Poet and man of thought (b. 20 December 1873,
İstanbul - d. 27 December 1936). He was the son of İpekli Tahir Efendi, a
Albanian tutor at Fatih Madrasah. Mehmet Akif’s mother came from a family who
migrated from Buhara and settled in İstanbul. The name of Akif was initially
Rakıf, so as to rhyme with his father’s name; however, it was changed later. He
was born in the Sarıgüzel quarter in Fatih province and attended the Emir
Buhari Quarter School, Fatih Elementary School and the School of Politics. During
his years at high school, he attended the lectures at Fatih Mosque and learned
Arabian and Persian. He attended the Halkalı School of Veterinary Medicine, after his
father died and their house burned down and he graduated with the first degree
(1893). He worked as a civil officer at the Department of Veterinary Medicine at the
Ministry of Agriculture and worked in Rumelia, Anatolia, Albania and Saudi
Arabia for four years. He learned everything and Arabian from his father. He
got married in 1989 and had six children.
Also working as a teacher at the
School of Veterinary Medicine, Akif published the reviews Sırat-ı Müstakim and
Sebilürreşad with his friend Eşref Edib in 1908. He resigned from his
office due to the Balkan War (1913). Opposing the Turkist movement of Ziya
Gökalp, he defended the idea of Unity of Islam in his articles published in Sırat-ı Müstakim and Sebilürreşad and at his preaches in
Fatih, Beyazıt, Şehzadebaşı, Süleymaniye mosques (1912). He went to Egypt and
Hejaz before the World War I began (1913). He was sent to Germany during the
war by the Ottoman Intelligence Service on the invitation of the German
government in order to see the Muslim captives in Germany in 1914; and to Necep
Emiri İbnürreşid, where people stayed loyal to Ottoman Empire against
pro-English Şerif Hüseyin in the end of 1914 by t he same organization.
Meanwhile he was appointed as the first secretary to High Islamic Counsil.
He tried to encourage people in
his preaches at mosques in Balıkesir in order to support the National Struggle
rising in the Western Anatolia after the invasion of İzmir (1919). Shortly
after his arrival in Ankara, he was elected as deputy from Burdur and served at
this office until 1923. He was sent to Konya to prevent therebellions and to
guide people. He informed people on Sevres Agreement and National Struggle at
the enthusiactic preaches in Kastamonu Nasrullah Mosque (this preaching was
published and handed out to all provinces and fronts). His Sebilürreşad was published in Kastamonu on 20 November 1920. He was
dismissed from Dar'ül Hikmeti'l İslâmiye for his actions (20 December 1920).
He settled
in Tacettin lodge after returning to Ankara. His poem was enthusiastically read
out at the Turkish Grand National Assembly and was accepted as the National
Anthem (21 Mart 1921). He refused the money award as the poet of the national
anthem, although he was economically in a bottleneck. The national anthem has
been re-composed four times, and the form by Osman Zeki Üngör was approved.
Akif returned to İstanbul after the Independence War was over; however went
abroad on seeing the practices against his ideals in the Republic, Such as
abolition of caliphate and the tendency to secularism. The publication of Sebilürreşad was terminated with the law
of Maintenance of the Regime. If Akif still lived in Turkey under these
circumstances, it was highly probable that his acts would haven been regarded a
crime. therefore, he left for Egypt on an invitation form Prince Abbas Halim
Paşa and settled in Hilvan. He worked as a professor of Turkish language and
literature at the University of Egypt (1925-1935). He lived ten years of exile
in Egypt and returned to İstanbul to die on his homeland of his cirrhosis. He
died on 27 December 1936. He is buried at the Edirnekapı War Cemetery, next to
the grave of Babanzade Ahmed Naîm
Efendi.
His first poem was published in
the school journal at the School of Veterinary Medicine (Mektep Mecmuası, issue of 2 March 1895); and his first professional
work of poetry (Kurana Hitap-A
Preach on Koran) appeared in Resimli Gazete in 1895. He published
translations from İranlı Hafız and Sadi in Servet-i
Fünun after 1898. He was recognized with his poems and stories in verse
published in the Sebilürreşad review
(1908-1910). He defended complete loyalty to Islam as a man of thought and
represented the idea of Islamism, which was spreading at the end of 19th
century. Agreeing with the famous Islamist philosopher of his time, such as
Muhammed Abduh (1948-1905), Abdürreşid İbrahim (1853-1944) and Cemaleddin
Afgani (1838-1897); Mehmet Akif believed that the Muslims should apply the Holy
Koran to purify the religion from superstitions and to survive from the
depressing conditions they were in. The idea was expressed in the words that
read “Directly inspired by the Koran /
The mind of the century shall interpret Islam”. Thus, he asserted a
condition for being a poet of his time on his own understanding. His approach
to art was to be with God, as Yunus Emre claimed. Regarded as the leading
representative of the idea of “Arts for society”; Akif assumed poetry as an
instrument to spread his beliefs and ideas and to continue his struggle.
WORKS:
POETRY: His
poems have been collected under the title Safahat
(Articles), which consists of seven volumes: Book 1: Safahat (Articles, 1911), Book 2: Süleymaniye Kürsüsünde (At the Chair of Süleymaniye, 1912), Book 3:
Hakkın Sesleri (Voices of God, 1913),
Book 4: Fatih Kürsüsünde (At the
Chair of Fatih, 1914), Book 5: Hatıralar
(Memoirs, 1917), Book 6: Asım (Asım,
1924), Book 7: Gölgeler (Shadow,
1933).
THOUGHT-RESEARCH: Kastamonu Nasrullah Kürsüsü'nde (At the Kastamonu Nasrullah Chair, preaching to people at the Nasrullah Mosque during the National Struggle, published by Nihat Paşa, the commander of Al-Jazira, at diayrbakır Printing House, 1921), Kur'an'dan Ayet ve Hadisler (Sentences and Hadis* in the Koran, selections from his articles in Sebilürreşad, edited by Ö. Rıza Doğrul, 1944).
