The Journal of Near East University Islamic Research Center 10/1 (June 2024), 122-141 | Research Article

Social and Spiritual Diseases and Their Solutions According to

Mehmed Ali Aynî

Abdullah Özkan | 0000-0001-5928-8078 | [email protected]

Assist. Prof. | Marmara University, Faculty of Human and Society Sciences, Department of
Philosophy | İstanbul, Türkiye

ROR : 02kswqa67

Abstract

With the modernization movements that started with the Tanzimat period in Turkey, a rich
environment for intellectual debate was formed in which a wide range of scientific,
philosophical, social, and political issues were discussed. In this environment, every issue
concerning society was discussed by intellectuals and solutions were tried to be found for the
social issues that emerged with the change. Mehmet Ali Aynî, who graduated from the
modern schools founded with the hope of reforming education in this period and started his
career as a bureaucrat, became one of the most important figures of this debate environment
in the second phase of his career, when he focused his interest on scientific, philosophical,
and social issues. Aynī took a stance within the Islamic tradition against the positivist and
materialist influences that emerged with the new developments and changes of his time and
tried to support this stance in a unique way with the evidence he cited from the scientific and
philosophical developments of the West. One of his primary goals was to protect the culture
of society and the beliefs of the individual against these movements, which he considered
dangerous, and thus to ensure the continuity of the foundations of social morality. Aynī
presents his criticisms against the ideas of atheism, skepticism, and pessimism, which
emerged because of positivist and materialist movements, to the reader's attention most
prominently through a poem by Tevfik Fikret, one of the most controversial figures of the
period, and continues to offer solutions to negative social behaviors such as despair and
suicide in his other works. While he draws attention to the unhappiness and suicide caused
by disbelief and pessimism, he presents his scientific, philosophical, and moral analysis and
criticism by blending the education he received and the culture in which he grew up. One of
the pillars of Aynī's intellectual and spiritual world is Islamic culture itself, with which he tries
to respond to scientific and philosophical objections to the existence of God. In doing so, Aynī
makes many references to modern philosophers such as Spinoza and Bergson, but he also
takes the philosophers of the Islamic world, especially the Sufis, as a source of reference.
Despite the evidence he brings from both cultures, it is possible to see traces of an agnostic
attitude in the conclusion he reaches. Stating that God's existence cannot be fully known,
Aynī nevertheless acknowledges that there is evidence for God's existence. His advice to his
readers is to live a life of submission in the face of one's shortcomings and troubles by
confessing one's lack of knowledge on matters such as God's wisdom and fate. However, this

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 Social and Spiritual Diseases and Their Solutions According to Mehmed Ali Aynî •123

submission should not be understood as a detachment from life. Aynī, who regards existence
and life itself as essentially good, expects his readers to adopt the philosophy of optimism as
a philosophy of life that is based on a commitment to life and therefore encourages making
efforts to make life better. This study examines Aynī's criticisms of the ideas of atheism,
skepticism and pessimism that emerged because of positivist and materialist movements and
his proposed solutions to these ideas that emphasize that life is a blessing worth living.

Keywords

Ethics, Atheism, Skepticism, Pessimism, Mehmed Ali Aynî, Tevfik Fikret.

Citation

Özkan, Abdullah. “Social and Spiritual Diseases and Their Solutions According to Mehmed Ali
Aynî”. The Journal of Near East University Islamic Research Center 10/1 (June 2024), 122-141.
https://doi.org/10.32955/neu.istem.2024.10.1.06

Date of Submission 09.03.2024

Date of Acceptance 24.05.2024
Date of Publication 30.06.2024
Peer-Review Double anonymized - Two External
Ethical Statement It is declared that scientific and ethical principles have been followed while
carrying out and writing this study and that all the sources used have been
properly cited.
Plagiarism Checks Yes - Turnitin
Conflicts of Interest The author has no conflict of interest to declare.
Acknowledgments I would like to thank Ahmet Özer for his help in editing the article.
Grant Support The author acknowledge that they received no external funding in support
of this research.
Copyright & License Authors publishing with the journal retain the copyright to their work
licensed under the CC BY-NC 4.0.

Yakın Doğu Üniversitesi İslam Tetkikleri Merkezi Dergisi | ISSN: 2687-4148

Yakın Doğu Üniversitesi İslam Tetkikleri Merkezi Dergisi 10/1 (Haziran 2024), 122-141 | Araştırma Makalesi

Mehmed Ali Aynî’ye Göre Sosyal ve Bireysel Hastalıklar ve

Çözümleri

Abdullah Özkan | 0000-0001-5928-8078 | [email protected]

Dr. Öğr. Üyesi | Marmara Üniversitesi, İnsan ve Toplum Bilimleri Fakültesi, Felsefe Bölümü |
İstanbul, Türkiye

ROR : 02kswqa67

Öz
Türkiye’de Tanzimatla birlikte başlayan modernleşme hareketleriyle beraber bilimsel,
felsefi, sosyal ve siyasi çok çeşitli konuların tartışıldığı zengin fikrî bir tartışma ortamı
oluşmuştur. Oluşan bu ortamda özellikle toplumu ilgilendiren her konu fikir adamları
tarafından tartışılmış, değişimle birlikte ortaya çıkan toplumsal meselelere çözüm
bulunmaya çalışılmıştır. Bu dönemde eğitimde reform ümidiyle kurulan modern
okullardan mezun olan ve kariyerine bir bürokrat olarak başlayan Mehmet Ali Aynî,
bilimsel, felsefi ve sosyal meselelere ilgisini yoğunlaştırdığı kariyerinin ikinci evresinde bu
tartışma ortamının en önemli simalarından biri haline gelmiştir. Aynî, özellikle
dönemindeki yeni gelişmeler ve değişimlerle birlikte ortaya çıkan pozitivist ve materyalist
etkilere karşı İslam geleneği içinde tavır takınmış, bu tavrını batının bilimsel ve felsefi
gelişmelerinden naklettiği delillerle kendine özgü bir şekilde desteklemeye çalışmıştır.
Onun öncelikli hedeflerinden biri tehlikeli addettiği bu akımlara karşı toplumun kültürünü
ve bireyin inançlarını korumak ve böylelikle toplumsal ahlakın temellerinin devamını
sağlamaktır. Aynî, pozitivist ve materyalist akımların sonuçları olarak ortaya çıkan ateizm,
şüphecilik ve kötümserlik fikirlerine karşı yaptığı eleştirileri en belirgin şekilde dönemin
en tartışmalı figürlerinden biri olan şair Tevfik Fikret’in bir şiirinden hareketle
okuyucunun dikkatine sunmakta, bunların ortaya çıkardığı hayattan ümidi kesme ve
intihar gibi olumsuz sosyal davranışlara yönelik çözüm önerilerini diğer eserlerinde de
sunmaya devam etmektedir. O inançsızlık ve kötümserliğin doğurduğu mutsuzluk ve
intihar gibi kötü sonuçlara dikkat çekerken ilmî, felsefî ve ahlâkî bakımdan getirdiği analiz
ve tenkitleri aldığı eğitim ve içinde yetiştiği kültürü harmanlayarak sunmaktadır. Yaşadığı
dönemde Tanrı’nın varlığına dair ortaya çıkan bilimsel ve felsefi itirazlara yine bilimsel ve
felsefi delillerle cevap vermeye çalışan Aynî’nin entelektüel ve manevi dünyasının
dayanaklarından biri de İslam kültürünün kendisidir. Spinoza ve Bergson gibi modern
filozoflara çokça atıf yapan Aynî, İslam dünyasında yetişen filozofları ve özellikle
mutasavvıfları da kendisine referans kaynağı olarak almaktadır. Her iki kültürden getirdiği
delillere rağmen Aynî’nin ulaştığı sonuçta bilinemezci bir tavrın izlerini görmek
mümkündür. Allah’ın varlığının tam olarak bilinemeyeceğini belirten Aynî, bununla
birlikte Tanrının varlığının delillerinin olduğunu kabul etmektedir. Onun okurlarına
tavsiyesi insanın içinde bulunduğu eksiklik ve karşılaştığı sıkıntılar karşısında Allah’ın
hikmeti ve kader gibi konulardaki bilgisinin eksikliğini itiraf ederek teslimiyete dayalı bir
hayat yaşamaktır. Fakat bu teslimiyet hayattan bir kopuş şeklinde anlaşılmamalıdır. Var

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 Mehmed Ali Aynî’ye Göre Sosyal ve Bireysel Hastalıklar ve Çözümleri •125

oluşu ve hayatın kendisini esasen bir iyilik olarak kabul eden Aynî’nin okurlarından
beklentisi, hayata bağlılığı esas alan ve dolayısıyla hayatın daha güzel hale gelmesi için çaba
sarfetmenin teşvik edildiği bir iyimserlik anlayışını hayat felsefesi olarak benimsemektir.
Bu çalışmada Aynî’nin pozitivist ve materyalist akımların sonuçları olarak ortaya çıkan
ateizm, şüphecilik ve kötümserlik fikirlerine karşı yönelttiği eleştiriler ve bunlara yönelik
hayatın yaşanmaya değer bir nimet olduğunu ön plana çıkaran çözüm önerileri
incelenmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Ahlak, Ateizm, Şühpecilik Kötümserlik, Mehmed Ali Aynî, Tevfik Fikret.

Atıf Bilgisi

Özkan, Abdullah. “Mehmed Ali Aynî’ye Göre Sosyal ve Bireysel Hastalıklar ve Çözümleri”.
Yakın Doğu Üniversitesi İslam Tetkikleri Merkezi Dergisi 10/1 (Haziran 2024), 122-141.
https://doi.org/10.32955/neu.istem.2024.10.1.06

Geliş Tarihi 09.03.2024

Kabul Tarihi 24.05.2024
Yayım Tarihi 30.06.2024
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126 • Abdullah Özkan

Introduction
In the environment created by the modernization movements that began with the
Tanzimat period in Turkey, various issues concerning the society were discussed, and these
issues were directly related to religion and the religiosity of the society. One of the most
worrying aspects of these debated issues for the religious segments of society was the
spread of irreligion or atheism in society and the decline in religious devotion, which
constitutes the basis of morality. Mehmed Ali Aynî, who was born in 1869 in Manastır
(modern day Bitola) and died in 1945 in Istanbul, was one of the important thinkers of the
period who endeavored to protect the religiosity of individuals and society against
atheism,1 which had started to find considerable amount of supporters as positivist2 and
materialist3 movements began to exert their influence in Turkey.

What makes Aynî important in this debate is not the philosophical depth of his criticism
of the effects of positivist and materialist philosophical movements, but his efforts to
eliminate the resulting spiritual vacuum. Aynî, who has carried out intellectual discussions
with intellectuals who are directly involved in the spread of these negative influences or
indirectly through the movements they imported to Turkey, thinks that national values
should be preserved. In order to achieve this, he endeavored to prove that such ideas would
have no beneficial contribution to the Turkish-Islamic world with the evidence he brought
from both his own culture and tradition and the western world of science. It is not possible
to say that he had a work in which he systematically dealt with the basic problems of
philosophy. However, when all his works are taken into consideration, it should be said that
he focused a significant part of his work on the fundamental issues of religion and
philosophy. While Aynî, who is known to have embraced the idea of waḥdat al-wujūd,4 was
nourished by Turkish-Islamic culture in this respect, he was also very familiar with Western
sources due to the new-style education he received in his time and his command of French
language.5

1 İsmail Arar, “Mehmet Ali Ayni”, Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslam Ansiklopedisi (Ankara: TDV Yayınları, 1991),
4/274.
2
For detailed information about the introduction of positivism to Turkey and its effects see Murtaza
Korlaelçi, Pozitivizmin Türkiye’ye Girişi (Ankara: Hece Yayınları, 2002), 163-293; Nuray Karaca,
Pozitivizmin Erken Cumhuriyet Dönemine Etkisi (Ankara: Anı Yayıncılık, 2008), 163-232; Emel Koç, “Klasik
Materyalizm ve Pozitivizmin Türkiye’ye Girişi ve İlk Yansımaları”, Dicle Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler
Enstitüsü Dergisi 1/2 (Kasım 2009), 84-94.
3
For detailed information about the entry of materialism into Turkey and its effects see Mehmet
Akgün, Materyalizmin Türkiye’ye Girişi ve İlk Etkileri (Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı Yayınları,
1988), 107-415; Emel Koç, “Klasik Materyalizm”, 77-84.
4
Arar, “Mehmet Ali Ayni”, 274.
5
Ayni, who started taking French lessons from a Bulgarian who was the chief physician of the Military
Hospital while attending junior high school in Sana'a, continued to improve his French with the
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 Social and Spiritual Diseases and Their Solutions According to Mehmed Ali Aynî • 127

Aynî observed the negative effects of the pessimist and atheist movements developed
in the West on Turkey because of the spread of positivist and materialist ideas in the
country. In line with the requests he received, he wrote Reybîlik, Bedbînlik, Lâilâhilik Nedir?
An Answer to Tevfik Fikret's Târîh-i Kadîm and What is Life?. In these works, he drew attention
to skepticism, pessimism and disbelief, and the phenomena such as unhappiness and
suicide that they caused and tried to prevent their spread. His philosophy of life, which he
considered appropriate for himself and his fellow countrymen, is an optimism nourished
by piety and spiritual values. In this study, firstly, a brief information about Aynî's life will
be given,6 and then, based on some of his works, his view on the issues of skepticism,
pessimism, and atheism, which he considered as the most important diseases of his time,
and the solutions he proposed to deal with them will be examined.

1. Mehmed Ali Aynî’s Life

Born in 1869 in the town of Serfice in the province of Manastır,7 Mehmet Ali Aynî started
his primary education at the school in the Taşlık neighborhood of Serfice and moved to
Thessaloniki with his family when he was eight years old. Aynî attended the school opened
by some young and enlightened converts in Thessaloniki, 8 and after a short time he came
to Istanbul with his family. Here he attended Çiçek Pazarı Rüşdiyesi9 for a while, and when
his father went to Yemen for trade purposes, he entered Sana Military Rüşdiyesi. 10 After
two years in Yemen, Aynî returned to Istanbul and first entered the Soğukçeşme Military
Rüşdiyesi, and when he reached the last grade, he was transferred to Gülhane Rüşdiyesi and
graduated from there. He started his high school education at the Mülkiye-i Şahane and
graduated from the high school section of the Mülkiye 11 in 1888. Among his main teachers
at the Mülkiye in those years were famous names of his time such as Murat Bey from
Dagestan, the owner of the Mizan newspaper, Recaizade Mahmut Ekrem, Abdurrahman
Şeref Efendi (school principal), Settar Efendi from Crimea, Ali Şahbaz Efendi, Portakal

encouragement of Ferik İsmail Hakkı Pasha, the governor of Yemen. Canlı Tarihler: İkinci Kitap Mehmed
Ali Aynî’nin Hatıraları, nşr. Sezgincan Yağcı (İstanbul: Büyüyenay Yayınları, 2023), 21.
6
For a detailed information about Aynî’s life, see Arar, “Mehmet Ali Ayni”, 273-75; Mücellidoğlu Ali
Çankaya “Son Asır Türk Târihinin Önemli Olayları ile Birlikte” Yeni Mülkiye Tarihi ve Mülkiyeliler (Mülkiye
Şeref Kitabı) (Ankara: Mars Matbaası, 1968-1969), 3/294-299; Ali Kemali Aksüt, Profesör Mehmet Ali Aynî:
Hayatı ve Eserleri (İstanbul: Ahmet Sait Matbaası, 1944); Abamüslim Akdemir, Mehmed Ali Aynî’nin
Düşünce Dünyası (Ankara: Kültür Bakanlığı Yayınları, 1997), 1-6.
7
Mücellidoğlu Ali Çankaya gives Mehmet Ali Aynî's birth date as 25 February 1868, Yeni Mülkiye Tarihi,
294; This date is also given in Aynî's memoirs, Canlı Tarihler, 17.
8
Aksüt, Aynî: Hayatı ve Eserleri, 14.
9
Rüşdiye can be considered as the equivalent of junior high school.
10
Arar, “Mehmet Ali Ayni”, 273.
11
Mülkiye were schools opened to train civil servants in the Ottoman Empire. For more information
about Mülkiye see Ali Akyıldız, “Mekteb-i Mülkiye”, Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslam Ansiklopedisi (Ankara:
TDV Yayınları, 2019), 3th edition, v. 2, 238-240.

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128 • Abdullah Özkan

Mikail Pasha, Sakızlı Ohanes Efendi, Aristocles Efendi and Kemal Paşazade Sait Bey. 12 In his
memoirs, Aynî mentions the influence of Mizancı Murat Bey and Recaizade Mahmut Ekrem
on him and his friends. Aynî even published a magazine called "Gülşen" with friends such
as H. Nazım and Ali Kemal under Recaizade’s influence.13

During his student years, Mehmet Ali Aynî had been a member of a group called
“Encümen-i Hamidî” with his friends who were interested in national issues. They chose
the word “Hamidî” in the name of the group in order to avoid any problems that might
arise from the political conditions of the period. Aynî and his friends would come together
every Friday evening at the Süleymaniye mansion of Ali Kemal, the president of the group,
to discuss various issues.14 However, these meetings did not last long. Because the sultan of
the period, Abdülhamit II, was extremely sensitive about the administration. Aynî and his
friends were arrested after a meeting, taken to Beşiktaş police station and brought before
the famous pasha of the time, Yedi Sekiz Hasan Pasha. After their interrogation, it was
decided that they would be imprisoned in their school for five days. In the meantime,
Abdülhamit made them receive twenty mecidiye each. 15

After graduating from Mülkiye, Aynî entered state service at the age of twenty and
continued his official work life for fifty-seven years until the end of his life, with some
minor interruptions from time to time. His life during this long period can be divided into
three main phases. The first of these was his work as a teacher, then his administrative
duties, and finally his work at the university.

After graduating from Mülkiye, Aynî worked as an assistant teacher at the Istanbul Law
School, as a teacher at Edirne Idadisi 16 in 1889, as the principal of Dedeağaç Idadisi in 1890
and Aleppo Sultanisi in 1892, as the Diyarbakır Directorate of Education in 1893, and as the
Chief Clerk of the Statistics Department of the Ministry of Education in Istanbul in 1895.
After nearly eight years of education and training, he started his administrative career in
1896.17

Towards the end of his career as an educator, Aynî married Feride Hanım, the daughter
of Sırrı Pasha, whom he met in Diyarbakır, and from this marriage two daughters and a son

12
Akdemir, Aynî’nin Düşünce Dünyası, 2.
13
Canlı Tarihler, 7-8; Aksüt, Aynî: Hayatı ve Eserleri, 15
14
Aksüt, Aynî: Hayatı ve Eserleri, 17.
15
Canlı Tarihler, 9; Akdemir, Aynî’nin Düşünce Dünyası, 3; Aksüt, Aynî: Hayatı ve Eserleri, 17-21.
16
İdadî can be considered as modern day senior high school.
17
Akdemir, Aynî’nin Düşünce Dünyası, 3–4; Canlı Tarihler, 11-19; Ali Kemali Aksüt explains in detail the
events that Mehmed Ali Aynî experienced during his education, by making a panorama of the period,
see Aynî: Hayatı ve Eserleri, 21-69.

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 Social and Spiritual Diseases and Their Solutions According to Mehmed Ali Aynî • 129

were born. Having lost his son Necip Sırrı, whom he raised with great care, at a young age,
Aynî's wife Feride Hanım could not bear the death of their son and died a year later. 18

Aynî’s administrative duties began in 1898 as a letter carrier in Kosovo and continued
until 1913 as district governor of Kastamonu, Sinop, Taiz, Ammara, Balıkesir and Latakia,
and as governor of Elazığ, Bitlis, Yanya and Trabzon. 19 In 1913, while he was the governor
of Trabzon, Talat Pasha forced Aynî to retire and his administrative life came to an end.20
Even while he was in administrative duty, he endeavored to serve his homeland through
science. When he came to Kastamonu from Kosovo, he brought a new printing press from
Germany and endeavored to enrich the city culturally, both working himself and
encouraging those around him.21

After the end of his administrative life in 1913, Mehmet Ali Aynî continued to work as a
university lecturer until the end of his life and gave lectures in different fields at the
university until 1942. Towards the end of 1944, Aynî underwent surgery to get rid of a boil
under his armpit, but he never recovered from this seemingly insignificant operation and
died on the evening of November 30, 1945 in Istanbul and was buried in the family cemetery
in Zincirlikuyu.22 Aynî left behind dozens of works in various fields such as history,
philosophy, mysticism, ethics and biography. 23

2. Social Diseases According to Aynî

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, due to the intellectual turmoil caused by
scientific developments, some people claimed that God's rule on earth had come to an end.
According to the theory of evolution put forward by Charles Darwin, human beings were
reduced to a higher category of animals descended from apes, and as a result, human beings
lost their position as the representative of God on earth. 24 These assertions have taken their
most succinct form in the statement "God is dead" by Nietzsche who was the representative
of nihilism at the time. In our country, too, there have been some people influenced by
these claims and have fallen into nihilism and atheism. One of them was Tevfik Fikret. 25 In

18
Aksüt, Aynî: Hayatı ve Eserleri, 61-63.
19
Canlı Tarihler, 20–82.
20
Canlı Tarihler, 82–83; Akdemir, Aynî’nin Düşünce Dünyası, 4; For another claim about Aynî's retirement,
see Aksüt, Aynî: Hayatı ve Eserleri, 305-307; Mehmed Ali Aynî, Daru’l-fünûn Tarihi, nşr. Metin Hasırcı
(İstanbul: Pınar Yayınları, 1995), 15-16. According to this claim, Mehmet Ali Aynî's failure to act
improperly regarding the return of Talat Pasha's in-law's lands confiscated by the government
during his governorship of Ioannina caused Talat Pasha's grudge, and Talat Pasha took his revenge
on him by forcing Aynî to retire.
21
Canlı Tarihler, 24–25, Aksüt, Aynî: Hayatı ve Eserleri, 87-309.
22
Çankaya, Yeni Mülkiye Tarihi, 3/297.
23
Aksüt, Aynî: Hayatı ve Eserleri, 532-537; Akdemir, Aynî’nin Düşünce Dünyası, 10-15.
24
Bertrand Russel, Bilim ve Din, trans. Hilmi Yavuz (İstanbul: Cem Yayınevi, 1999), 33–55.
25
For Tevfik Fikret’s life, see Hasan Akay, Tevfik Fikret (İstanbul: Timaş Yayınları), 1998.

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130 • Abdullah Özkan

his poem Tarîh-i Kadîm (History of the Ancient), Fikret simultaneously deals with the ideas
of skepticism, pessimism, and atheism, 26 which are the currents that Aynî focuses on as
social diseases.

In his work Hacı Bayram Veli, Aynî begins by pointing to the scientific and philosophical
developments that nourished the movements of materialism and positivism, which led to
the spread of the diseases of skepticism and pessimism. The leading names of these
scientific and philosophical developments are Darwin and Nietzsche. According to Aynî, if
principles such as the struggle for life and natural selection, which Darwin taught people
through evolution, are accepted as the sole truths of nature, life will become an unbearable
torture. The fragmentation and disorganization caused by such ideas in the field of ideas
not only leads people to doubt and hesitation, but also corrupts morality. 27 According to
ethics based on the idea of natural selection, all beings are in a state of struggle with each
other. In this struggle, the strongest ones will survive by adapting to the conditions. In this
case, the strongest ones expand their living space by crushing the others and lead a more
comfortable life. The social life of human beings according to this line of thinking is also a
battlefield. The reason that drives human beings and the goal they desire to achieve is to
be victorious in the war of life. To live is to fight, and to be moral is to be the strongest in
this battle.28

According to Aynî, Nietzsche's view of the superior man, who attached great
importance to this approach, was inspired by the idea of struggle, which gained importance
with the idea of evolution. The conception of the superior man had two major
consequences. First, the only goal of the superior man, who is in a state of perpetual war, is
to be victorious, to do what he wants and to make other people accept his vision. He creates
his own truth and morality without any regard for the beliefs of the time, for good and evil,
for right and wrong. This person wants to be the strongest and to have everything subject
to his will, without remorse or compassion. The second is that the superior person who
wants to realize these moral ideal aims to eliminate traits such as love, compassion,
kindness, and generosity. According to him, such moral qualities are befitting slaves. Such
feelings, which are indicative of weakness and laxity, should be eliminated, the fallen
should be helped to fall more quickly instead of being lifted, and those whose time has come
to die should be left to die.29

26
Esad Sezai Sünbüllük states that this poem of Tevfik Fikret has been misunderstood, that this poem
reveals Fikret's strong faith and shows his cry from those who trample religion and nation. See Esad
Sezai Sünbüllük, Tevfik Fikretin Tarihi Kadim Ünvanlı Manzumesinin Şerhi (İstanbul: Aydınlık Basımevi,
1947), 10.
27
Mehmet Ali Aynî, Hacı Bayram Velî, sad. H.R. Yananlı (İstanbul: Akabe Yayınları, 1986), 8-13.
28
Aynî, Hacı Bayram Velî, 14.
29
Aynî, Hacı Bayram Velî, 14-16.

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 Social and Spiritual Diseases and Their Solutions According to Mehmed Ali Aynî • 131

Aynî sees a manifestation of this negative understanding of life stemming from the
ideas of thinkers such as Darwin and Nietzsche in Tevfik Fikret's poem Târîh-i Kadîm. Aynî
begins his work Reybîlik, Bedbînlik, Lâ-ilâhîlik Nedir? (What is Skepticism, Pessimism,
Atheism?), which he wrote in response to a request against this poem, with a reference to
Nietzsche, and his concern here is again that young people are being poisoned spiritually. 30

According to Aynî, while Tevfik Fikret depicts history and tradition in the poem, he
glorifies power and, like Nietzsche, equates the powerful with the righteous. 31 After a while,
Fikret directs his anger at history and tradition towards religion, challenging the belief in
the afterlife by claiming that the beginning and end of everything is nothing. 32 Referring to
the wars and human suffering in history, Fikret sees God as the cause of them and declares
war on him.33 The last twenty-three couplets of the poem contain three basic ideas 34 and
these are the three diseases that Aynî tries to fight against.

2. 1. Skepticism (Reybîlik)

According to Aynî, human beings have an innate curiosity, and they owe the knowledge
they acquire to this trait of curiosity. Due to their nature, humans acquire knowledge
primarily through their senses. However, after a while, it is realized that the senses are
wrong. The first doubts about the reality of the external world begin with the realization
that the senses are wrong. When errors in reasoning and memory are added to the fallibility
of the senses and the contradictions in the investigations of scientists are added to this, the
doubt becomes stronger.35

Aynî states that doubt is acceptable when it is related to the scientific goal. However,
doubt, which emerges as a philosophical disease, is a terrible disease that slowly gnaws and
slowly kills a person. Unless doubt is resolved, it persists in the form of consciousness and
attacks all physical and mental activities. Thus, it causes more and more confusion in a
person's life. This doubt has bad effects on the human being physically, mentally, and
morally, and is also harmful in terms of its social consequences.36

According to Aynî, doubt causes rigidity, boredom, and clumsiness in a person's

physical demeanor and movements. Such people shy away from sports and games, and

30
Mehmed Ali Aynî, Reybilik, Bedbînlik, Lâ-ilâhîlik Nedir?: Tevfik Fikret’in Târîh-i Kadîm’ine Bir Cevâb, sad.
Ali Utku-Abamüslim Akdemir (Konya: Çizgi Kitabevi, 2014), 89.
31
Aynî, Reybîlik, 95-98.
32
Aynî, Reybîlik, 98-99.
33
Aynî, Reybîlik, 121.
34
Aynî, Reybîlik, 127.
35
Aynî, Reybîlik, 128-130. In his work on al-Ghazali, Aynî uses a similar description of al-Ghazali’s
experience of doubt, see Mehmed Ali Aynî, Hujjat al-Islām Imām Ghazzālī (İstanbul: Matbaa-i Amira,
1327), 33-35.
36
Aynî, Reybîlik, 130.

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their bodies fatigue quickly. It is also very difficult for people in doubt to exert mental
strength. Their attention and memory are weak. As a result, their mental interests shrink
day by day. Such people are morally timid and selfish, wanting to avoid everyone and live
alone in seclusion. Their sense of control is also weak, as their spiritual personality has been
degraded. Such people leave themselves to coincidence and become prisoners of their
doubting minds. The harm of the skeptic is not only to himself. Such people also hinder
many benefits of society. The skeptic not only sits idle himself, but also hinders the action
of others with his objections, criticisms, and excessive laziness. Thus, he also discourages
others.37

According to Aynî, one should pity the skeptics. Because their lives are spent in spiritual
and constant distress. However, those who befriend the skeptic and are in his company are
more in need of pity.38

2. 2. Pessimism (Bedbînlik)

According to Aynî, the problem of evil has occupied people's minds for a long time.
Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, turned pessimism into a cult and complained about the
suffering of being human. This philosophy of pessimism then passed from India to Egypt,
where it found adherents. Pessimism is also found in the works of some Greek and Latin
philosophers.39 The existence of evil is one of the favorite arguments that atheists use to
deny God.40 Outlining the problem of evil, Aynî divides evil into three categories:
metaphysical, corporeal, and moral.

Metaphysical evil is not evil at all. It stems from the fact that all beings other than God
are limited, that is, incomplete. It is a contradiction to ask God to create the most perfect
things He has created. This is because incompleteness is necessarily included in the essence
of contingent beings. For to be complete and most perfect belongs to God.41

Corporeal evil consists of the suffering of living beings due to the irregularities
experienced in nature. Animals do not suffer as much as they are supposed to because they
do not have the ability to think long and hard about their suffering. Humans, on the other
hand, prepare their suffering and prolong it by preferring to keep it in their minds.

37
Aynî, Reybîlik, 130-132.
38
Aynî, Reybîlik, 133.
39
According to Mehmed Ali Aynî, for ideas that are the source of pessimism, see Aynî, Hayat Nedir?, ed.
İsmail Dervişoğlu (İstanbul: Büyüyenay Yayınları, 2013), 17-26.
40
Aynî, Reybîlik, 134. For the connection between atheism and the problem of evil, see Cafer Sadık
Yaran, Din Felsefesine Giriş (İstanbul: Rağbet Yayınları, 2010), 169-181; Mehmet S. Aydın, Din Felsefesi
(Ankara: Selçuk Yayınları, 1992), 208-210.
41
Aynî, Reybîlik, 135.

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Corporeal evils arise because of human creation or the nature of things. The misuse of
things and one's own nature increases them.42

Aynî explains this situation as follows. The living body is inherently created to accept
deterioration and is subject to pain and death. In order for it not to be subjected to pain, it
should not be sentient, that is, it should not taste pleasure as well as pain. The sensations
that activate the living body experience pleasure when they are helped and pain when they
encounter resistance and obstacles. Pain and pleasure are essential elements of feeling or
being alive. One of the mixtures of being alive is to feel pain and pleasure. Pleasure is
sometimes a sign of goodness, but it is not goodness itself. The virtuous person may
sometimes prefer to do good over pleasure. Pain is also usually a sign of evil, but it is not
evil itself. One can sometimes do good by being forced to suffer. In fact, having a good
character is sometimes realized through suffering.43 According to al-'Aynî, to move from
corporeal suffering to metaphysics in order to make a case against God's wisdom, it is
necessary to know the general plan of creation and to explain with certainty that corporeal
evil is not a means to a higher good. Sometimes some things may have to be destroyed in
order to maintain the general order. 44

Moral evil, on the other hand, is specific to human beings and is not one of the
necessities of human creation, as is pain. The reason for this kind of evil is the ability to
make mistakes due to the limited will that God has given to human beings. The possibility
of this kind of evil is a condition for a large part of the goodness in human creation. Because
it is through this will that man chooses to be good or evil, and moral evil arises from man's
misuse of his free will. To ask God to create human beings in the opposite way is to ask God
not to create human beings.45

As a result of these evils, Aynî asks whether it is the right attitude to see this realm as
the result of coincidence, as Tevfik Fikret did, and to adopt a philosophy like
Schopenhauer's, which considers it the worst of all possible realms and which discourages
human beings from living and leads them to suicide.46 His answer to this question is to seek
ways to overcome the difficulties of life by ignoring such thoughts that would lead one to
weakness, despair and weariness.47

42
Aynî, Reybîlik, 136.
43
Aynî, Reybîlik, 136-137.
44
Aynî, Reybîlik, 138. With these thoughts, it can be observed that Aynî adopted Māturīdī's
understanding of divine wisdom. For this understanding see, Emine Öğük, “İslam Düşüncesinde
Şer/Kötülük Probleminin İzahına Katkı Sağlayan Etkili Öğreti: Hikmet”, Gaziosmanpaşa Üniversitesi
İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi 3/1 (Haziran 2015), 30-33.
45
Aynî, Reybîlik, 138.
46
Aynî, Reybîlik, 139-140.
47
Aynî, Reybîlik, 142.

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2. 3. Ateism (Lâilâhîlik)

According to Aynî, Tevfik Fikret expresses in his poem that people have lowered God
from the position of greatness, yet no disaster befalls them, and on top of that they make
fun of God. According to Fikret, even God does not care about this situation, let alone
people. With these thoughts full of rebellion, Tevfik Fikret reveals an extreme godlessness.48
First of all, Aynî states that these thoughts of Fikret are a reflection of his pessimistic and
disagreeable personality.49 He then summarizes the main ideas of the unbelievers as
follows: according to them, what happens in the universe is either the work of a blind force
or a treacherous coincidence, such as the delusion of thought, or, according to those who
adopt a more moderate attitude, the result of the automatic mechanism that exists in
nature.50

According to Aynî, in this age of scientific progress, most people accept the existence
of God and still love Him. But they also know that God cannot be the subject of scientific
research. Most philosophers and scientists accept the existence of God and respect Him,
although there are some unbelievers. In such a situation, it is better to adhere to these
philosophers' and scientists' thoughts that point to the existence of God than to adhere to
the corrupt and diseased thoughts of a few disbelievers. 51 Having said this, Aynî states that
even Darwin, in his book The Origin of Species, wanted to see that God existed, and Bergson,
in his book Creative Evolution, acknowledged that the idea of God could be deduced from the
emergence of beings, although he did not touch upon the issue of God in any of his various
works.52

Aynî thinks that the idea of eternity that exists in the human conscience is an answer
to the claims of the disbelievers. According to him, there is a sense of before and after in
the human heart. This feeling compels man to reach higher heights. Although reaching the
highest is beyond the limits of man's power, this deficiency is not a reason that prevents
man from trying to approach it. A similar situation is the case with developments in science
and the arts. These fields are also infinite. But if man had refrained from studying them for
this reason, he would never have reached the advanced level he is at now. Wanting all or
wanting nothing is not in accordance with reason and wisdom. It is the best attitude to be
content with what is possible. Despite everything, the amount one can obtain is important.
Although human endeavor will gradually increase this amount, it will never reach a final

48
Aynî, Reybîlik, 142.
49
Aynî, Reybîlik, 142-143. For a detailed and somewhat different account of Fikret’s personality, see
Mehmet Kaplan, Tevfik Fikret: Devir-Şahsiyet-Eser (İstanbul: Dergah Yayınları, 1987), 59-67.
50
Aynî, Reybîlik, 147.
51
Aynî, Reybîlik, 145.
52
Aynî, Reybîlik, 145.

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 Social and Spiritual Diseases and Their Solutions According to Mehmed Ali Aynî • 135

limit. Because as man progresses, the limit will also progress. So, there will always be a
point or a mystery that needs to be known and discovered.53

Aynî, who wants to show that the power that governs the universe is not a coincidence,
also emphasizes the proof of universal order. 54 The power that Aynî calls "infinite"
manifests itself clearly through invincible laws. There is no distortion or change in these
laws. All natural events occur in an order that astonishes human beings. If there were any
deviation in those laws, terrifying and frightening results would have occurred. Thanks to
these laws, which are clear signs of a wise Creator, the stars rotate, and gravitational forces
arise from them, keeping the whole universe in a finely calculated order. If there were a
momentary deviation in this order, the whole universe would be turned upside down. A
manifestation of this wisdom is also seen in the distance between the earth and the sun.
This distance is so finely calculated that even though our planet benefits from the life-
giving rays of the sun, it is not scorched and burned by its very high heat, and because it is
not far from the sun, it is not damaged by extreme cold. In short, the distance between the
sun and the planets has been perfectly calculated. Given all this, it is not difficult to imagine
the existence of a creator and an organizer. According to Aynî, God does not intervene in
the affairs of the universe the way humans organize their own affairs. His means are too
great and too perfect. But this does not prevent His intervention. Because all these laws
cannot be realized without a regulator.55 To deny that the universe has a regulator is not
because this regulation is not visible, but because of the absence of a sound mind. 56

Aynî also establishes a relationship between matter and space to prove the existence of
God. According to him, there is vitality and movement in every aspect of space, which
necessitates the existence of matter. But matter is lifeless and motionless. Matter, which
cannot do anything on its own, must be accompanied by a spirit. In short, coexisting matter
and spirit must be compatible with each other. However, matter and spirit working
together is not sufficient for the creation of the works that exist in the universe. For this, a
wise ruler needs to run things with extremely strong laws and keep everything in order.
Although we cannot understand what the purpose of this immense order is, we can
conclude that it is aimed at human progress. Human intellect and thought, with some
exceptions, are not sufficient to see beyond their short lifespan. So, man is incapable when
it comes to this kind of knowledge. If the running of the affairs of the universe were left to
man, there would be great confusion and misery. Therefore, it is imperative for all

53
Aynî, Reybîlik, 147-150.
54
Here, Aynî makes a presentation of teleological and design arguments. For a historical and modern
account about them, see Chad Meister, Introducing Philosophy of Religion (London and New York:
Routledge, 2009), 91-109.
55
Aynî, Reybîlik, 145-154.
56
Aynî, Reybîlik, 148. According to him, if animals were capable of reasoning, they would use the same
denialist language about the machines made by humans.

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creatures, especially man, to have a ruler with absolute power and wisdom who maintains
the general balance in the material world.57

For Aynî, it is not possible to know exactly what is the supreme purpose that provides
all order. This is because this purpose is very great and encompasses a vast area beyond our
estimation. The distance between us and the infinite cannot be measured in any way, and
everything pertaining to it is beyond reason and understanding. Therefore, true reason and
wisdom consists in knowing how to accept what God has ordained calmly and with trust in
Him.58

Aynî acknowledges that our situation in the face of death is related to fate, just as in
other events. This reality, which will always frighten people, will come to everyone one
day, regardless of location.59 In a similar way, human beings are confronted with many
events and situations that they cannot control or understand. But to indiscriminately
generalize all this and attribute it to a destructive "blind force" acting like a madman in a
rage is a terrible perversion. A prudent and perceptive observer will see, contrary to those
leaders of perversion, everywhere an uninterrupted and perfect follow-up and a conscious
management and execution that is always directed towards a purpose. According to Aynî,
this purpose is progress.60

Aynî, claims that a force that acts blindly and without consciousness cannot follow this
planned order for progress. If that force did not have knowledge and perception, this order
would not exist. Since the work reveals the nature of the author, the existence of knowledge
and perception in human beings necessarily shows that this force is also a knowledgeable
being that is aware of the universe. Any theory to the contrary is false. 61 Nevertheless, many
intelligent people continue to embrace these misconceptions, refusing to give up their
atheistic views. There is nothing for Aynî to do but feel sorry for them and call on them to
have mercy.62

While acknowledging that it is not possible to know God completely, Aynî believes that
it is possible to prove the existence of God. When man observes the universe, he will realize
that he is subject to ascent and spiritual development, and that the natural force that
enables them is not blind. Man's ability to live happily depends on sensing these divine laws
governing the universe and living in accordance with them.63

57
Aynî, Reybîlik, 152-153.
58
Aynî, Reybîlik, 154.
59
Aynî, Reybîlik, 155.
60
Aynî, Reybîlik, 155-156. Aynî responds to the objection that this progressive management takes away
our personal interests by saying that this inconvenience is part of the general interest.
61
Aynî, Reybîlik, 157-158.
62
Aynî, Reybîlik, 157.
63
Aynî, Reybîlik, 158-160.

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3. Aynî's Suggestions for Solutions to Problems

In his book, What is Life?, Mehmet Ali Aynî offers solutions to the problems of atheism,
skepticism and especially pessimism. Before explaining his own views, Aynî states that
there are three theories that explain what life is: animism, vitalism and determinism or
physico-chemical doctrines.64

According to Aynî, although these three theories attempt to explain life, none of them
is sufficient and does not teach the secret of life. In this respect, the question "What is life?"
must first be considered. When one starts to think about this question, one encounters a
strange conundrum. Because there are many contradictory judgments about life.
Sometimes life is good, sometimes it is bad, sometimes it is appreciated and praised,
sometimes it is hated. Sometimes it is considered more precious than anything else,
sometimes it is wasted as if it has no value at all. 65 So the answer to the question of “what is
life?” is hidden in the questions of what to think about life and how to use it. In order to
answer these questions, one must close one's eyes to things, people and events and look
inside oneself, into one's soul. However, he should not try to deduce everything from
within himself. He must base these examinations of his soul on a solid foundation. This
foundation is that human beings cannot prefer an animal-like life, and that living a human
life is an imperative command of the human mind. When one thinks about what a human
life is, one realizes that it is connected to the ideas of duty, human dignity, and
responsibility, and therefore life is a very important and serious matter. 66

According to Aynî, asking a question such as whether living is good or bad is beyond the
powers granted to human beings. This is because all living beings are responsible for
preserving and sustaining their lives in accordance with their creation. In this respect,
according to him, it is good to have a life, and one is obliged to be grateful and thankful to
the infinite being who gave him this life. 67

When Aynî argues that life should be loved, he refers to Spinoza's life and what he says
about it. Although Spinoza suffered many privations and hardships, he did not give up
loving life and advised people to do the same.68 Aynî, who wants to show that the toils and
sufferings of life are not unnecessary, makes a comparison based on the law of inertia of
matter to demonstrate this. Accordingly, to eliminate the inertia of matter, a force must be
applied to it from the outside. In the field of spirituality, the troubles encountered by
human beings are also a compulsion, like this force encountered by matter, which activates
human beings and causes them to change. Therefore, one should not see the troubles and

64
Aynî, Hayat Nedir?, 27-45.
65
Aynî, Hayat Nedir?, 48.
66
Aynî, Hayat Nedi r?, 51-52.
67
Aynî, Hayat Nedir?, 75-80.
68
Aynî, Hayat Nedir?, 81-83.

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138 • Abdullah Özkan

hardships as a penance or punishment, but rather should welcome them as a blessing and
a need.69

Aynî argues that the death of the body is necessary, but it is not the end of everything.
According to him, man has an immortal soul that will continue to exist after the death of
his body. Being aware of this, man should be aware of death. Man's helplessness in the face
of death should not create a sense of poverty and pessimism in him but should lead him to
kindness and humility. One should live accordingly and not fear the end of one's limited
existence. In this respect, one should be content with death and combine it with the joy of
living.70 Explaining his thoughts on suicide, Aynî states that suicide is not permissible in
any way and then provides philosophical and religious proofs for this claim. 71

According to Aynî, who also explores what happiness is, the important point for human
beings is to be happy despite and with their worries and excitements. A happy person is
one who does not give himself completely to anything, who accepts everything else as
makeshift and tries to strengthen his spiritual being. A person with a strong spiritual being
is happy at all times and in all places, and the elements that ensure his happiness are always
with him. What such a person has is a sound and accurate mind and a tendency towards
useful knowledge.72

According to Aynî, one should take care of one's health to live happily. Because health
is the greatest blessing for human beings. Apart from this, one should be busy with
something every day, not spend time with unnecessary dreams and thoughts, try to
increase one's knowledge by reading well-chosen books,73 try to make good friends outside
one’s close circle, and control one’s actions and behavior. 74

Aynî expressed his conviction about life as follows: “I am convinced, not by conjecture
but by a firm conviction, that we will never be able to solve riddles such as why we came to
this world to live, without the help of the light of our divine spirit, and that we will never
be able to succeed with our own limited and weak intellect. For this reason, I advise you not
to try to see the secret of destiny through the mind, as all our elders advise.” 75 As a result
of these remarks, he emphasizes that there will be an unknowable aspect of life and the
impossibility of knowing it in an absolute sense, leaving the secret of existence to the divine
power and advising us not to strain our intellect too much. Aynî adopts the belief that

69
Aynî, Hayat Nedir?, 87.
70
Aynî, Hayat Nedir?, 91-98.
71
Aynî, Hayat Nedir?, 104-119.
72
Aynî, Hayat Nedir?, 127-130.
73
By well-chosen books, Ayni may have meant books about prominent figures of Islam, since he always
reminds to his readers the books he has written about these personalities, see Mehmed Ali Aynî, Şeyh-
i Ekber’i Niçin Severim?, hz. İsmail Kara (İstanbul: Dergah Yayınları, 2020), 26.
74
Aynî, Hayat Nedir?, 155-157.
75
Aynî, Hayat Nedir?, 165.

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 Social and Spiritual Diseases and Their Solutions According to Mehmed Ali Aynî • 139

existence is enough to be happy. In other words, according to Aynî, existence is good in

itself and one should adopt an optimistic rather than a pessimistic attitude towards the
necessities of existence.

Conclusion
Mehmet Ali Aynî, one of the intellectuals who lived during the First and Second
Constitutional Monarchy periods and the early years of the Republic of Turkey, deserves to
be included as a distinguished figure in Contemporary Turkish Thought with his thirty-five
books and translated works and many articles. Since he worked in a synthesizing manner
between Turkish-Islamic thought and Western thought, it is possible to find the
characteristics of both worlds in his thought.

What makes Aynî important in this period is his efforts to eliminate the spiritual void
created by the effects of positivist and materialist philosophical movements. While
conducting intellectual debates with the intellectuals who carried these negative
influences, he emphasized the need to protect national and spiritual values. In doing so, he
tried to prove that such ideas would have no beneficial contribution to the Turkish-Islamic
world with the evidence he brought from both his own world of science and the western
world of science. Thus, he tends to adopt all kinds of achievements of the positive sciences
while feeding on his own cultural world.

While Aynî focused his criticism on positivist and materialist ideas, he also closely
followed the negative effects of the pessimistic and atheist movements that developed
especially in the West in Turkey. In his works written to protect Turkish youth from the
effects of such movements, he drew attention to the bad consequences of pessimism and
disbelief, such as unhappiness and suicide, and tried to prevent the spread of such
movements with his scientific, philosophical, and moral analysis and criticism.

Another important aspect of Aynî's philosophical attitude is his views on life. When
seeking an answer to the question of how life should be, he first presents his views on life.
In analyzing what life is, he takes the external world and its structure as a basis. Without
denying the material existence of man, he sees salvation in turning towards spiritual
values. While advising commitment to life, he sees the attainment of eternal happiness in
the return of the purified and cleansed soul to its original state. In this endeavor, he
advocates the good use of reason. Based on a mystical commitment to life, he accepted
optimism as a philosophy of life.

After all these explanations, we can say that Aynî handled the problems he dealt with
in terms of the concepts of human being-existence-value. He grounded his thoughts around
Sufism and tried to enrich them with evidence from philosophers and scientists. Although
Aynî was not a thinker who developed entirely original ideas, he was an important scholar
because of his familiarity with the world of science and philosophy of his time. In this
respect, it can be said that he had a very important place in the development of Turkish

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140 • Abdullah Özkan

thought. It is still possible to trace the reflections of his intellectual attitude in

contemporary Turkish thought.

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Kaynakça | References
Akay, Hasan. Tevfik Fikret. İstanbul: Timaş Yayınları, 1998.
Akdemir, Abamüslim. Mehmed Ali Aynî’nin Düşünce Dünyası. Ankara: Kültür Bakanlığı Yayınları,
1997.
Akgün, Mehmet. Materyalizmin Türkiye’ye Girişi ve İlk Etkileri. Ankara: Kültür ve Turizm
Bakanlığı Yayınları, 1988.
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