Writer and translator (b. 1897, Aleppo - d. 1983, Athens
/ Greece). He was the son of a Christian-Arabian family. After graduation from
Gaziantep American College, he went to Cambridge in the United Kingdom. When he
returned to Turkey in 1923, he began to work at the American Board Publications
Department until 1970. During his working life of 47 years, he was an editor
for Red House Dictionary and published many compilation works and translations.
He was fluent in Turkish, Arabic, Armenian, Greek, Latin, French and English.
He had a brief marriage to a Greek woman and had a son and a daughter. In 1983,
he died a Muslim while living with his son and daughter. He had grandsons and
grand daughters.
Huri spent the year 1932 in Birmingham, the United
Kingdom, studying theosophy and philosophy in a group at Woodbrook College.
Here he met a universally known leader and philosopher, whom he was unable to
forget throughout his life: Gandhi… Gandhi, man of peace, beloved and respected
by all was in London that winter. Another person who enriched Sofi Huri’s life
was Dr. James Randel Harris, theologian and researcher of Islam and an English
scholar and graduate of Cambridge who was born in 1852 and died in 1938. Sofi
Huri had many research papers and works published, especially related to the
Bible and other holy books.
WORKS:
COPYRIGHT: Râbiat-ü’l
Adviye (Râbiat-ü’l Adviye),
İbrahim Bin Edhem (İbrahim bin Edhem), Küçük Tavşan (Little
Bunny), Hz. İsa’nın Hayatı (Life of Jesus Christ), Geveze Ördek
(Chatter Duck), Elma Bahçesi (Garden of Apple Trees), Futbolcu Fil (Footballer
Elephant), Okulda Dirlik Evde Birlik (Order at School, Unity at Home),
Faydalı Oyun (Useful Game), Kitab-ı Mukaddesten Hikâyeler (Stories
from the Holy Bible), Esat Dayı’nın Kurabiyeleri (Uncle Esat’s Cookies),
İmân Kurtuluş Yolu (Faith, The Way of Salvation), Uykucu Sami
(Sleeper Sami), Şu Yanan Hercai Menekşeler (Those Flaming Violas),
Yeni Kardeş (New Brother), Ana Babalara Mahsus Terbiyevi Dersler
(Lessons of Discipline for Parents), Aferin Özcan’a (Well Done, Özcan),
Eğitimin Gayeleri (The Aims of Education).
RESEARCH: Ken’an
Rifâi ve Yirminci Asrın Işığında Müslümanlık (Kenan Rifai and Islam Under
the Light of Twentieth Century, together with Sâmiha Ayverdi, Safiye Erol ve
Nezihe Araz, first edition in 1953, fifth edition in 2003).
In addition, he translated from many celebrated writers, such as Tagore,
M. İkbal, Jack London and Tolstoy.
