Mahmud Es'ad Cosan

Professor Mahmud Es’ad Cosan was born Canakkale, Turkey, in 1938. He came from an educated and respectful family and was instilled with faith and justice at a very young age. After graduating from secondary college in 1956, he was admitted to Istanbul University, in recognition for his outstanding academic achievement. In 1960, he graduated from the Faculty of Literature, and joined the Faculty of Theology at Ankara University, as a research assistant, and received his Doctorate (PhD) in 1965. He received his Associate Professorship seven years later and became a Professor in the Faculty of Theology of Ankara University in 1982.

Professor Cosan’s fundamental core values were built on:

• knowledge
• love
• justice
• sincerity
• strength
• determination

He believed that knowledge was salvation. A person, needed to understand why this world was created, what the purpose of life was.

According to Professor Cosan; the main aim of life was love, a feeling so charming, so elegant, so delicate and so gratifying. All other thoughts and emotions proceeded love. It is for this reason that humanity needed to firstly be in love with their Creator!

As human beings, he emphasized that we need to be always just and morally upright against various feelings of greed, self-interest, and desire.

He believed that sincerity was the key to success in this life and in the hereafter. One needed to be sincere towards the Creator, sincere towards the created and sincere towards himself.

Professor Cosan argued that human beings should be resilient against hardships and adversity and strive to be the best they can in all aspects of life. His motto was:

“Never give up, work hard and always aim to achieve one’s best.”