AKSEKİ, Ahmet Hamdi

Scholar and writer (b. 1887, Güzelce / Akseki – d. 9 January 1951, Ankara). He studied at Madrasah Muslim School in his village and Ödemiş. He received lessons in Islamic sciences and Arab literature from Bayındırlı Muhammed Şükrü Efendi and Mehmed Akif in İstanbul where he came to study (1905). He studied at Science and Experimental Science Theology at İstanbul University for three years and graduated from İstanbul Advanced Madrasah Muslim Theology School (1914) and Süleymaniye Madrasah Muslim Theology School, Department of Philosophy and Islamic Theology (1918) and was promoted to authorized teacher there.

He gave lectures on religion and morality at Heybeliada Naval School (1916). He was the pulpit sheikh at various mosques in İstanbul. He gave lectures on the philosophy of history and psychology at Madrasah Muslim Novice Elementary School. He supported the Nationalist Forces in his sermons in Anatolia during the years of the National Struggle. He worked as a teacher at Ankara High School (1921- 23) and General Director of Religious Foundations and Education (1922- 24). He was selected as a member of the Presidency of Religious Affairs Consultation Committee after working as a teacher at İstanbul University, Faculty of Theology for a short time.

In 1925, he was put on trial at the Independence Courts for being a member of the “Improvement Order Association” and for taking part in the activities of this association but was acquitted. He was the vice-chairman of the Department of Religious Affairs in 1939 and later became the chairman. He is buried in Ankara Cebeci Military Graveyard.

His articles were published in the reviews Sırat-ı Müstakim that started to be published in 1908 and in the successor of this review Sebilürreşad ile Mahfel. He worked on the commentary of the Koran Hak Dini Kura’an Dili (God’s Religioun and the Language of the Holy Koran) by M. Hamdi Elmalı, and Tecrîd-i Sarih Tercümesi ve Şerhi (Translation and Commentary of Isolation of Reality) His work İslâm Dini (The Islam Religion), an explanation of Kuran ilmihal (The Catechism in Holy Koran ), is one of the most published books in Turkish republican history.

MAIN WORKS:

Bilinmesi Elzem Hakikatlar (Indispensable Things to Know, 1916), Ahlâk Dersleri (Moral Courses, 1924), İslâm Dini Fıtrîdir (The Islam is Innate, 1925) İslâm (Islam, 1928), Müslümanlıkta İktisadın Ehemmiyeti (The Importance of Economy in Islam, 1932), İslâm Dini (The Islam Religion, 1933), Peygamberimiz Hazreti Muhammed ve Müslümanlık (The Prophet Muhammad and Islam, 1934), Peygamberimizin Vecizeleri (Aphorisms of the Prophet, 1945), Hicrî 1366, M. 1947 Yılı Ramazan-ı Şerif Münasebetiyle Dinî Bir Konuşma (1366 Hegira, A.D 1947, A Religious Conversation on the Occasion of Holy Ramadan, 1947), Ondört Asır Evvel Doğan Güneş Peygamberimiz Hazreti Muhammed (The Prophet Muhammed -The Sun that Rose Fourteen Centuries Ago, 1954), Prophet Muhammed (1956), A Study on Prophet Muhammed (2nd edition, 1959).