Kişilik İnşasında Din Faktörünün Etkisinin Bir Kadın Üzerinden İncelenmesi: Bezmialem Valide Sultan Örneği
Examining the Effect of Religion Factor on Self-Construction on A Woman: Example of Bezmialem Valide Sultan

Summary/Abstract: Personality is the reflection of a person’s innate characteristics in attitudes and behaviors as a result of interaction with the outside world. The will achieve the consistency of a person’s attitudes and behaviours under the leadership of the mind. There are elements that control this will. Religion, both an internal and external phenomenon, is one of these elements. The controlling role of religion also plays an active role in the self-construction process. This role of religion is more effective in a person’s childhood and adolescence. In later periods, it is an element that people apply to in times of crisis. There are differences between genders in benefiting from the religious factor in the self-construction. The softness of female temperament makes her personality more open to religious factors. While this situation creates sincere submission in the woman, it also builds a holistic personality. For this reason, the effectiveness of women’s use of religion in self-construction and in times of crisis is an issue that needs to be researched to raise healthy personalities in the future. In the literature research, no studies were encountered that addressed female personality in the context of a private person. Therefore, with this study, we aimed to contribute to the missing field and to evaluate the effect of religion on self-construction as a positive controlling force. In this context, we examined the personality of Bezmialem Valide Sultan, whose life included periods under the influence of different beliefs, cultures, and traditions. We emphasized the role of religion in helping his personality reach a holistic and healthy structure in the various identities she acquired. We tried to scientifically reveal the effect of the religious factor on self-construction through the charitable foundations she established throughout her life. We have selected five examples of these charitable foundations. These are Vakıf Gureba Hospital, Dārü’l-Maʿārif, Dolmabahçe Mosque, Galata Bridge, and Terkos Lake. While the qualitative research method was used in the study, the technique of examining documents was used. As a result, it has been understood that the influence of religion is positive in self-construction through Bezmialem Valide Sultan and her charitable works. In this process, it has been observed that people exhibit consistent and permanent attitudes and behaviors when religion is the main factor controlling the will.

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