A converted Muslim in the Late Ottoman Empire: Abdu'l Ahad Dawud

This thesis examines the works of Abdu'l Ahad Dawud, who became a Muslim at the end of the nineteenth century. He wrote for various newspapers and magazines until 1931 and considering his works, it is apparent that he is multi-layered person whose ideas cover many fields; religious, social and political. In theological sense, it is evident that Dawud's anti-Christian works are mostly the continuation of the Islamic polemical literature, which stresses on rebuttals against Christianity. Dawud's approach on the issues such as falsification of the Bible and tebşirat is evidently following the conclusions in the works of his predecessors; Ali l-Taberî, Abd alJabbar, Ibn Hazm and Ibrahim Müteferrika. In his newspaper articles and refutations, Dawud shares his thoughts on the social and political events of his age, as well as theological issues. This paper will represent Dawud's thoughts on the problems of his era through newspaper articles that were thorougly examined and analyzed. When everything is considered, it seems that Islamic polemical literature gradually reached a stereotyped form by the nineteenth century, and Dawud's works give the impression that he repeats the refutation literature which preceded him. On the other hand, it is clear that the polemical writings can be examined in terms of understanding the political conjuncture of the period, rather than just theologically. Because every polemical literature is a reflection of the mentality of the era in which it was written.