His Excellency Mehmed Zahid Kotku, who has provided great services for the material and spiritual development of Turkey and the Islamic world, was our Prof. Dr. Necmettin Erbakan Hodja’s mentor and spiritual master. Mehmed Zahid Hodja, who is known as the "Invisible University" because he trained thousands of students, passed away on his return from a pilgrimage on November 13, 1980.
Mehmed Zahid Kotku Hodja, one of Turkey's most valuable Islamic scholars, continues to enlighten generations with his knowledge and ideas, despite the 42 years passed since his death. Mehmed Zahid Hodja, who struggled for the development and progress of Muslims throughout his life, trained thousands of scholars. One of the most favorite students of Hodja, who trained many students not only in the spiritual sciences but also in the scientific sciences, is the leader of the Milli Gorus, Prof. Dr. Necmettin Erbakan. Mehmed Zahid Kotku Hodja was a good friend of Erbakan Hodja, a young engineer when they first met. Kotku made great efforts for Erbakan to become a machine inventor and a qualified politician.
PERFORMED HIS JIHAD DUTY IN THE OTTOMAN ARMY
Mehmed Zahid Kotku was born in Bursa in 1897, which coincided with the last years of the Ottoman Empire. He attended primary school in Bursa Oruçbey Primary School. Kotku Hodja, who received secondary education at Maksem High School and Bursa Sanayi-i Nefîse School, enlisted in the army at the age of eighteen due to the First World War that started at that time, and fulfilled his duty of jihad. Due to his long military service, he experienced dangerous days and diseases. With the withdrawal of the Ottoman army from Syria, he returned to Istanbul, although it was difficult. He continued his military service as a printer server in Istanbul. During his stay in Istanbul due to his military service, he continued to attend religious meetings, private lessons and sermons in mosques. Even though Hodja worked as an imam-hatip in Bursa for a while, he returned to Istanbul and trained countless students at his "unseen university" until his death.
HE WAS THE INSPIRATION TO THE FOUNDATION OF ‘GÜMÜŞ MOTOR’
In one of his sermons, he said, “I take a box of pins at home, I looked at it was foreign goods, can't we make a needle?” The words of "Hodjas' Hodja", who reacted to the inability of Muslims to produce, had a great impact on the community. The congregation, which came together upon this word of His Holiness Zahid Kotku, established the Silver Engine (Gümüş Motor) Factory under the leadership of Erbakan Hodja. In the first months of 1960, the factory broke new ground in Turkey by putting 95% domestic engines on the market.
HE PASSED AWAY IN THE RETURN OF THE HAJ
Kotku Hodja, who spent the last years of his life with ailments, continued his conversations despite severe pain. He returned from the Hejaz, where he went to stay for a long time in the summer of 1979, in February 1980, seriously ill. A month after his return, he underwent surgery and gradually recovered. So much so that he kept the Ramadan fast of 1980, which he spent with severe illnesses and surgeries, without interruption. Hodja, who performed the tarawih prayer with hatim, did not neglect his conversations. In the same year, he fulfilled his pilgrimage. He went to the holy land to complete his Haj mission. However, his illness recurred and he completed his pilgrimage with difficulty. After visiting the grave of our Prophet (PBUH), he returned to Istanbul in November 1980 as seriously ill and passed away a week later on Thursday, November 13, 1980, near noon.
HE GAVE A GIFT OF KUFI TO ERBAKAN HODJA AND TO THE CASE FRIENDS OF ERBAKAN
After the September 12, 1980 coup, Mehmed Zahid Kotku Hodja presented a gift of kufi to Erbakan Hodja and his friends, who were imprisoned in prison due to the closure of the National Salvation Party (MSP). Feeling themselves as in İskenderpaşa by wearing kufis, the leader of Milli Gorus, Prof. Dr. Necmettin Erbakan Hodja and his friends knew that His Holiness Zahid Kotku was sick. Soon, the news of his death came and this news saddened all the members of the National Salvation Party in the prison ward. While everyone was trying to cry in silence, Necmettin Erbakan Hodja and Fehim Adak could not help themselves and were sobbing. Erbakan Hodja who thinks that "The death of the scholar is the death of the world", was deeply saddened by the loss of Zahid Kotku Hodja, whom he loved and respected and received spiritual education from. The fact that they could not attend the funeral due to their detention made Erbakan Hodja and his friends even more upset.