Global responses to Harun Yahya's 'call for unity'
Harun Yahya1279
17 August, 2008
| RESPONSE 1 Harun Yahya's book A Call for Unity, published in Turkish in 2003 and in English in 2004, constituted a major call to the members of the Divine faiths. This call was issued to the whole world at the beginning of 2004 on the web site www.unionoffaiths.com. Advertising presentations of the book that appeared in Newsweek, one of the world's best-known news magazines, in June-July 2004, made it possible for this call for peace and tolerance to be heard by people all over the world. The impacts of that call soon began emerging. In an address to the General Council of the United Nations on 21 October 2004, Spanish Prime Minister Luis Rodriguez Zapatero emphasized the importance of an "alliance of civilizations" and called for moves to be made to bring that about. Following initiatives by Spain and Turkey in 2005, the Alliance of Civilizations project commenced under the UN umbrella. The advertisement for Harun Yahya's book A Call for Unity, a vehicle whereby the idea of an "alliance of civilizations" entered the global agenda:  Newsweek, 5 July 2004 Under the banner "A Call to All our Jewish, Christian and Muslim Brothers and Sisters: Let Us All Abide by God's Commandment to Love One Another, in a Spirit of Brotherhood and Genuine Friendship," the advertisement emphasized the shared values of the three Abrahamic faiths dealt with in Harun Yahya's book. Other books by Harun Yahya, Islam Denounces Terrorism, Only Love Can Defeat Terrorism and Terrorism: The Ritual of the Devil, which describe the dangers to world peace and how these can be eradicated, were also introduced. |
| RESPONSE 2 Many issues today constituting the main concerns of various newspapers and magazines were comprehensively raised several years ago in Harun Yahya's books and on his web sites. For instance, the call for union among the faiths raised towards the end of 2007 had already been discussed in detail by Harun Yahya in his book A Call for Unity, published three years before that in 2004 and on the web site www.unionoffaiths.com, and the resulting benefits to the world in terms of Islam, Christianity and Judaism were set out. The same issue has also entered the agenda with a letter, a "call for peace," written by 138 eminent representatives of Islam and sent to Pope Benedict XVI, Istanbul Orthodox Church Patriarch Bartholomew I and other Orthodox leaders, and to Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams as well as all Protestant churches across the world. The importance of this subject had been established 3 years beforehand in Harun Yahya's book A Call for Unity, which spurred the Islamic and Christian worlds into action: "Today, ideological struggles, indeed, continue to divide the world. However, Muslims are not at one pole and Jews and Christians are not at the opposing pole. In fact, one pole represents people who believe in God's existence and unity, and the other pole represents the unbelievers, who believe in such anti-religious ideologies as materialism and Darwinism. There is only one way to defeat the alliance of the various groups of unbelievers on an ideological level: eradicate the negative and destructive influences of anti-religious materialism and further the cause of a society dominated by morality, happiness, tranquility, security, and prosperity. This will be done by forming an alliance of all conscientious people, namely, sincere Christians, along with religious Jews and Muslims, who will come together and unite in this common cause.... this dialogue and alliance will be based on the sincere believers' quest for justice, peace, and support for all people. The resulting dialogue will not be restricted to meetings and conferences, but will cement an alliance between people who advocate common values, fight for the same cause, and seek permanent solutions to common problems. This alliance will be one of the main contributing factors to tranquility at a time when Prophet Jesus' (peace be upon him) second coming is expected." (http://www.harunyahya.com/books/social/unity/unity01.php)  "This letter has had a huge impact" 12 October 2007   |
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