Slanders On Muslims In History

Abdullah Cevdet

Abdullah Cevdet was possibly the most ardent supporter of Darwinism and its promulgation in the Empire. Although religious when he was young, he was introduced to materialist-Darwinist ideology at the Medical School. During those days, biologic materialism was spreading fast among the medical students, and affected Cevdet as well. With his articles, he tried to prove his erroneous idea that 'biologic materialism would in time take the place of religion'.

Cevdet was also one of the founders of the 'Society of the Friends of England'. During the years when Istanbul was under occupation, he informed on many patriots involved in the independence movement and led to their arrest by the British. He also played a significant role in the Society for the Rise of Kurdistan, which worked closely with the British authorities. Abdullah Cevdet maintained that Kurdish people should have seceded from the Ottoman Empire, and is therefore usually considered as one of the architects of the idea of 'autonomy for the Southeastern Anatolia'. He was manipulated by the British deep state for its plans to divide the Ottoman Empire and create conflict between Kurds and Turks.

It was Abdullah Cevdet who started the practice of giving license to women to work as prostitutes in brothels. About the Battle of Gallipoli, he shockingly said, 'civilization came to our doorstep, but we turned it back'.¹⁴³

During his education at the medical school, following the advice of Ibrahim Temo and acting together with Hikmet Emin of Konya, İshak Sükuti of Diyarbakır and Mehmet Reşid of Caucasus, Abdullah Cevdet founded the Committee of Ottoman Union, which would later transform into the Committee of Union and Progress. In 1908, he translated and published Reinhart Dozy's two-volume book entitled Essai sur l'Histoire de l'Islamisme in Egypt, which was then under the control of the British evolutionist Lord Cromer. This book, which was full of slanders about our religion and our beloved Prophet (pbuh), caused a huge uproar in the Ottoman society [our beloved Prophet (pbuh) is above such slanders]. In the articles he wrote in the early 1900s, he maintained that the Ottoman Empire should be ruled by the British and claimed that Britain had the world's most civil and honest government.¹⁴⁴

Journalist and publisher Zekeriya Sertel said that Abdullah Cevdet was a British spy and he once informed on Sertel and his friends due to a meeting they had.

Abdullah Cevdet, citing the relationship of British imperialism with Spain, said: 'since it is going to be inevitable to be incorporated by spheres of influence that great states are trying to create, it will be expedient to choose British among the options'.¹⁴⁵

Furthermore, he propagandized the Bahá'í faith supported by the British (the Kurdistan newspaper was being printed in a Bahá'í printing house supported by certain circles in Cairo).