From an objective perspective, I am a tiny drop of water in the ocean of humans. I am not a president of a country or a Nobel-Prize winner, or the inventor of suicide machine, or a movie star, or an international terrorist. I am an insignificant element. World, probably would be the same world without me. Forget the world history, even the local newspapers may not mention my name when I pass away one day. I may be considered as the extra population of this world. Rev. Thomas R. Malthus and his followers would have been very happy if my illiterate mother of four sons and three daughters, had aborted me in Turkey before 12. 20.1957. 

But, to me, I am very important and I am the center of the world. I care about me as I care for my two sons and their beautiful mother. Although, I admire particular aspects in some people, I am happy with myself and I would NOT want to be reincarnated as another person. I will not predict what are the three words that you use most frequently, but I am sure that mine are "I, Me, and My". 

So, writing about "me" may be one of the easiest and most enjoyable work for me! I can use those three words as much as I want. I may try to justify my birth to this world, and try to convince you that even me, as a tiny drop of the ocean, may have a butterfly affect on the weather of your world! 

As you have expected from the title of this essay, my life has mountains, cliffs, caves, valleys, gaps, deserts... It displays small towns and overpopulated big cities like Istanbul... It speaks Kurdish in home and Turkish in primary school, and learns Arabic and Persian in high school, and English in University... It shows a couple of years study in Middle East Technical University in Mechanical Engineering and Sociology in Bosphoros University, ending up with failure because of fanatical involvement in a particular religious political movement... 

It witnesses four years of prison, torture and a permanent ban from education because of two published articles... It takes pride in more than a dozen published books which some of them became national best sellers... It then raises a controversial criticism to its past and holds a public argument with authors, readers, friends, and relatives... It ignores attacks and death-threats through his faith and trust in God Almighty... It 
leaves everything behind, and jumps to the New World to build a new life... Yes, my life's EKG has mountains, cliffs, caves, valleys, gaps, and finally the desert of Arizona in 1989.... 

I was born in Turkiye in 1957. I became a best seller author between 1982-1986 until I rejected hadith and sunnah. Before 1986, I was in the leadership committee of a religious political youth group in Turkey which was a branch of National Salvation Party (today's Welfare Party). I supported the "Islamic" revolution in Iran when I was a proponent of hadith and sunnah. In fact, I was secretly invited by Abu Sharif (if I remember his name correctly), the first head of Pasdaran, to establish some underground cooperation between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Turkish youth. I was closely involved with Muslim brotherhood of Syria and Egypt. I fell in love with the ideas of Hasan el-Benna, Sayyid Qutb, Said Hawwa, and later Ali Shariati. 

I wrote articles in national magazines promoting Islamic revolution against the secular government. I was actively involved in political demonstrations and meetings. Consequently, I was detained eight times and imprisoned for four years, including all kinds of torture and "unusual" punishment. Before the prison, I studied a couple of semesters of engineering in Middle East Technical University. Then there was political unrest and fighting. I moved to Istanbul and started Social Sciences in Bosphorus University. But this one was interrupted after the military coup in September 1980. After my release from prison I learned that I was banned from continuing my higher education. After the prison term I continued writing books. 

In 1985, while I was in mandatory military service I started communicating with Dr. Rashad Khalifa. I had already translated one of his books with my additional research. After the first round of communication I found him a disbeliever of my religion. It was shocking and a big surprise for me, since I had great respect for his work on the mathematical aspect of the Quran. We started arguing the role and validity of hadith and sunnah via mail. After almost a year of arguments he finally sent to me his book, "Quran, Hadith and Islam," a collection of verses with some remarks. I read the entire book the day I received it. I do not forget that night. It was 1st of July 1986. That morning I decided to uphold the Quran alone. It was the most important and joyful moment of my life. Since then I am trying to dedicate my religion to God alone (98:5). 

After this decision, I found myself in the threshold of a very important period in my life. I was in a difficult dilemma. I was one of the few authors in Turkey that were making their living from writing books. I had more than tens of thousands loyal readers and hundreds of thousands fans and friends in Turkey. My father was a famous religious scholar. My young brother who was martyred by a racist youth organization when he was 21 years-old was a famous youth leader, a young hero in political activism. I found the difficulty of announcing my conversion to monotheism. The walls of my social, psychological, economic needs were great obstacles stopping me from announcing the light of the truth. Finally, by God's mercy, I chose the truth and rejected hypocrisy. 

After my controversial book, "Interesting Questions II," I wrote "Dangerous Articles," bringing heavy criticism to my previous books and traditional Islam. I was viciously attacked by orthodox sunni media. I found myself on the cover story of national magazines and newspapers equating me with Salman Rushdi. My father publicly wrote articles criticizing me and declaring that he was disowning me. Most of my friends turned to enemies. 
The magazines and publishing houses that were previously competing with each other to publish my articles and books denied my right of defending myself against false accusations. I received death treats from my previous readers. My last book was stolen from the printing house. Secular publishing houses too did not dare to publish my books.... 

Finally, I decided to immigrate to USA, the country that I hated the most in my earlier years. God helped me in unexpected ways. I started almost everything from zero. After finishing two majors in Philosophy and Near Eastern Studies with honor degrees, I started law school in the University of Arizona. Now I am a third year law student and continue writing. 

I consider myself a skeptic monotheist who is in constant search for truth. My mission is to contribute in building open societies in "muslim" countries and to promote reformation in religions, particularly in Islam by exposing the primitive nature of "sharia," the medieval Arab jurisprudence that made up by the so-called muslim clerics. I am determined to fight against human rights violations, especially against woman and ethnic minorities, tyranny, theocracy, militarism, racism, and all sorts of oppressive regimes. 

I am pentalingual: Kurdish and Turkish (native), English (fluency in speaking, reading, and writing), Classical Arabic and Persian (competence in reading and writing). 

I enjoy mathematical recreation, advertising, inventions, philosophical, political and legal arguments, astronomy, cartoons, humor, playing chess, surfing on Internet, studying the Quran, writing books, learning new information, playing with children and questioning everything. I am most curious and worried about my first moment after the resurrection. 

I have two sons, Yahya (7.038) and Matine (2.745), as of 7/15/1997. My wife is a dietitian and a great mother. I pray to God to grant us a life with dignity and love.