Ahmad Hilmi of Filibe (or Ahmet Hilmi) (1865–1914) was a

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

Turkish language Turkish ( , ), also referred to as Turkish of Turkey (''Türkiye Türkçesi''), is the most widely spoken of the Turkic languages, with around 80 to 90 million speakers. It is the national language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus. Significant sma ...

writer and thinker. In Turkish he is usually called ''Şehbenderzâde Filibeli Ahmed Hilmi'' ("Ahmad Hilmi of Plovdiv Son of A Consul"). Being a Sufi, his thoughts were influenced by the Sufi thought, more specifically the

wahdat al-wujud In Islamic philosophy, Sufi metaphysics is centered on the concept of ar, وحدة, waḥdah, unity, label=none or ar, توحيد, tawhid, label=none. Two main Sufi philosophies prevail on this topic. literally means "the Unity of Existence ...

, greatly. He also supported the anti-materialistic way of thinking and was a great rival to his

materialist Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materialis ...

contemporary writer and thinkers.

Biography

He was born in

Plovdiv Plovdiv ( bg, Пловдив, ), is the second-largest city in Bulgaria, standing on the banks of the Maritsa river in the historical region of Thrace. It has a population of 346,893 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is the c ...

(Filibe), where his father, Süleyman Bey, was a

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...

. This is where his title ''Şehbenderzâde'', meaning "son of a consul", comes from. He has taken his first education from the religious official (''müftü'') of Plovdiv, until he moved to

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban agglo ...

with his family. Later he entered Galatasaray Lycee. Upon the end of his education, he started to work as a government official in

Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, which makes it the third-largest city in the Levant region. The city is situated on a peninsula at the midpoint o ...

. Due to a political problem he ran away to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

from

. In 1901 he returned to

İstanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

, but later he was arrested and exiled to Fizan. Here his interest in

Sufism Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...

grew and he started to believe in the Sufi thought of

(وحدة الوجود, "unity of being"). His entry into Sufism changed his views greatly and the influence of Sufism on his works are very clear. In 1908, following the declaration of the Constitutional government (''Meşrutiyet'') he returned to

. Here, he started to publish a weekly newspaper named ''İttihat-ı İslam'' ("Islamic Union"). However the newspaper could not continue for a long time and he started to write in some other papers. In 1910, he started to publish another weekly newspaper named ''Hikmet'' ("Wisdom"). The same year, he established a publishing house named ''Hikmet Matbaa-yi İslâmiyesi'' ("Wisdom Islamic Publishing"), which published mostly works on Islamic thought. With his own unique thought he started to criticise ''İttihat ve Terakki Cemiyeti'' ("

Committee of Union and Progress The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) ( ota, اتحاد و ترقى جمعيتی, translit=İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti, script=Arab), later the Union and Progress Party ( ota, اتحاد و ترقى فرقه‌سی, translit=İttihad ve Tera ...

"), mostly in his newspaper ''Hikmet'', which was turned into a daily paper from weekly by the year of 1911. Due to his thoughts and his great efforts to publish them, his paper ''Hikmet'' was banned, along with his publishing company, and he was exiled to

Bursa ( grc-gre, Προῦσα, Proûsa, Latin: Prusa, ota, بورسه, Arabic:بورصة) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the ...

. However, following the end of his exile, he started to publish ''Hikmet'' again. As a result of his ideas, which were not close to any major political group of the time, his paper could not continue to publish for very long. His masterpiece is the famous " A'mâk-ı Hayâl", ("The Depths of Imagination") which is about the

. Writing many pieces, most of which are Islamic and anti-materialistic, he also published a humor magazine named ''Coşkun Kalender''. Apart from his writer identity, he also worked as a philosophy teacher in Dârü'l-Fünûn (Istanbul University). He died in October 1914 due to poisoning. It is not very clear if it was a murder or not, however there is a well-circulated

conspiracy theory A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a nega ...

that he was poisoned by

Freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

s, who were his well-known rivals. This conspiracy theory has no evidence.

References

External links

"Şehbenderzâde Filibeli Ahmed Hilmi" from the Republic of Turkey, Ministry of Culture and Tourism Website"Aşk Defterleri" Beyaz Arif Akbaş,Yalnızgöz Yayınları;2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hilmi, Ahmed 1865 births 1914 deaths 19th-century writers from the Ottoman Empire Ottoman Sufis Turkish-language writers