Slanders On Muslims In History

Ahmed Midhat Efendi: One of the first defenders of the theory of evolution in the Ottoman Empire. Despite being previously removed from his duties by Sultan Abdülaziz, he was invited back to Istanbul when Abdul Hamid II ascended to the throne. Abdul Hamid II ordered him to found the newspaper Tercüman-ı Hakikat (Interpreter of Truths), which became the semi-official publication of the Palace. The newspaper was published until 1921, with famous Darwinist writers of the time like Ahmed Cevdet and Ahmed Rasim as its regular columnists. Abdul Hamid II also appointed Ahmed Midhat as the director of the State Publishing House.

Some of the titles of Ahmed Midhat Efendi's pieces were, "Adem ve Orangutan" (Adam and Orangutan), "Hayvanatın Hissi" (Feelings of Animals), "İnsan Tenha Yaşasa Ne Olur" (What Would Happen if Humans Lived Alone). The last-mentioned piece claimed that humans had a completely animalistic past and that they supposedly evolved in time to reach their current state in addition to other outlandish notions, such as if a human baby lived among animals, he would have behaved like an animal.

Another piece by Ahmed Midhat, "Dünyada İnsanın Zuhuru" (The Appearance of Man on Earth) which was taught in schools, started with the following sentence: 'Since humans are sort of animals, of course we are curious how they might have come into being in this world'. The article was full of Darwinist tales.

Another article by Ahmed Midhat entitled "İntikam" (Revenge) - once again taught in schools - wrongly claimed that violence was a part of human nature; in other words, he was promoting social Darwinism:

Revenge is a sort of justice, is a violent justice. … Then how do we know that the evil behavior, a part of our nature, will harm us?