Poet and writer (b. 1920, Konya – d. 3
February 2002, Medina / Saudi Arabia). He lost his mother at the age of four.
In 1929 he was sent to primary school but began to study as a hafız (one who
knows the Koran by heart) since his grandfather had decided that he would
finish primary and secondary schools outside. He memorized the Koran completely
in 1931 and then in 1932 he was sent to Koran School, which had been opened by
the Konya Mufti. While he was continuing his own education, he had been charged
by his teacher Kadiri Şeyh Ali Efendi with a duty of listening to other
students who were studying hafiz. He became the first Head Hafiz of the noon
prayer that was held at Konya Kapı Mosque.
His grandfather died in 1935, he
started to play football in Konya İdmanyurdu in 1936. His attempt to go to
Medina via Adana with his father İbrahim Efendi and his uncle Mustafa Efendi
failed. He came to İstanbul with his family in 1939, once again to try to go to
Medina. He left İstanbul by ship on 24 February. He arrived in Mecca with his
family after an arduous journey. His family settled in Medina and he went to
Mısır Ezher University to study. On 12 May 1943, he wrote the poem Ney ile Hasbihal (Heart to Heart Talk
with Flute), which he would send to Rıza Tevfik later.
When his father İbrahim Efendi died in
Medina in 1945, he gave up his education to look after his family and came back
to Medina in 1946. He married Fatma Hanım in 1947. On 11 April, he sent a
letter to Rıza Tevfik, a letter that bore characteristics that reflected his
first literary views and included the Nay
ile Hasbihal (Heart to Heart Talk with Flute) poem. His Daughter Sare was
born in
He became the director of the Medina
Sultan Mahmud Library in 1953. He came to Turkey for the first time after his
left in
His poems, which he wrote with prosodic
meter, were published in the periodicals İslam,
İslam Medeniyeti, İslam Düşüncesi in addition to the periodical İslam’ın Nuru (1951-53) published by Ali
Kemal Belviranlı in İstanbul. Ali Ulvi Kurucu took his place among the great
poets in Turkish literature due to his book Gümüş
Tül (The Silver Tulle) that
introduced him to the literature world. Large numbers of people on almost every
cultural level read his poems avidly.
He also has translations.
WORKS:
POETRY: Nurdan Sesler (Voices From the Divine Radiance, 1958), Gümüş Tül (The Silver Tulle, 1961), Gümüş Tül ve Alevler (The Silver Tulle
and Flames, with addition of new poems to the ones of his first book, 1970).
MEMOIR: Bir Ömürden Sayfalar - Ali Ulvi Kurucu'dan Hatıralar (Pages from a
Lifetime - Memoirs of Ali Ulvi Kurucu, prepared by Sare Kurucu, 2002), Medine Notları (The Notes of Medina,
prepared by Hayreddin Bulut, 2002).
ESSAY-INTERVIEW: Gecelerin Gündüzü (The Daytime of the Nights, 1990).