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Adnan Oktar nom de plume Harun Yahya (a.k.a Adnan Hoca) (born Ankara, 1956) is a figure 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, but he rejects allegations of anti-Semitism . He and his organization are also regarded as a cult and is very controversial in Turkey . He also founded the BAV, an organisation that is accused of being a criminal organization.
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, but did not graduate.
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 to 30 young people was formed.
In 1986, Adnan Oktar published the book, Judaism and Freemasonry. The book suggests that 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 what Oktar refers to as the "Distorted Torah." Oktar asserts that "the materialist standpoint, evolution theory, anti-religious and immoral lifestyles were indoctrinated to the society as a whole" by Jews and Freemasons.
Shortly after the publication of Judaism and Freemasonry, Adnan Oktar was arrested and imprisoned. He was transferred to Bakırköy Mental Hospital and placed under observation. After 19 months, Oktar was released.
In 1990, he founded the BAV (Bilim Araşırma Vakfı (Foundation for Scientific Research)), through which he still effectively functions. His followers gathered around the BAV 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), which links him to traditional Islamist and nationalist circles.
Antisemitism
In 1996 the BAV distributed a book entitled the Soykırım Yalanı ("Holocaust Lie") (originally published in 1995). The publication of Soykırım Yalanı sparked much public debate. This book claims that “what is presented as Holocaust is the death of some Jews due to the typhus plague during the war and the famine towards the end of the war caused by the defeat of the Germans”.
In March 1996, a leading Turkish painter and intellectual, Bedri Baykam, published a strongly worded critique in the Ankara daily newspaper Siyah-Beyaz (Black and White). A legal suit for slander was brought to him. During the trial in September, Baykam exposed the real author of the book as Adnan Oktar. To prevent more damage, the case was withdrawn in March 1997.
Several years later, it was noted that Adnan Oktar has undergone a change and become more tolerant toward Jews and others; he now works toward promoting inter-religious dialogue.”
Nowadays he rejects allegations of anti-Semitism, claiming pagan and Darwinist roots for anti-Semitism and publicly calls upon all Muslims to "a tolerant and friendly attitude toward other religions". However, Oktar still criticizes the Old Testament, calling some verses “false exhortations”.
Campaign against Evolution
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 also spearheaded an effort to attack Turkish academics who taught evolutionary theory. A number of academics were harassed, threatened and slandered in fliers that labeled them "communists, separatists and Maoists" for teaching evolution. In 1999, six of the professors won a civil court case against BAV for defamation and were awarded $6,000 each.
The court decided that "a severe and unjust attack was perpetrated on the plaintiffs' personal rights, by listing the names of the scientists defending the theory of evolution and describing them as communists and separatists on the flyers distributed by the foundation." Professor Ümit Sayın summed up the effect of BAV's campaign when, in 2005, he said: 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.
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).
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 .
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. He calls Buddhist rituals "meaningless" and "empty". He has also charged that intelligent design is a tool of Satan.
The Atlas of Creation
His latest (October 2006) publication is The Atlas of Creation, published by Global Publishing, Istanbul, Turkey. 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. Many of the photographs were obtained without the permission of copyright holders, a violation that will likely prevent the release of this book on the mainstream market. Tens of thousands of copies of the book have been delivered, on an unsolicited basis, to schools, prominent researchers and research institutes throughout Europe and the United States. 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 while evolutionary biologist Kevin Padian has stated that Oktar has now understanding of the basic evidence for evolution.. When the book was sent to French schools and universities, controversy resulted and the book sparked further concern about Islamic radicalism in France.
The large cost of the printing and shipping of the book indicates that Oktar has some large source of outside funding, but at present what that source is remains a mystery.
External links
Sites based on the works of Harun Yahya:
Critical articles
Other Articles
- Evolution and religion: In the beginning, The Economist, Apr 19th 2007 (Istanbul, Moscow and Rome)
References
- http://www.salon.com/books/int/2007/01/02/numbers/index3.html
- "Yahya accepts that the world is billions of years old...", Martin Enserink, In Europe's Mailbag: A Glossy Attack on Evolution, Science 315{5814):925, 16 February 2007.
- ^ Cornelia Dean (July 17, 2007). "Islamic Creationist and a Book Sent Round the World". New York Times. Retrieved July 17, 2007.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ Harun Yahya's islamdenouncesantisemitism.com site
- http://english.sabah.com.tr/2E6E66B0FB3D4D60AE374D08A8473D9D.html
- http://www.economist.com/world/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9036706
- http://www.milliyet.com.tr/2007/05/18/son/sontur40.asp
- "BAV has been taken to court repeatedly over the last decade. .." http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav052407.shtml
- ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20050221142255/19.org/index.php?id=14,194,0,0,1,0
- ^ LIFE STORY OF ADNAN OKTAR Jamiatul Ulama, Ask the Jamiat
- PALESTINE ZIONISM: A SECULAR NATIONALISM THAT BETRAYED JUDAISM, Harun Yaha, An Invitation to the Truth
- http://www.harunyahya.com/theauthor2.php
- http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/organizations/harunyahya.html
- http://www.axt.org.uk/antisem/archive/archive1/turkey/turkey.htm
- http://web.archive.org/web/19990429183644/www.webcom.com/vural/Eng/books/HOLOCAUST.HTML
- http://www.axt.org.uk/antisem/archive/archive2/turkey/turkey.htm#Parties
- http://www.tau.ac.il/Anti-Semitism/asw2004/turkey.htm
- http://www.harunyahya.com/articles/32terrorism_antisemitism_soc06.php
- http://www.islamictimes.co.uk/content/view/205/50/
- Article by Tony Ortega: http://www.pitch.com/issues/2005-05-05/news/feature_1.html
- ^ Article in Cumhuriyet Newspaper June 25, 1999 http://web.archive.org/web/20010803145236/www.geocities.com/evrimkurami/mahkeme2.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.harunyahya.com/buddhism01.php Harun Yahya: ISLAM and BUDDHISM
- http://www.tabsir.net/?p=122
- The "Intelligent Design" Distraction, Harun Yahya, Harun Yahya International © 2007
- "ATLAS OF CREATION".
- "In the beginning". The Economist. April 19, 2007. Retrieved 2007-04-28.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/315/5814/925a In Europe’s Mailbag: A Glossy Attack on Evolution