Adnan Oktar
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Adnan Oktar nom de plume Harun Yahya (a.k.a Adnan Hoca) (born Ankara, 1956) is one of the leading figures in Turkish creationism, and a fervent advocate of creationism in the creation vs. evolution debate. He is considered the leading Muslim advocate of creationism;[1] unlike the majority of Christian creationists he subscribes to Old Earth creationism[citation needed]. He is an anti-zionist and anti-mason which he sees as very interrelated movements. Although he rejects allegations of anti-Semitism, claiming pagan and Darwinist roots for anti-Semitism[2] he is also credited as a Holocaust denier,[3] with his book Soykırım Yalanı (The Holocaust Hoax).
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[edit] Biography
Born in Ankara in 1956, Adnan Oktar lived there through his high school years. In 1979 he moved to Istanbul to attend an interior design-study at Mimar Sinan University.
In the first half of the 1980s, he gathered young students around him, to teach them his views about Islam, mixing mysticism with scientific rhetoric. These young people belonged to socially active and prominent families of Istanbul which had a high economic status. From 1982 to 1984, a group of 20-30 young people was formed. In 1986 Adnan Oktar's published a book Judaism and Freemasonry on Jews and Freemasonry. The book suggests the principal mission of the Jews and freemasons in Turkey was to erode the spiritual, religious and moral values of the Turkish people and thus make them like animals as stated in the verse of Distorted Torrah.[4] Oktar asserts that the materialist standpoint, evolution theory, anti-religious and immoral lifestyles were indoctrinated to the society as a whole.
Shortly after the publication of Judaism and Freemasonry, Adnan Oktar was arrested and imprisoned. He was transferred to Bakirköy Mental Hospital and placed under observation. After 19 months, Oktar was released.[5]
In 1990, he founded Bilim Araşırma Vakfı (Foundation for Scientific Research), through which he still effectively functions. His followers gathered around the Foundation are usually named as Adnan Hocacılar ("Adherents of Adnan the Hodja") by the public. Adnan Oktar was declared the Honorary President of the BAV. The Foundation ensured the performance of several activities; the members of the foundation published books and conducted cultural studies, held panels, discussions and conferences claiming to protect and revive moral values. In 1995, he also founded Millî Değerleri Koruma Vakfı (Foundation for Protection of National Values).
In early 1998, Adnan Oktar and the BAV launched a campaign against Darwinism. Thousands of free copies of Adnan Oktar's book, The Evolution Deceit and the booklets based on this book were distributed within Turkey. BAV spearheaded an effort to attack Turkish academics who taught evolutionary theory. A number of academics have been harassed, threatened and slandered in fliers that labeled them "Maoists" for teaching evolution.[6]In 1999, six of the professors won a civil court case against BAV for defamation and were awarded $6,000 each.[7] Fear of persecution by the BAV allegedly has continued, Professor Umit Sayin is reported to have said in 2005: In 1998, I was able to motivate six members of the Turkish Academy of Sciences to speak out against the creationist movement. Today, it's impossible to motivate anyone. They're afraid they'll be attacked by the radical Islamists and the BAV[8]
[edit] Writings
Oktar has written numerous books under the name Harun Yahya (Harun (Aaron) and Yahya (John)), arguing against evolution. He also asserts that evolution is directly related to the claimed evils of materialism, Nazism, communism, and Buddhism. Most of his anti-evolution resources are identical to Christian creationist arguments (see: Creation science).[9]
He also has produced various works on Zionism and Freemasonry, accusing Zionists of racism and arguing that Zionism and Freemasonry have had significant negative effects on world history and politics. Finally, he has written more than a hundred books describing the morals of the Qur'an and faith related issues[citation needed].
Oktar's books on faith-related topics attempt to communicate the existence and oneness of God according to the Islamic faith, and are written with the main purpose of introducing Islam to those who are strangers to religion. Each of his books on science-related topics stresses his views on the might, sublimity, and majesty of God. These books attempt to display for non-Muslims what Oktar claims to be signs of the existence of God, and the excellence of his creation. A sub-group within this series are the series of "Books Demolishing the Lie of Evolution", a critique of the ideas of Materialism, Evolution, Darwinism, and atheism.
Oktar asserts that Buddhism as being a false religion built upon idolatry and falsehood.[10] He calls Buddhist rituals "meaningless" and "empty". He has also charged that intelligent design is a tool of Satan.[11]
His latest (October 2006) publication is the Atlas of Creation, published by Global Publishing, Istanbul, Turkey.[12] The book is edited by Timothy Mossman, with no indication to his affiliation. This volume with near 800 glossy pages contains high quality animal and fossil image prints. Tens of thousands of copies of the book have been delivered, on an unsolicited basis, to schools, prominent researchers and research institutes throughout Europe. E.g. several schools in France have received a copy as well as prominent researchers at Utrecht University in the Netherlands and the Imperial College London, where the arguments used by the book to undermine evolution have been criticised as not logical.[13] Also, departments of the Natural History Museum of Denmark and the Geological Institute of Copenhagen have received a copy.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.salon.com/books/int/2007/01/02/numbers/index3.html
- ^ http://islamdenouncesantisemitism.com
- ^ http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/organizations/harunyahya.html
- ^ http://www.jamiat.org.za/whatsnew/hyahya.html
- ^ http://www.harunyahya.com/theauthor2.php
- ^ http://www.pitch.com/issues/2005-05-05/news/feature_1.html
- ^ http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/rncse_content/vol19/8300_islamic_scientific_creationism_12_30_1899.asp
- ^ http://www.pitch.com/issues/2005-05-05/news/feature_1.html
- ^ http://www.tabsir.net/?p=122
- ^ http://www.harunyahya.com/buddhism01.php
- ^ The "Intelligent Design" Distraction, Harun Yahya, Harun Yahya International © 2007
- ^ ATLAS OF CREATION.
- ^ http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/315/5814/925a In Europe’s Mailbag: A Glossy Attack on Evolution
[edit] External links
- Foundation for Scientific Research
- Foundation for Protection of National Values
- Harun Yahya official site
- Other Harun Yahya official site
- Who is Harun Yahya?
[edit] Critical articles
- Harun Yahya and Islamic Creationism
- Cloning Creationism in Turkey
- Islamic Scientific Creationism: A New Challenge in Turkey
- Harun Yahya or Adnan Oktar: The Promised Mahdi?
- Turkish refutation of Harun Yahya's work
- Mahdi as Hell: Look out Darwin
- Harun Yahya: an Invitation to Dogmatism
