Islamic Creationism - 22.02.2009 Philippines/The Manila Times

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.

''At the present time, the most dominant voice is from Harun Yahya'' - 11.02.2009 USA/Religion News

On 11 February, 2009, the Religion News news agency, which concentrates mainly on religious matters, carried the views of a British Darwinist teacher of Pakistani origin on the subject of Islamic Creationism.  Some passages from the interview regarding the impact of Harun Yahya’s works on the rise in belief in Creationism read as follows:

“... in recent visits to his homeland [Pakistan], Hameed, 38, has DISCOVERED A CONTRARY THEORY RAPIDLY GAINING GROUND: ISLAMIC CREATIONISM.
CHAMPIONED BY prolific Turkish author HARUN YAHYA, THIS GROWING MOVEMENT SURPRISED WESTERN SCIENTISTS AND ACADEMICS IN 2007, WHEN THEY BEGAN RECEIVING ... COPIES OF Yahya's colorful, 850-page "ATLAS OF CREATION." ...
Q: How did Islamic creationism come to your attention?
A: When I was visiting Pakistan in the late 1990s, I started seeing Harun Yahya's work everywhere, with special sections in very good bookstores devoted to his books. These are glossy, expensive books, sold very cheaply. ...
We do not have a central pope-like authority, especially in Sunni Islam... AT THE PRESENT TIME, THE MOST DOMINANT VOICE WE HAVE IS FROM CREATIONISTS LIKE HARUN YAHYA, ... LINKING [EVOLUTION] PURELY WITH ATHEISM. ...”

Islamic Creationism On The Rise - 02.12.2009 Australia/ABC1 TV

ABC1, Australia’s official television established in 1932 with worldwide broadcasting, has reported an interview with Adnan Oktar by Middle East reporter Ben Knight in the “Lateline” news programme dated 2 December 2009. (You can watch the interview from here and read the deciphered document from here.)

In the item titled “Islamic Creationism On the Rise”, the effectiveness of the works of Adnan Oktar, as the leader of Islamic Creationism, was pointed out and it was noted that “Turkey is becoming more religious”. Part of the news item cited as follows:

... lately, there have been new voices in the Islamic world denouncing Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection. That shouldn't be surprising, I suppose, as in many Middle Eastern countries, religious belief and observance are surging. Particularly in Turkey, where our Middle East correspondent Ben Knight met a leading campaigner for Islamic creationism... Adnan Oktar has carved himself out a niche as the leading Islamic voice against the theory of evolution.

ADNAN OKTAR, ISLAMIC CREATIONIST: Darwinism removed love from the face of the world. It caused the deaths of more than 350 million people. It led to the outbreak of more than two world wars as well as communism, fascism and satanism. It has legalised terror and anarchy.

And he rejects the idea that religion might have caused its own share of conflict and suffering. I asked him about the Crusades and September 11.

ADNAN OKTAR: All of the people who committed the 9/11 events in America had Marxist tendencies and had Darwinist, materialist training in America and England. They believed in Lenin's theory suggesting that terror is the solution. There has never been a war originating from religion -they merely used religion.

Adnan Oktar claims to have published more than 300 books but that he doesn't take any royalties. But what brought him to the attention of the West was this: his massive Atlas of Creation. It shows page after page of fossils and compares them with the same living things today, claiming there's been no change, and therefore, no evolution.And he claims to have single-handedly demolished Darwinism, beginning in his native Turkey:

ADNAN OKTAR: In Turkey it is now embarrassing to defend Darwinism. In order to defend such a deceit, one should have a really thick skin on his face. That is to say a person should really be something different in order to tell such an explicit obvious lie, looking directly into people's eyes.

Adnan Oktar says he doesn't want evolution teaching banned from schools.

ADNAN OKTAR: In schools Darwinism is being taught, but for the children, it's like a comedy show. It just makes them laugh.

Additionally, the interview was published on the channel’s web site as both text and video.

Harun Yahya is Turkey's best-known and most assertive critic of evolution

The 9 November, 2009, issue of Times of Oman, which has been in publication since 1975, is the Sultanate of Oman’s oldest English-language newspaper and attracts millions of visitors to its web site every week, carried a report titled “In Turkey, fertile ground for creationism.” The report stated that Adnan Oktar was the most assertive proponent of Creationism in Turkey and that the number of believers in evolution in the country was in rapid decline:

"Darwin is the worst fascist there has ever been, and the worst racist history has ever witnessed," writes Harun Yahya...
The most visible Turkish proponent of creationism is named Adnan Oktar, who writes and appears daily on his own two-hour television show under the alias Harun Yahya. In 2006, Oktar created an international stir when his book of high-quality fossil images reached to biology teachers worldwide.

Adnan Oktar, who as Harun Yahya is Turkey's best-known and most assertive critic of evolution, says he is "following the path of Allah."

Interview with Adnan Oktar (Part II) - 01.09.2007 India/Young Muslim Digest

 

Young Muslim Digest, a journal published in English since 1976 and distributed to many Muslim countries especially Saudi Arabia and Malaysia, carried the second part of its interview with Harun Yahya in its September 2007 issue. The title of the interview was quoted from the author’s statement emphasizing the Islamic Union as “Concentrating on Differences Will Prevent Unity Amongst Muslims”. In addition the interview also noted an introductory for some of the author’s books such as The Evolution Deceit, Global Freemasonry and The Holocaust Violence.