Theologian. He was born
in Ikızdere village / Guneyce / Rize (1930). He received training from his
father and his uncle to become a hafız. He continued with his third and fourth
year education in his hometown and fifth grade at Istanbul Kadirga Primary
School. He learned Arabic and completed Kumkapı Secondary School. He learned
all the sciences taught at Istanbul madrasahs, and also sciences which were not
in the curriculum. He received “Rhetoric” lessons from teachers and read
“El-Mirkat”. He learned Qur’an meanwhile and read Tecvid. He went to Baghdad in
1948 and attended high school there. He graduated from Baghdad Theology Faculty
in 1954 with the first degree. During his education at the faculty, he received
private lessons from the professors at Baghdad about several Islamic sciences
for six years.
After he returned Turkey
and completed his military service, he became an assistant at Ankara
University, Faculty of Theology, Chair of Islamic Philosophy (1956). He has
completed his doctoral studies in 1960 with the thesis named “Kuran’a Göre
İman Esaslarının Tespiti ve Müdafaası”. He prepared the translation of Qur’an with deceased Assoc. Prof. Dr.
Yaşar Kutluay, which was published by the Directorate of Religious Affairs
(1960-1961). He studied on Hebrew and Jewish Philosophy at the University of
Jerusalem (1962-1964). He had an opportunity to research the translations of
Islamic philosophy into the language of Hebrew and their impacts on Jewish
thinkers and the transition of Islamic culture to Europe via the Jews. He has
conducted scientific research at Chicago University about the Islamic
Philosophy (1965-1967). After that completed his thesis for associate
professorship titled “Farabi ve İbni Sina’ya Göre Yaratma” and became an
associate professor (1968) and began to teach Kelam.
He
also taught Islamic Law Philosophy for five years from 1969 onwards. He also
taught classical logic lectures at Konya Institute of Higher Islam between
1969-1971. He has submitted the paper named “Kuran ve Hadis’te Aile
Planlaması” at the congress in Rabat “İslam’da Toplumun Gelişmesi ve
Aile Planlaması” on December 26, 1971. He also taught Fundamentals of Islam
between 1973-1974 and became a professor in 1974. Then, he was elected as the
Chair of Kelam Science. He went to America with a scholarship of Harvard
University Family Planning Center and he conducted research on family planning,
morals, religion and law. He attended as a manager to the seminars about
“Status of Islam Facing the Changing Society” conducted at Chicago University
between the years 1975-1976. He published the “Ottomans” section of his work he
submitted for this paper, namely “Higher Education of Religion in Turkey”. He
participated in a congress at Baghdad named “Farabi and Human Civilization
Congress” with his paper named “Creation in Farabi’s Works” (1975). He worked
as the Director of Faculty of Theology, Islamic Research Institute between the
years 1979-1984. He organized “First Islamic Sciences Congress” (1979) and
“Second Islamic Sciences Congress” (1981).
He worked as the Dean of AU Faculty of
Theology (1980-1982) and he organized “Atatürk’ün 100. Doğum Yılında Türkiye
1. Din Eğitimi Semineri” in 1981. He participated to “International Ibni Sina
Symposium” with his paper named “Mahiyet ve Varlık Ayırımı” (1983). He worked as
Director of Seyhulislam Ibn Kemal Paşa Research Center (1984-1985) in Tokat and
organized “First Symposium on Ibn Kemal Paşa”. He was the scientific head of
the cultural agreement signed between the Ministry of National Education and
North Westphalian State, Germany (1985). He has attended at UNESCO Imam Gazali
and Musa b. Meymun symposium in Paris (1985).
He worked as a lecturer
at Saudi Arabia King Fahd Petroleum and Minerals University (1985-1989). He has
attended to several symposiums and meetings during this period: “Family
Planning and Residence Congress” in Egypt (March 1987); Jordan Yermuk
University “Congress on Finance Politics in the First Islamic State” (April
1987); “New York UN Family Planning Experts Committee” meeting (April 1987);
and to the symposium of “el-Hadaretu’l İslamiyyetu’s Saniye, el-Multeka’s
Salis ve’l İşrun” in Algeria
(1989). He worked as the program head of Malaysia International
Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization in 1992. He attended to the
meetings of Ulemai’d Din ve’d Dirasati’s Sükkaniye’nin Tahlilu’l Usre fi’l
Cumhuriyeti’t Türkiye at Cairo in 1992, 1996, 1997 and 1998. He attended
Repentance in The Quran meeting at Bologna University (1996) and Interreligious
Dialogue meeting at Jordan Ehlu’l Beyt University. He gave a conference in
Barcelona under the title “Higher
Education of Religion in Turkey” (1997). He worked as a lecturer at AU
Faculty of Theology (1990-1997) and retired in 1997. He continued teaching
graduate lectures at the same university from 1998 onwards. He has published
works and approximately hundred articles in national and international journals
(1959-1998).
WORKS:
RESEARCH: Kuran ve Hadis’de İman Esasları (1960), Kuran’a
Göre İman Esasları (1961), İzahlı ve Tatbikatlı Modern Arapça I-II
(with İbrahim Atay ve Yakup İskender, 1962 - 1964), Arapça-Türkçe Büyük
Lügat (with İbrahim ve Mustafa Atay, 1964), Telaffuzlu Yeni
Arapça-Türkçe Sözlük (with İbrahim ve Mustafa Atay, 1965), Usul
ül-Fıkh’ın Doğuşu / İslam Hukuk Felsefesine Önsöz (1973), Yahova
Şahitliği’nin İç Yüzü (with Dr. A.Arslan Aydın, (1973), Farabi ve
İbni Sina’ya Göre Yaratma (1974), İslam’da İşçi ve İşveren İlişkileri
(1979), Kuran’a Göre İslam’ın Temel Kuralları (1981), Osmanlılarda
Yüksek Din Eğitimi - 1457-1924 (1983), İbni Sina’da Varlık Nazariyesi
(1983), Ehli Sünnet ve Şia (1983), İslamın İnanç Esasları (1992),
Kuran-ı Kerim ve Türkçe Anlamı - Meal (1993), Kuran’a Göre Araştırmalar
I-III (ed. 2, 1997), Kuran’a Göre Araştırmalar IV (1995), Kuran’a
Göre Araştırmalar V (1995), Kuran’da İman Esasları (ed. 5,
1998), Kuran’ın Reddettiği Dinler ve İslam’ın Siyasi Oluşumu (2001).
TRANSLATION: Kuran-ı Kerim ve Türkçe Anlamı (with
Doç.Dr. Yaşar Kutluay, 1961-1987), Çağımızın İslam Felsefesi Anlayışı
(from M. Mahdi, 1973), İslam Hukuku Felsefesi (from Abdulvahap Hallaf,
1973), Farabi’nin 3 Eseri (1974), Vahdet-i Vücut I (from M.
Sabri, 1975), Vahdet-i Vücut II (from M. Sabri, 1975), Vahdet-i Vücut
III (from M. Sabri 1975), Kelama Giriş (from Fahreddin Razi, 1978), Kuran
/ Türkçe Çeviri (1998).
REFERENCE: Dinde Reform
ve Atatürk’ten Kesitler (2003), İhsan Işık (TEKAA, 2009).
