Indonesians Regard Harun Yahya As A Hero

In a report titled “Harun Yahya: Muslims Creationism and Pluralism” dated 28 July, 2008, The Jakarta Post, Indonesia’s largest English-language daily, discussed the admiration for and interest in Harun Yahya in Indonesia. For years now, Indonesians have demonstrated enormous interest in 57 books, 56 documentaries and a large number of articles by him. Indeed, Indonesians are setting up new web sites based on the works of Harun Yahya on an almost daily basis. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has made clear his admiration for Harun Yahya, extracts from whose works he has quoted in speeches. The Jakarta Post report provided the following information about Harun Yahya:

Turkish Muslim creationist Harun Yahya is considered a hero by mainstream Muslims here for bringing back science to the embrace of Islam.

His books -- among the most popular, The Evolution Deceit and The Atlas of Creation -- are said to have strengthened the faith of Muslim believers. ...

When Harun Yahya was sentenced to prison in May this year, the Indonesian Islamic online news portal hidayatullah.com defended him, saying that Yahya was jailed because he had destroyed evolution. ...

His books and videos on the miracles of creation ... are sold in mosques and Islamic bookstores. ... his works remain widely circulated.

Baiq Hana Susanti, a science lecturer at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University (UIN), said students download Yahya"s articles from his websites almost daily.

Science students at public universities like the University of Indonesia (UI) and Jakarta State University (UNJ) are also aware of Yahya"s thoughts and, according to UI lecturer Noviar Andayani, some of them "had fallen into him". ...

.. most university Muslim academics ... acknowledge the appeal of the Muslim creationist to their students and Indonesian Muslims in general.

Harun Yahya (Arabic for Arron John) is the pseudonym of Adnan Oktar. He was born in Ankara in 1956 and developed his thoughts in the late 1970s during his studies at Mimar Sinan University"s Academy of Fine Arts. During those years, he conducted research into the prevalent materialistic philosophies and ideologies around him.

... Yahya links Darwin"s evolution to such ideas as communism and fascism. He even blames the theory for all the bloody wars in the twentieth century. For that reason, he has a unique view on interfaith relationships. ...

“The task of sincere Christians, Jews and Muslims who possess a conscience and common sense is to wage a joint struggle against evil and those who engage in it, to help one another and to act in a spirit of unity and cooperation.

"That unity must rest on the principles of love, respect, tolerance, understanding, harmony and cooperation. We must bear in mind the urgency of the situation, and factors likely to give rise to conflict, argument and division must be scrupulously avoided," he writes on his website, www.harunyahya.com.

Harun Yahya believes the three faiths are in harmony "on matters of faith" as well as "on moral matters". Moreover, ... Yahya believes that, like Christians, the second coming of Jesus Christ, or Isa Almasih, on earth is crucial to world peace.