Risale-i Nur, Belief, Said Nursi, Islam 

THE RECONSTRUCTION OF ISLAMIC THOUGHT IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY AND BEDIUZZAMAN SAID NURSI  

Assistant-Professor Akgündüz was born in 1955 in Malkaya, where he attended the primary school. His father taught him Ottoman Turkish at this time. And while attending Gaziantep High School, he also learnt Arabic. Following his graduation from the Law Faculty in Istanbul University in 1982, he entered the Department of Civil Law in Dicle University Law Faculty as a research assistant and the same year began his post-graduate studies. Beginning his doctorate in November 1983 on 'Pious Foundations in Islamic Law and Ottoman Practice' under the supervision of Professor Halil Cin, in early 1985 he won a scholarship to go to Kuwait. He obtained his doctorate in August 1986 and was appointed to the Department of the History of Law in the Law Faculty in Selçuk University as a under assistantprofessor. In the academic years 1984-5 and '85-6, Assistant- Professor Akgündüz ran the History of Turkish Law and General Law History courses in Dicle University Law Faculty, and since 1986-7, in Selçuk Law Faculty. In the November 1986 term he passed the Assistant-Professorship language examinations in Arabic, and in the April 1987 term, those in English. On 3 November 1987 he became an Assistant-Professor and was appointed to the same faculty. Between 1986 and *88, Assistant-Professor Akgündüz did reseach on Osmanh Kanunnâmeleri (Ottoman Codes of Law) in the Ottoman Archives of the Prime Minister's Office, and has published ten books and numerous articles, pieces, and translations. He knows English, Arabic, and Persian, and is married with two children.