Religious and political views of Mehmet Şemseddin Günaltay

ABSTRACT Mehmet Şemseddin Günaltay who known for his scholarly and political personality has lived during the transition process from the Ottoman period to the Republic Period. Günaltay, who was connoisseur in religious sciences as well as in physical sciences, has also served as a deputy during in the last period of the Ottoman Empire. Günaltay, which left many works in different fields, rose to the post of prime minister during the Republican period. Our study deals with the religious and political views of Mehmet Şemseddin Günaltay. His religious and political ideas are likly to contribute to the understanding of the flow of Islamism, which has an important place in contemporary Islamic movements. As a matter of fact, the Islamist movement seems to be an eclectic structure with many different nuances. Methods of History of Islamic Sects are used in our thesis. The main issues made up the idea structure of Günaltay have important clues about the previous periods as well as they are still contemporary concerns. Therefore, our study is important for Contemporary Islamic Movements Science, which tends to identify current religious concepts. Keywords: M. Şemseddin Günaltay, Religion, Sect, İslâm, Politics, Superstition.