This report described Harun Yahya as an “international hero.”
The 22 April 2001 issue of the world-renowned New Scientist, which investigated creationist movements throughout the world, offered this interpretation of Harun Yahya and his books:
[Harun Yahya] is an international hero. His books have spread everywhere in the Islamic world. He has developed his own Islamic creationism.
Le Monde, a left-leaning French daily, carried an article headed “Creationism Is Having an Increasing Impact in Europe” in its 18 November, 2008, issue. In its report, the 400,000-circulation daily noted the rapid spread of creationist belief in Europe and that it is becoming increasingly difficult to teach the theory of evolution. The report once again stated that the Atlas of Creation has been the most effective agent behind this:
Will France become part of the war being waged against creationists, whose beliefs have spread just about everywhere in the world?
On 13 and 14 November, on the instructions of the Minister of Education, French College and the French City of Science and Industry, hundreds of people, including evolutionist researchers, philosophers, professors, and high school and college inspectors, came together in Paris to discuss the increasing difficulty in teaching evolution.
The most prominent creationist offensive came at the beginning of 2007. Many high schools, colleges and universities in Europe received copies of an impressive, illustrated book; the Atlas of Creation. Written and printed in Turkey, the book was intended to show that evolution is not a scientific doctrine, but rather anti-religious propaganda. The real aim of its author, Harun Yahya – real name Adnan Oktar – is to preach the Qur’an... The biologist Dr. Olivier Brosseau, one of the authors of a splendid pamphlet about creationists, makes this statement, “With the dissemination of this book the West became aware of a Muslim creationism it had never known about until then...” A report in the Council of Europe in June 2007 about “The dangers of creationism in education” rang the warning bells. Four months later, the educational board decided to invite 47 of its members “to strongly oppose the teaching of creation as a scientific discipline.” But this has failed to prevent the emergence of an ever more significant objection to evolution classes among young students in many countries of Europe.”
The collapse in France, the bastion of materialist and atheist philosophy, of Darwinism, the supposed scientific basis for those ideologies, is being followed with grave concern. Despite all the positions and precautions adopted, the inescapable collapse of Darwinism is taking place and belief in Creation in Europe is developing ever stronger roots. The younger generation in particular, fiercely opposed to being taken in, constitute the finest response to those mindsets that seek to impose the teaching of the evolution lie. By Allah’s will, the 21st century will be a time of enlightenment when evolution will be consigned to the history books as a scientific fraud.
The 23 November, 2008, issue of Arab News, the most popular English-language daily in Saudi Arabia carried a special interview in Istanbul with Adnan Oktar by P.K. Abdul Ghafour. The report in Arab News, one of the Middle East’s main English-language dailies, was titled "Harun Yahya: Win over Darwinism" and had a great influence on Darwinist circles in particular. You can read the text of the interview that appeared in the paper below, or else from HERE:
Harun Yahya is the pen name of Adnan Oktar, a prominent Turkish intellectual and writer based in Istanbul. His research findings, proving the fallacy of Darwinism, have won him international acclaim. A strong advocate of Turkish Islamic Union, Yahya believes that the formation of such a union would solve many problems facing the Muslim world today.
Speaking to Arab News in Istanbul, he said he was seeking a world of peace and love. “I am dreaming of a world where all people live together in peace and harmony. I also want to see terrorism and violence eliminated, sectarian differences and conflicts among Muslims eradicated and the Islamic faith and ethics promoted across the world.”
Yahya has so far published over 300 books of which 60 have been translated into different languages including Arabic, English, French, Russian and Spanish. “I have written and published over 45,000 pages. About 80 million copies of my books have been downloaded from our websites in 2008. These are astonishing numbers which show that people are interested in my work and this makes me extremely happy,” he said.
Yahya’s books and documentaries, based on the teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah, have been instrumental in deepening the faith of Muslims in God and making young Muslim men and women proud of their religion. Many television stations around the world telecast his documentaries that reaffirm the existence and power of God. His analytical writings on Darwinism, atheist Zionism, Marxism and Freemasonry have helped in exposing the hollowness of these ideologies.
The Turkish scholar applauded Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah for his efforts to promote inter-faith dialogue at the international level. “I have been observing King Abdullah’s activities very closely. He’s a very sincere person and a true believer. I respect his decisions and ideas because I know that he is working to promote world peace.”
During his detailed interview with Arab News, Yahya also spoke about his ideas to end the protracted Arab-Israeli conflict. “The solution to this conflict needs to be as simple as possible in order to enable people in the region to live in unity and friendship,” he said.
He praised the Arab peace initiative, originally proposed by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, saying it should not be ignored.
“The real problem in Israel lies in the fact that it is governed by atheist Zionists from behind the scenes. We have to get rid of these Masonic forces so that Muslims and Jews can govern it. Judaism is an old version of Islam. With the passage of time, it underwent a lot of distortions and changes. The true believers of Judaism are not the ones governing Israel now,” he pointed out.
The Turkish Islamic Union is one of Yahya’s fond dreams. He says: “Muslims have a Qur’anic obligation to act in unison as brothers. The Turkish Islamic Union is essential to achieve that goal. The Muslim and Turkic states must come together under the umbrella of this union in which every state will deal with its internal affairs independently and work together to realize their common objectives.”
He said the Turkish Islamic Union has the potential to open up to all countries of the world. “It will have no enemies because it will have the ability to transform enemies into friends,” he said. About 95 percent of people in the Islamic and Turkic states are looking forward to such a union. “The only thing we need to do is to encourage our heads of state and politicians to form it. People are already talking about a customs union, a common market and a single currency. It shows people in their minds have already accepted such a union.” He is optimistic that the Turkish Islamic Union could become a reality within the next 10 years.
Yahya favors Turkey’s attempt to become a full member of the European Union. However, he argued that Turkey should become the leader of Islamic Union first before becoming an EU member in order to strengthen its position. “Turkey would not benefit from its EU membership if it wins it now because Europe wants to have southeastern Turkey including Cyprus and Istanbul and that is not at all acceptable,” he stated.
Most Turkish people are religious and their women wear headscarves, he said. “It is true that wearing headscarves is not allowed in public institutions such as schools and universities but this is not the decision of the Turkish people. It is the decision of the Constitutional Court and a diktat of the Constitutional Law. Hopefully, this would be changed in the future. If the current law does not permit women to wear headscarves, we cannot say they would not be allowed in the future too.”
A fierce opponent of Darwinism, Yahya takes the credit for defeating the theory of evolution. “First, we offered Darwinists around the world 100 million fossils, which prove that this world came into being as a result of God’s creationism and not because of evolution. Second, Darwin wrote in his books that people have to find transitional forms to prove the theory of evolution, but nobody has been able to find a single transitional form. Third, Darwinists claim that the first cell came into being as a coincidence. But it is impossible for even a single protein to be formed by chance. Fourth, we have proved that the skulls that were displayed as evidence of evolution are fake. Darwinism cannot explain how we can see or hear or sense with the support of our brain.”
Polls conducted by newspapers in Germany, France, Switzerland and Denmark showed that 85-90 percent of Europeans no longer believed in the theory of evolution.
According to Yahya, the 9/11 attacks in the US, the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, the defeat of the Iraqi military and the global financial crisis are signs of the second coming of Jesus (peace be upon him). “Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) has already given these signs. The continuing wars, bloodshed, hopelessness, etc. show that the time for the arrival of Messiah is approaching,” he said. “The arrival of Messiah will bring about a golden age where people are happy and with a lot of wealth.”
Asked about the allegation Yahya does not believe that Prophet Muhammad was the last prophet, he said: “This allegation could have been spread by the misunderstanding of a certain group of people who are not happy with the second coming of Jesus (pbuh) and the things that I have explained about it. Our Prophet (may God bless him and grant him peace) is the last prophet and the last messenger with a book. No other prophet or messenger with a book will ever come again. I have clearly mentioned that when Jesus (pbuh) comes, he would not bring a new Shariah or a new message or a new sacred book. He will come as a Muslim and follow the Shariah of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).”
Yahya refuted allegations that the Qur’an promotes terrorism. “Islam is a religion of peace and it promotes virtue and tolerance. It stresses brotherhood. The Qur’an says very clearly that if you kill one innocent person, it amounts to killing the whole mankind.
Referring to the accusations against Abul A’ala Moudoodi and Syed Qutb that their books promoted terrorism, he said: “I have read their books carefully and have not seen anything encouraging terrorism and violence. I believe that they were very sincere Muslims and true believers. Those who criticize them or find faults with them should go through their books again and read them carefully.”
He highlighted the efforts of his organization, Global Publishing, to spread the message of the Qur’an and Sunnah in English through his websites harunyahya.com and harunyahya.net. “We have plans to publish a translation of the Qur’an in English and produce Islamic movies but they are projects that need a lot of time and funds. If God bestows upon us such material means, we’ll try to implement them.”
Yahya recalled French President Nicholas Sarkozy’s encouraging comments after reading his book, Atlas of Creation. “Sarkozy said that in everyone’s heart the love of God resides. It is God Who constantly sends to people the messages of humility and love, peace and brotherhood, and tolerance and respect. We should conform to those messages. God does not enslave man but frees him.” Atlas of Creation, he said, had also influenced former French President Jacques Chirac and former British Premier Tony Blair.
Yahya urged Muslims not to believe in the false accusations made against him by those who oppose his views and ideas. “Atheist Zionists, Masons and Darwinists spread these allegations because they want to silence me. If you have any doubts or questions, feel free to ask me directly or email to my website. We will be glad to answer them. God has urged believers to investigate accusations before believing them,” he said.
The World, a weekly program jointly produced by the BBC, PRI and WGBH, carried a broadcast on the subject of the rejection of the theory of evolution in the Islamic world on 11 December 2008. In the program, broadcast by 218 radio stations in the USA, Salman Hameed, a British academic of Pakistani origins, discussed the impact of the works of Harun Yahya in that context:
"Currently THE DEBATE IS BEING SHAPED by creationists in the Islamic world. THE MOST PROMINENT ONE IS HARUN YAHYA IN TURKEY. And he links evolution with atheism and also with the West. Everything that is wrong with the West he ascribes that to the acceptance of evolution... Many of the participants that I have talked to in my lectures here [in Pakistan] they usually cite Harun Yahya’s work."
Asked by the presenter "Is he influential?," Hameed replied:
"He has an enormous reach. In fact his books are widely available not only in the Muslim world, but also in the Muslim diaspora, for example in Europe, in England. His documentaries are shown on television everyday and recently he sent out this 850 page Atlas… HE HAS A TREMENDOUS INFLUENCE at present regarding evolution. THE MOST PROMINENT VOICE we have in the Islamic world is that of creationist Harun Yahya."
On 8 December 2008 the Bulgarian daily Dnevnik carried an interview Svetoslav Stefanov had conducted with Adnan Oktar. The paper, which emphasized the impact of Adnan Oktar’s Atlas of Creation, published the interview under the caption, “Darwinism Will Be Consigned to the Dusty Shelves of History in Future Years.”
Click here for the full interview transcript.
The Manila Times, the oldest national English-daily in the Philippines, published in the capital Manila since 1898, carried an article titled “Islamic Creationism” on 22 February, 2009. Written by Rony V. Diaz, the article said that with his "delightful looking Atlas of Creation" Adnan Oktar, described as a Muslim creationist, had made great progress in causing evolution to be questioned in Muslim countries. It particularly emphasized that the main reason for the author’s opposition to the theory of evolution is that in the form of materialism and atheism, evolution represents a grave social and cultural danger. The article also said that the levels of people believing in evolution were very low in public opinion polls conducted in Muslim countries.
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