AYNÎ, Mehmet Ali

Writer (b. 1869, Şerifçe / Manastır - d. 1945, İstanbul). He finished the School for Civil Servants in İstanbul, where he had come after finishing high school in Thessalonica (1888). After graduation, he worked as a teacher in Alexandroupolis and Edirne, as a manager at the Ministry of Education in Diyarbakır, secretary, provincial governor in Taif, Ammare and Balıkesir, and governor in Harput, Yanya and Trabzon. He was appointed to İstanbul University as a philosophy professor in 1914, he gave history of philosophy and Sufism lessons. He also worked as the Dean of the Faculty of Literature. He represented Türkiye at international philosophy congresses. Mehmet Ali Ayni, who published about 35 works, is known for his articles that advocated Sufism which were published in newspapers and for his research on the masters and history of Sufism

WORKS:

Hüccetülislâm (Proof of Islam, 1907), İlim ve Felsefe (Science and Philosophy, 1913), İbn-i Sina’da Tasavvuf (Sufism in İbn-i Sina, 1922), Tasavvuf Tarihi (History of Sufism, 1922), Hacı Bayram Veli (Hacı Bayram Veli*, 1924, 1986), Darülfünun Tarihi (History of İstanbul University, 1930), İbn-i Arabi’nin Felsefesinin Zübdesi (Quintessential Philosophy of İbn-i Arabi, in French, 1926), Türk Ahlâkçıları (Turkish Moralists, 1939; new publication prepared by İsmail Kara, 2002), Abdülkadir Geylâni (Abdülkadir Geylâni, in French, 1939), Milliyetçilik (Nationalism, 1944).