Historian
of Islamic sects (b. 8 December 1937, Burdur). He attended the Burdur İstiklâl
Primary School (1949), Burdur High School (1955), and graduated from Ankara
University, Faculty of Theology (1959). He gave lectures at İmam Hatip High
Schools in Konya (1961-64), Burdur (1964-65), Kayseri (1965-66). Afterwards, he
lectured on history of Turkish-Islam culture in İzmir (1966-70) and Kayseri
(1970-71) Institutes of Islam. Then, he became an assistant at Ankara
University, Faculty of Theology (1970-72) on history of Islam sects.
In 1972, he completed his doctorate studies at Ankara
University, Faculty of Theology, Chair of History of Islamic Sects. His thesis
was “İbadiye'nin Doğuşu ve Görüşleri (Birth
of Ibadiyye and His Views). Between 1974 and 1975, he served as a senior
lecturer at Cambridge University, Faculty of Oriental Studies in the United
Kingdom on Islamic sects and Islamic Orders. On his return to Turkey, he was
promoted as an associate professor with his thesis “Ahmadiyya Mezhebi- Kadıyanilik"
(The Ahmadiyya Order-Kadıyani sect, 1977) at Ankara University,
Faculty of Theology; and by he became a professor with his thesis "Mesih ve Mehdi İnancı
Üzerine-Mezhepler Tarihi Açısından Bir Tetkik" (About the Belief of Messiah and Mahdi An Analysis
from the Perspective of History of Sects, 1982).
He was appointed in Deanship of Dokuz Eylül University
Faculty of Theology for four times in 1982, 1985, 1988 and 1991. In 1984, he
was elected as the representative of the Inter-universities Council by the
University Senate. Besides his office as the dean, he served as the vice-rector
at Dokuz Eylül University. In 1995, he was elected as a member of the National
Committee for Turkish Social Sciences, Sub-Committee for Humanities for the
second time by the Turkish Council of Higher Education. In 1998, he became the
rector of Muğla University for the second time and, in 1999 he was elected as
the chairman of the executive board of the Budget of Higher Education Credit
and Pensions Institution. His articles were published in the reviews Dokuz
Eylül and Ankara İlahiyat Fakültesi İslâm İlimleri Enstitüsü. He was
a member of the editorial boards of the Türk
Ansiklopedisi (Turkish Encyclopaedia), İslâmî
İlimler Ansiklopedisi (Encyclopaedia
of Islamic Sciences) by the Dergâh Publishing House and İslâm Ansiklopedisi (Encyclopaedia of Islam) by the Turkish Foundation for
Religious Affairs.
WORKS:
RESEARCH-STUDY: Çağımızda İtikadî İslâm Mezhepleri (Islamic
Spiritual Sects in Our Time, 1980), İslâma Karşı Cereyanlar: Bâbaîlik ve
Bahailik (Movements against Islam: Babailik* and Bahailik*, Mecca, 1981), İbadiye'nin
Doğuşu ve Görüşleri (Birth of Ibadiyye and His Views, 1983), İmamiye
Şiası (The Imamities and Aherents, 1984), Kadiyanilik - Ahmediyye Mezhebi (Kadiyani
Order-Ahmediyye Sect, 1986), Mezhepler ve Tarikatler Ansiklopedisi (Encyclopaedia
of Sects and Orders) (chairman of the commission, 1987).
Besides,
he made translations and wrote text books on his field.
