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Adnan Oktar (a.k.a. Adnan Hoca) was born in Ankara in 1956. He 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; unlike the majority of Christian creationists he subscribes to Old Earth creationism. He is an anti-zionist and anti-mason which he sees as very interrelated movements.

Oktar has written numerous books using the pen name Harun Yahya, arguing against Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. He also argues that evolution is directly related to the claimed evils of materialism, nazism and communism. Most of his anti-evolution resources are identical to Christian creationist arguments and the scientific community have made identical critiques.
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.

Literally hundreds of books are credited to Oktar. Some claim therefore that others must have contributed to, or simply written, many of the books. This charge is adamantly denied on his web site; he claims sole authorship of all of the books.

His pen-name, Harun Yahya, is formed from the names "Harun" (Aaron) and "Yahya" (John).

Commentary

Many of Oktar's works have been or are being translated into English, French, German, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, Albanian, Serbo-Croat, Bosnian, Polish, Urdu, Indonesian, Kazakh, Azeri, Malay, and Malayalam.

Oktar's books on faith-related topics strive 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 the might, sublimity, and majesty of God in minute detail. 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". The main purpose of these books is to attack the ideas of Materialism, Evolution, Darwinism, and atheism.

The covers of all of Oktar's books bear the seal of the Prophet Muhammad. This seal is used on the Qur'an as an indication that the Qur'an is the last book and the last word of God, and the Prophet Muhammad is the last of His messengers. By taking this attribute of the Qur'an and the Prophet, Oktar claims that his books are the "last word" which will put a definite end to the arguments of his adversaries.

However, this "last word" contains for the most misquotes and strawman arguments.

For a simple example one can take a look in his on-line book: Fascism:The Bloody Ideology of Darwinism

In this book, Oktar claims a direct link from atheism to fascism, and tries to show this by a quote from George Orwell. And thus Oktar writes:

As a result of tactics similar to those employed in other fascist countries, the Church in Spain supported Franco. However, as we have already seen, fascists only maintain this positive attitude towards religion until they are in power, after which they generally lose no time waging war against it. The same happened in Spain.

George Orwell describes the situation in revolutionary Barcelona six months after the revolution:

Almost every church had been gutted and its images burnt. Churches here and there were being systematically demolished by gangs of workman.(George Orwell, Homage to Catalonia, p. 4)

However, George Orwell did not even hint to fascists in the original fragment:

Practically every building of any size had been seized by the workers and was draped with red flags or with the red and black flag of the Anarchists; every wall was scrawled with the hammer and sickle and with the initials of the revolutionary parties; almost every church had been gutted and its images burnt. Churches here and there were being systematically demolished by gangs of workmen. Every shop and cafe had an inscription saying that it had been collectivized; even the bootblacks had been collectivized and their boxes painted red and black. Waiters and shop-walkers looked you in the face and treated you as an equal. Servile and even ceremonial forms of speech had temporarily disappeared. Nobody said 'Senior' or 'Don' or even 'Usted'; everyone called everyone else 'Comrade' and 'Thou', and said 'Salud!' instead of 'Buenos dias'.

External references

• Harun Yahya official site
• Other Harun Yahya official site
• Who is Harun Yahya?

Critical articles

• Harun Yahya and Islamic Creationism
• Cloning Creationism in Turkey
• Harun Yahya or Adnan Oktar: The Promised Mahdi?
• Turkish refutation of Harun Yahya's work
• Mahdi as Hell: Look out Darwin

An Invitation to The Truth ~ videos download

• Harun Yahya official video download page (HTTP download)
• Harun Yahya video download page (bit torrent)

Bibliography

Credited works

• The 'Secret Hand' in Bosnia
• Behind the Scenes of Terrorism
• Israel's Kurdish Card
• A National Strategy for Turkey
• Solution: The Morals of the Qur'an
• The Winter of Islam and Its Expected Spring
• Communism in Ambush
• The Bloody Ideology of Darwinism: Fascism
• Darwin's Antagonism Against the Turks
• The Disasters Darwinism Brought to Humanity
• The Evolution Deceit
• Articles 1-2-3
• A Weapon of Satan: Romanticism
• Truths 1-2
• The Western World Turns to God
• Perished Nations
• The Prophet Moses
• The Prophet Joseph
• The Golden Age
• Allah's Artistry in Colour
• Glory is Everywhere
• The Truth of the Life of This World
• Confessions of Evolutionists
• Precise Answers to Evolutionists
• Evolutionary Falsehoods
• The Dark Magic of Darwinism
• The Religion of Darwinism
• The Collapse of the Theory of Evolution in 20 Questions
• The Qur'an Leads the Way to Science
• The Real Origin of Life
• The Creation of the Universe
• Miracles of the Qur'an
• Consciousness in the Cell
• A String of Miracles
• The Design in Nature
• Self-Sacrifice and Intelligent Behaviour Models in Animals
• Eternity Has Already Begun
• Children Darwin Was Lying!
• The End of Darwinism
• Deep Thinking
• Timelessness and the Reality of Fate
• Knowing the Truth
• Never Plead Ignorance
• The Secrets of DNA
• The Miracle in the Atom
• The Miracle in the Cell
• The Miracle of the Immune System
• The Miracle in the Eye
• The Miracle of Creation in Plants
• The Miracle in the Spider
• The Miracle in the Ant
• The Miracle in the Gnat
• The Miracle in the Honeybee
• The Miracle of the Seed
• The Miracle of the Termite
• The Green Miracle: Photosynthesis
• The Miracle of Hormone
• The Miracle of the Human Being
• The Miracle of Man's Creation
• The Miracle of Protein.

Children's books

• Children Darwin Was Lying!
• The World of Animals
• The Splendour in the Skies
• The World of Our Little Friends: The Ants
• Honeybees That Build Perfect Combs
• Skillful Dam Builders: Beavers

Booklets

• The Mystery of the Atom
• The Collapse of the Theory of Evolution: The Fact of Creation
• The Collapse of Materialism
• The End of Materialism
• The Blunders of Evolutionists 1
• The Blunders of Evolutionists 2
• The Microbiological Collapse of Evolution
• The Fact of Creation
• The Collapse of the Theory of Evolution in 20 Questions
• The Biggest Deception in the History of Biology: Darwinism.

Works on Quranic topics

• The Basic Concepts in the Qur'an
• The Moral Values of the Qur'an
• Quick Grasp of Faith 1-2-3
• Ever Thought About the Truth?
• Crude Understanding of Disbelief
• Devoted to Allah
• Abandoning the Society of Ignorance
• The Real Home of Believers: Paradise
• Knowledge of the Qur'an
• Qur'an Index
• Emigrating for the Cause of Allah
• The Character of the Hypocrite in the Qur'an
• The Secrets of the Hypocrite
• The Names of Allah
• Communicating the Message and Disputing in the Qur'an
• Answers from the Qur'an
• Death Resurrection Hell
• The Struggle of the Messengers
• The Avowed Enemy of Man: Satan
• The Greatest Slander: Idolatry
• The Religion of the Ignorant
• The Arrogance of Satan
• Prayer in the Qur'an
• The Importance of Conscience in the Qur'an
• The Day of Resurrection
• Never Forget
• Disregarded Judgements of the Qur'an
• Human Characters in the Society of Ignorance
• The Importance of Patience in the Qur'an
• General Information from the Qur'an
• The Mature Faith
• Before You Regret
• Our Messengers Say
• The Mercy of Believers
• The Fear of Allah
• The Nightmare of Disbelief
• Jesus Will Return
• Beauties Presented by the Qur'an for Life
• A Bouquet of the Beauties of Allah 1-2-3-4
• The Iniquity Called "Mockery"
• The Mystery of the Test
• The True Wisdom According to the Qur'an
• The Struggle with the Religion of Irreligion
• The School of Yusuf
• The Alliance of the Good
• Slanders Spread Against Muslims Throughout History
• The Importance of Following the Good Word
• Why Do You Deceive Yourself?
• Islam: The Religion of Ease
• Enthusiasm and Excitement in the Qur'an
• Seeing Good in Everything
• How does the Unwise Interpret the Qur'an?
• Some Secrets of the Qur'an
• The Courage of Believers
• Being Hopeful in the Qur'an
• Justice and Tolerance in the Qur'an
• Basic Tenets of Islam
• Those Who do not Listen to the Qur'an.

• 1956 births
• People from Ankara
• Muslims
• Living people
• Turkish people
• Creationists
• Islamic politics and Islamic world studies