Turan Dursun

He achieved mufti status in 1958.

Whilst the mufti of Sivas, Dursun began establishing himself as a mufti of a different kind.

Using his position, he initiated a number of projects for the development of the area and its imams:

Dursun gained a lot of followers and enemies at Sivas and was threatened on numerous occasions.

He was exiled to the city of Sinop and stayed in what he called a "broken down shack".

He received help from Ali Şarapçı, a teacher who was tormented and falsely labeled as communist, as Dursun was.

"I did previously have knowledge of Judaism and Christianity, but through Islamic interpretations. I didn't know them from their own sources. I got to know their own sources in the 1960s."

Dursun began researching into Christianity when it was planned that he would be proudly introduced to the Pope as an intellectual mufti.

To prepare for this meeting and to "be able to talk with him (the Pope) with more strength", Dursun studied Christianity but "instantly" realized the "con" as he compared his already vast knowledge of Islam with Christian information.

After coming to negative conclusions about religion, Dursun became "angry" that Mohammed took away valuable years of childhood and youth.

He said:

"So many people can't live their childhood properly because of him. So many people are sufferers of his disasters. So many people know what's right as wrong and what's wrong as right because they think the darkness that he chose exists. Human emotions and human creations haven't progressed in many ways, because of him."

Dursun was an independent theist for a short period of time before he became an atheist.

First, he pronounced to himself that

"If there is a God, he's not Mohammed's."

He undertook experiments to see if God existed or not during his mental battle with him.

He began believing that humans evolved over millions of years and continued learning about anthropology.

He stated that his independent theist period lasted "two or three years".

Following his resignation as a mufti, Dursun struggled to earn a living in Istanbul and even became a binman.

The decision to quit as a mufti was tough, but Dursun stated that his principle was always "never to have a contradiction between what I thought and what I did".

Due to a number of friends he made as a thinking mufti, he was able to get a foot in at the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation, (TRT), working firstly in basic administrative positions before taking and passing an exam to become involved in programme production.

His mufti career ended in 1966.

In an interview with Şule Perinçek, Dursun recounted one of the first instances, where he began doubting the existence of God.

During a time when he was in love at the age of 11, Sabo, the older sister of the girl he loved, called Safi, was disabled.

Dursun felt sorry for Sabo and one night during his sleep he saw God in his dream.

After making him swear that he will not get angry, Dursun asked God why he created this Earth if he also created heaven and asked why Sabo was disabled and Safi was beautiful.

In the same interview, Dursun states that:

"I was 'always questioning and rebellious towards the concept of God', but the transition to atheism was an 'evolving' one."

Dursun discovered what he called "Muhammad's passings on" when he began learning about the holy books that existed prior to the Quran.

He states:

Turan Dursun (1934 – 4 September 1990) was a Turkish author and atheist who was a critic of Islam.

A former Muslim cleric and scholar of Shia Islam, he became an atheist during his study of the history of monotheistic religions.

Influenced by the 9th-century Iranian skeptic philosopher Ibn al-Rawandi, Dursun wrote a number of books about religion which included interpretations of Islamic texts, heavily criticizing Islam and the founders of its major branches.

Dursun was frequently threatened by Islamic fundamentalists, and on 4 September 1990 was assassinated outside his home in Istanbul, after which his books sold tens of thousands of copies in Turkey.

Dursun's father was an ethnic Turk and his mother was an ethnic Kurd.

His parents were from the Ja'fari Twelver sect.

From his childhood on, he was encouraged by his parents to be an Islamic scholar.

With this purpose, he worked hard and mastered major Islamic texts.

After passing the necessary exams to become a mufti, Dursun was unable to officially become one as he did not have a primary school diploma.

He had to complete primary school exams without attending school and did so with understandable speed.