deliana. “Indonesians’ Images of the Ottoman Caliphate and the New Republic of Türkiye, 1918–1925.” Studia Islamika 31, no. 2 (2024): 281–305.
  • “Rum(i)s as the Reference to the Turks and Perceptions in the Malay World.” Journal of Al-Tamaddun 15, no. 1 (2020): 31–58.
  • “A Preliminary Discussion on the Notion of Nationalism in Weber’s Thought: Max Weber and His Cogitation of Nationalism.” With Muhammad Saifuddin. The Journal of Humanity & Society (İnsan & Toplum) 12, no. 3 (2022): 25–46.
  • Açe Topraklarında Sömürge Karşıtı Mücadele: Hollanda Savaşı (1873–1904). İstanbul: Kitabevi, 2021.
  • “Qur’an Schools in Malay Peninsula: A Traditional Education Template between Change and Continuity.” Mütefekkir 5, no. 10 (2018): 361–381.
  • Co-editor with İsmail Ermağan. Asia Pacific in World Politics (7): Türkiye and Asia-Pacific Relations — Process, Opportunities, Constraints. Ankara: Nobel Akademik Yayınları, 2025.
  • Co-editor with İsmail Ermağan and Özlem Zerrin Keyvan. Dünya Siyasetinde Asya Pasifik, Vols. 2–5.

CONTACT

Email: mehmetozay@iium.edu.my
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