Abstract

The vast majority of Islamic scholars have claimed that the miraculousness of the Quran stems from its own structure; its fluency, eloquence and verse characteristics. They have also regarded the science of rhetoric as the basic tool for revealing the literary superiority of the Quran and understanding it properly. The objective of this research is to determine the views of the students of theology and sharia faculties on the rhetoric course and present them comparatively. To understand how rhetoric is taught in different cultural and educational contexts, how it is perceived by students, and how the course contributes to their academic and personal development matters in terms of improving the rhetoric course. The method used in the study is qualitative research and the study was conducted in the phenomenological design. The study group of the research consists of the students studying at Cumhuriyet University Faculty of Theology, Batman University Faculty of Islamic Sciences and The University of Jordan- School of Sharia. The data were collected from the students selected by criterion sampling method using a semi-structured interview form in the second semester of the 2023-2024 academic year. The main criterion used was that the participants' native language was not Arabic and that they were taking a rhetoric course. Descriptive analysis technique was used to analyze the collected data. At the end of the research, it was concluded that the rhetoric course was important for the fields of the students at theology and sharia faculties. The vast majority of the students of faculty of theology stated that the rhetoric course contributed to the improvement of their Arabic, and a significant portion of them stated that the course was an important tool in understanding the Quran, other religious texts, and Arabic literature. Almost all of the students of the faculty of sharia stated that the course contributed to the understanding of the Quran in general, especially its literary i‘jâz. It was also concluded that a significant portion of both student groups had difficulty in the rhetoric course. According to the students of the faculty of theology, the most important issue that makes rhetoric difficult is their weak Arabic background, while according to the Sharia faculty students, it is their first encounter with rhetoric topics. The results reveal that the rhetoric course is effective in understanding the Quran and other religious texts and in developing students' thinking and expression skills, but the content and teaching method of the course needs to be updated. Within the framework of the findings and results of the research, it is suggested that the content of the rhetoric course should be organized in a way to center the literary aspect of the Qur'an in accordance with the theology program and more participatory teaching methods should be used.