Very Good Good Turkish Original bdg. Dust wrapper. Cr. 8vo. (20 x 14 cm). In Turkish. 444, [2] p. DJ's extremities slightly chipped, fading on DJ's spine. Otherwise a good copy. Signed and inscribed by Kisakürek as 'Sevgili müdürüm Zeki Açabay'a ihtiramla, 8/3/61'. Kisakürek was a Turkish poet, novelist, playwright, and Islamist ideologue. He is also known simply by his initials NFK. He was noticed by the French philosopher Henri Bergson, who later became his teacher. In his own words, he was born in "a huge mansion in Çemberlitas, on one of the streets descending towards Sultanahmet" in 1904. His father was Abdülbaki Fazil Bey who held several posts including deputy judge in Bursa, the public prosecutor in Gebze, and finally, a judge in Kadiköy. His mother was an emigree from Crete. He was raised at the Çemberlitas mansion of his paternal grandfather Kisakürekzade Mehmed Hilmi Efendi of Maras; he was named after his great-grandfather Ahmed Necib, as well as his father, Fazil. He studied in many schools during his primary education, including the French School in Gedikpasa, Robert College of Istanbul, as well as the Naval School. He received religious courses from Ahmed Hamdi of Akseki and science courses from Yahya Kemal at the Naval School but he was actually influenced by Ibrahim Askî, whom he defined to have "penetrated into deep and private areas in many inner and outer sciences from literature and philosophy to mathematics and physics". Ibrahim Askî provided his first contact with Sufism even at a "plan of skin over skin". "After completing candidate and combat classes" of Naval School, Kisakürek entered the Philosophy Department of Darülfünûn and graduated from there (1921-1924). One of his closest friends in philosophy was Hasan Ali Yücel. He studied in Paris for one year with the scholarship provided by the Ministry of National Education (1924-1925), until the scholarship was canceled. After returning home in 1926, he worked at Holland, Osmanli and Is Banks (1926-1939), and gave lectures at the Faculty of Linguistics and History and Geography and the State Conservatoire in Ankara and the Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul (1939-1942). Having established a relationship with the press in his youth, Kisakürek quit civil service to earn his living from writing and magazines. Necip Fazil's life took a turn in 1934 when he met Abdülhakim Arvasi, a sheik of the Sufi Naqshbandi order. He became one of his most notable disciples, remaining a follower until the sheik's death in 1943. Appropriating his anti-semitic ideas from Europe, Kisakürek regarded Jews as the corrupting element within Western civilization and described them as the originator of Marxism and capitalism. He held them responsible for the early conflicts between Muslims and the decline of the Ottoman Empire. Kisakürek's publications included the Turkish translation of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and praise for Henry Ford's The International Jew, as well as a political program in which he wrote: "Chief among these treacherous and insidious elements to be cleansed are the Dönmes and the Jews." Necip Fazil was awarded the First Prize of C.H.P. Play Contest in 1947 with his play Sabir Tasi (Stone of Patience). Kisakürek was awarded the titles of "Great Cultural Gift" by the Ministry of Culture (25 May 1980) and "Greatest Living Poet of Turkish" by the Foundation of Turkish Literature upon the 75th anniversary of his birth. Kisakürek sought to replace the Kemalist secular notion of nationalism with an Islamist one. Within Turkish Islamism, he represented the concept of "Islamization from above" through the capture of government. Since the late 1970s, Kisakürek has been an icon for Turkish Islamists. (Wikipedia).
