Understanding Sufism, Theological Resources, and Peacebuilding: A Conceptual Framework

This chapter delineates the conceptual framework that serves as a guide in archiving research objectives (Shields & Tajalli, 2006). The Britannica Dictionary (n.d.) defines ‘concept’ as an idea regarding the nature of something or the functioning of something, while ‘framework’ describes as the fundamental structure of a system or a set of ideas or facts that provide its foundations. Thus, a ‘concept’ constitutes the fundamental building blocks of thoughts, enabling researchers to comprehend and explain phenomena. A Framework is a basic structure upholding a system, concept, or text. As implied by the architectonic metaphor of ‘framework’, a ‘conceptual framework’ comprises a set of key factors, concepts, variables, relationships, and underlying assumptions that guide academic inquiry (Singh, 2023, Miles & Huberman, 1994).