One of the most important factors that led the Ottoman Empire to collapse was Darwinist education, which was prevalent at almost all schools. During that time period, Darwinist philosophy was widely published and accepted by the Ottoman Empire administrators.
Darwinism is the entire content of superstitions, which are presented as accurate scientific facts. The main target of the supporters this ideology is to defend a lie purporting that the universe solely consists of matter and in this way extinguish people’s belief in a Creator. For the sake of defending materialistic philosophy, millions of scientific evidences that refute evolution theory were suppressed and unscientific Darwinist delusions were presented as proven truth.
The Darwinist-materialist clan tries to impose some fictional stories as scientific facts on people. In order to achieve their goals, all around the world, they are targeting schools, aiming to “enlighten” and distract young people in their belief in God, who will be the future active power of their societies as they replace the older generations.
During the reign of Sultan Abdülhamit II, no actions were taken to refute this superstitious philosophy denying God. The libraries of the universities, colleges and schools turned into Darwinism-materialism centers. Let us set some examples;
Since 1805, more than 200 books were translated into Arabic and Turkish within the context of Westernization. All of these books of the time were about materialism and Darwinism.
· In 1826, School of Medicine was opened. The library of the school was famous with its books on materialism.
The education was based on Darwinism at Mekteb-i Tıbbiye-i Adliye-i Şahane (Imperial School of Medicine). All the books regarding materialism including Darwinism were taught. Mc Fairlane who had visited the school in 1847, wrote in his diaries: “(referring to the library of the school) I HAVE NOT SEEN SUCH A COLLECTION CONSISTED OF BOOKS ON PURE MATERIALISM FOR AGES. There was this book on the couch. I took a look at it. THIS WAS THE PARIS EDITION OF THE BOOK OF BLASPHEMY NAMED ‘THE SYSTEM OF THE NATURE’. I CLEARLY UNDERSTOOD THAT IT WAS FREQUENTLY READ AS MANY PARTS WERE MARKED INSIDE. These parts especially read the nonsense of believing in God and the impossibility of immortality of the spirit via mathematics…”
· Hoca Tahsin, the rector of Darürfünun (House of Multiple Sciences. Today it is called University of Istanbul), was founded in 1900, was sent to Europe by Grand Vizier Reşid Mehmed Pasha for training purposes. On his return it was seen that he adopted Darwinist and materialist ideologies. He became one of the most famous materialist figures of Ottoman Empire. He imported many books containing Darwinist and materialist views from France for the library of Darülfunun (University of Istanbul). Then this library turned into a center of Darwinism.
· Galatasaray High School and Robert College that opened in the mid - 1800s became centers disseminating Darwinist and materialist views.
· From the mid-1800s till the end of First World War (within approx. 68 years), 70 books were published regarding Darwinism and materialism. As well as these books, many journals were published on disseminating Darwinism.
These are some of the books of that period about Darwinism and materialism
Darwinism (Written by Subhi Ethem)
Lamarckism (Written by Subhi Ethem)
Evolution and Rules (Written by Ethem Necdet)
The Religion of a Natural Scientist (a book by Haeckel) (Translated by Baha Tevfik)
The Wisdom in Defending Materialism (written by Ahmet Mithat)
Matter and Force (Written by Baha Tevfik)
The Serial Universe (written by Ahmet Mithat)
Life and Philosophy of Nietzsche (written by Baha Tevfik)
These are some of the articles taught in schools of that period:
At Darulfünun (the old University of Istanbul), a special pulpit was established to teach natural science. EVOLUTION THEORY WAS TAUGHT THROUGH THIS PULPIT.
One of the articles read at the pulpit was The History of Creation written by Hoca Tahsin, which reads: “According to the rule of evolution dominating all the universe and life, the universe will become ripened in the future…”
Some articles by Ahmet Mithat were also introduced at the pulpit. All of these articles were about evolution. Some of the titles of these were: Adam and Orangutan, The Feelings of Animals, What if human beings live isolated.
The topic of the book called What if human beings live isolated reads that human beings all have animal backgrounds, have evolved in the process of time and reached present level. If a baby lived among animals, he would definitely show animal like features.
Ahmet Mithat wrote an article titled Human Beings appear in the World. It was also taught at the schools of that period which reads: AS HUMAN BEINGS ARE SORT OF ANIMALS, we wonder how they come into existence on earth.” Another article by Ahmet Mithat was titled Revenge explaining that human beings are brutal by nature. It reads:
“REVENGE IS FAIRNESS AND BRUTAL JUSTICE. It is so rare to do harm for pleasure. The source of revenge is mostly because of greed, fame and interest. So, why we think that misdeeds inherent within us are harmful to us? IF MUSK THISTLE IS SAVAGE THAT IS BECAUSE OF ITS CREATION.”
Another article by Hayrullah Efendi titled The creation of human beings was one of the most popular articles taught at the schools of that period. The article reveals the creation of human beings needs to be explained through science apart from its history beginning from the Prophet Adam.
The Society for Islamic Education (Cemiyet-i Tedrisiye-i İslamiye) was founded by Munif Pasha with the aim of teaching materialism and evolution by publishing scientific journals.
The first periodical titled The Journal of Sciences (Mecmua-yi Fünun) involved articles presenting evolution theory.
These are some of the Societies and Journals defending Darwinism and Materialism of the time:
THE OTTOMAN SOCIETY FOR SCIENCE (CEMİYET-İ İLMİYYE-İ OSMANİYE ) and THE JOURNAL OF SCIENCES (MECMUA-I FÜNUN)
Evolution Theory and materialism were described within the articles titled The Creation and Expansion of Human Beings. Evolution theory was presented at every section.
NEW LITERATURE (EDEBİYAT-I CEDİDE) and WEALTH OF KNOWLEDGE (SERVET-İ FÜNUN)
The Journal Wealth of Knowledge involves the ideas of philosophers defending positivism, materialism and naturalism. This was a popular journal methodically defending materialism in Ottoman Empire.
ICTIHAD LIBRARY AND JOURNAL
With the publishing of Ictihad Journal, the materialistic views were systematically dispersed in Ottoman Empire. The Journal involves presentations on some materialistic thinkers like Epicur, Darwin and Büchner.
LIBRARY OF MODERN SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY (TECEDDÜD-İ İLMİ ve FELSEFİ KÜTÜPHANESİ) and PHILOSOPHICAL JOURNAL OF 20TH CENTURY
The Journal involves materialist, positivist and evolutionist ideas presenting the biological evolution and spirit is nothing more than sole matter.
THE DARWINIST AND MATERIALIST FIGURES OF OTTOMAN EMPIRE
Hoca Tahsin EFENDİ
He was the rector of Darürfünün, which is today’s University of Istanbul. He was famous with his statement that universe and all of the creatures were created through evolution. He tried to combine Darwin’s evolution theory with the Qur’an. He turned the library of the university into a center of Darwinism and materialism.
Ahmet Mithat EFENDİ
He was famous with his articles involving materialism and evolution in many journals. In his article Human beings appear in the World, he explains that human beings gain powers through evolution theory by mentioning Lamarck. He also wrote more articles presenting Darwinism and these are; Birth, Human Beings, Human Beings appear in the World.
Beşir FUAD
In his articles, he presents that life starts by itself in matter and there is no metaphysics in philosophy.
Abdullah CEVDET
He made great efforts to diffuse Darwinism in Ottoman Empire. He was a religious person in his youth but after studying at Medical School he was impressed by materialism. Then he started to present that materialism would biologically replace religion and introduce evolution theory to young people.
Baha TEVFİK
He openly defended atheism and introduced materialism and Darwinism in Ottoman Empire. He translated famous atheist and materialist author Büchner’s Matter and Force into Turkish as well as other materialistic works. He published journals and books to diffuse materialism.
Subhi ETHEM:
He tried to diffuse systematically materialistic views by writing his books and giving lectures at schools. He published a journal called Human beings and Nature. One of his books called Darwinism.
Memduh SÜLEYMAN
He defended evolution and materialism in his articles. He claimed that all living beings are evolving and they need to fight in order to evolve. One of his books called Darwinism
Dr. Ethem NECDET:
He wrote a book titled Evolution and Rules. He defended Lamarck. He introduced evolution in organisms, rules of evolution, struggle for life and natural selection in his articles. He defended that life is a permanent struggle by stating that the strong ones with powerful forces would defeat the weak.
Celal NURİ
He published articles to introduce matter is eternal and tried to combine his views with Islam.
Rıza TEVFİK
He adopted Darwin and Spencer as masters. He wrote many articles to introduce Darwinism.
CONCLUSION
As seen here, the figures that direct people were introducing Darwinism in the last days of Ottoman Empire. Although they were few, they provided materialism to be accepted by elites who trained people. When Darwinism and materialism diffuses in the Islam community, its loveless and unfruitfulness point of view will eventually cause the community to be shattered. Darwinist philosophy denies the belief in God. However Ottoman Empire was powerful because of its deep faith in God. Therefore, it was unavoidable for Ottoman Empire to collapse due to that moral corruption brought about by Darwinism.
Adnan Oktar's piece in Jefferson Corner:
http://www.jeffersoncorner.com/one-of-the-causes-of-the-collapse-of-the-ottoman-empire-darwinist-education/
